This is the third story from FT and I. If you are tuning in late, I compose these stories for her, and she keeps her webcam on for me. Please send us some feedback to let us know what you think.
You are getting a true look at our private life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed composing it. If it helps you, imagine seeing what I see while I write them. Enjoy!
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I was working late again. They had been upgrading the computer systems in the building, and for some reason, the service elevator wasn't working.
I wheeled the maintenance cart through the lobby of the darkened office building. The lobby was empty, except for a single security guard, who didn't even look up from his magazine as I coasted through. Normally, we can't take the carts up the main elevators. It doesn't look good for potential clients to see us lowly janitors, oh, sorry, maintenance engineers, wheeling their carts around. The building still had to be cleaned, so I had to take the main elevator. As I waited for the car, I heard the sound of heels clicking on the marble floor in the lobby.
"Good evening, Ms Ericson." came the suddenly alert voice of the security guard in the lobby.
"Working late?"
"Teleconference with Moscow tonight, Billy," was the rich, deep alto response.
Shit!
Sophia Ericson, executive vice president of Laif Industries, came click clopping around the corner toward the bank of elevators. Her eyebrows rose as she saw me. As luck would have it, the elevator arrived at exactly that moment, cheerfully pinging as the doors slid open. Ms Ericson strode purposefully toward the open elevator.
"Are you supposed to be here?" She demanded, somehow looking down her nose at me, despite being almost ten inches shorter than my own six foot two.
"Maintenance elevator's broken, Ma'am." I said, not making eye contact. "Gotta clean."
She stood there for a second, probably just to make me sweat a little, and then said "Well, I guess we can make an exception this time, in that case." Rumor had it that she was the reason we had to hump the carts down to the loading dock in the first place. She strode confidently into the elevator, and turned and looked at me expectantly.
"Well?" she said. "Aren't you going to get in?"
"I'll wait for the next car." I said. This woman could fire me in a second, on a whim. I wanted to be as far beneath her notice as I could.
"Bullshit." She said. "You'll get to work right now. You won't be hanging around down here goofing off. Now, get in."
Obediently, I wheeled the bulky cart into the elevator car, trying not to be too noticeable. The elevator gave little sensation of movement as it started upward. I had a second to look around. This elevator was all chrome steel and mirrors. I was careful not to look at Ms Ericson as we shot upward toward executiveland.
At about floor fifteen, the lights flickered briefly, and at the forty fifth floor, the elevator gave a distinctly un executive like lurch. Then lights went out. The dim red of the emergency lights flickered on.
"Shit." Ms Ericson said "What the fuck did you do?" She demanded.
"Nothing, ma'am." I said. I was sure to lose my job over this one. "I didn't even press a button."
"Bullshit," She said. Her voice had a kind of shrill sound, and she was obviously angry. "You assholes are always breaking something, so you can get out of work."
"No, Ma'am." I said desperately, "The techs are working with the power system tonight. That's why the maintenance elevator isn't working."
"OK, blame somebody else," She said. Her voice was definitely rising in pitch. "But I will see that somebody pays for it."
I started digging into the cart for the flashlight.
"What are you doing?" She shouted.
"Just getting a flashlight, Ma'am. I have one in the cart, I think."
"Oh." She said. Her breathing was getting ragged. "I guess that's ok."
I jammed the flashlight into a space on the top of the crowded cart, its light pointed at the ceiling. In the light, it was clear that something unpleasant was going on with Sophia Ericson. Her cheeks were red. She was visibly sweating, despite the cool temperature of the car, and her eyes flicked back and forth around the spacious elevator. With the increased lighting, she seemed to calm a little.
"Are you ok, Ms Ericson?" I asked.
"I just don't like closed spaces very much." She said.
I wanted to sit down, but I damned well wasn't going to do it before she did. I looked at my watch. I had been supposed to go off shift an hour ago, and now it looked like I was going to be here for a while more. An idea struck me.
"Ms Ericson? Don't you have a phone? Couldn't you call somebody?" I asked.
"Good idea," She said. "Um," she began, for the first time seeming a little unsure of herself. "I don't know your name."
I had deliberately not told her.
"I'm Jake, Ma'am." I said.
She set her briefcase on top of my cart, and extracted a tiny cell phone. Still breathing heavily, she turned it on, and waited a second.
"No signal? How the fuck to I have no signal?" She said. "This is a seven hundred dollar phone." She reached back as if to throw the phone at the wall, and, like an idiot, I grabbed her hand.
"Ma'am, we might need that phone later, and we certainly don't want to be stuck in here with a bunch of broken glass."
But she wasn't hearing anything. "Don't you tell me what to do," she shrieked, turning as if to throw the phone at me. "I don't even notice people like you!"
But she put the phone in her pocket. Face red, she started to pace. The elevator was big enough for her to get five or six steps before she had to turn around.
Click, click, click.
For the first time, I allowed myself to notice her outfit. A smart, crisp black business skirt and jacket, with a crisp, starched cotton blouse. Very expensive looking heels completed the outfit.
Click, click, click.
For almost twenty minutes, she paced back and forth, heels clicking, panting.
"Is it getting hot in here?" She asked. Her head whipped back and forth as her eyes kept searching for a way to escape. Her red hair hung down across her face.
Still wanting to sit down, I replied "Yes, Ma'am. Air conditioning is out."
"How long do you think it will take them to find us?" She asked. She was getting more and more agitated by the second.