I read this (thankfully) AFTER having blood drawn at a checkup this am. Clinic is on the 6th floor so using the stairs shouldn’t be a big deal- especially going down. 😅
For a long time, I've advocated for curly slides in addition to stairs in tall buildings. Slides are faster than elevators, better for your knees than stairs, and more fun than either.
I read a fascinating article about elevators in the New Yorker recently. Elevator journeys are very very safe, statistics confirm. People die from falling down an empty shaft but it's very hard to die in an elevator car, and, no, sorry, they don't crash!
"Jack frowned and touched his ear, which tumbled to the elevator floor with a muffled splat." Euw! Bill! Your stories should come with a fair warning, a rating in advance. I would label this one, not PG, not R, but OMG.
I read this (thankfully) AFTER having blood drawn at a checkup this am. Clinic is on the 6th floor so using the stairs shouldn’t be a big deal- especially going down. 😅
For a long time, I've advocated for curly slides in addition to stairs in tall buildings. Slides are faster than elevators, better for your knees than stairs, and more fun than either.
I’ve always wanted a fire pole in my house- that would be a blast!
I have always taken the stairs . I fear elevators
I get that. Elevators are boxes that open and close when *they* want to.
Hmmm ... should I be avoiding the elevators??
Stairs are good exercise. :)
The car that's always cold ... a dead give-away. Stay out of cold elevators ....
People need to learn that from an early age.
I read a fascinating article about elevators in the New Yorker recently. Elevator journeys are very very safe, statistics confirm. People die from falling down an empty shaft but it's very hard to die in an elevator car, and, no, sorry, they don't crash!
Yikes, I’m with Mark! The ear flipping on the elevator floor was a good touch.
Thank you. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure I'll be taking the stairs from now on.
What floor do you live on again?
I'm three dozen flights up, plus a few more. We lost power after a typhoon in 2019. It's a hike.
I am convinced! I’ll take the stairs from now on.
I'm feeling the same.
Great surprise awaiting Jack! And we the readers. Sleep well.
Thank you. You, too, Elyse.
Ooh, I enjoyed this! My one note is that I got a little hung up on the sentence:
Nausea filled him, and his face, neck, and sweat coated his arms.
But that whole paragraph is such a weird, nightmarish one that maybe its particular oddness is intentional.
Great stuff, as always.
Thank you, Craig. I actually meant to write that sentence differently, so you uncovered a...typo! (Now corrected.) I'm glad you enjoyed this story.
"Jack frowned and touched his ear, which tumbled to the elevator floor with a muffled splat." Euw! Bill! Your stories should come with a fair warning, a rating in advance. I would label this one, not PG, not R, but OMG.
I'm sorry, Sharron, could you speak more loudly? I can't find my ear! ;-)
(I had fun with that sentence.)
Yeeps. I am sure you did.
Well. That was a tad discouraging.
It's best to avoid elevator number 3 at all costs.
Nice twist! Did not see that coming!
Thank you, Gregory.
I just wish you hadn't given him a five-month-old kid who's going to be fatherless now.
He's lost so much, I know, it's sad. But I think Jack return and reunite with his family.
Now I'm going to avoid elevators for at least a week -- probably good exercise!
The elevator in our building has an emergency supply box. I've never looked inside. Perhaps it's best that I don't.
Perhaps a big knife?
Glad I live on the ground floor...
That also makes for an easy escape in the event of an emergency or haunting.