Helen looked at her watch, muttered a few well chosen words that would have shocked her mother to hear that Helen knew the meaning of; and hurried her steps. BiK would close in 10 minutes, she had to find something for David’s birthday before that.
She stepped into the elevator and quickly eyed the sign on the wall. "Ladie’s underwear, 3rd floor"… that would be a splendid joke, but their mother would freak out. "Books and art supplies, 5th floor"… what would be the point of that? David always bought books, she didn’t want to risk giving him something he had already read. "Audio & Video, 7th floor"… that would do. She’d buy him some technical gizmo. She reached out to press the button, but before she had touched it, a guy stormed into the levator and slammed the button labelled "7" with the palm of his hand. Helen jerked her hand back, and turned around. Her companion was a young black boy, younger than herself, approximately 18-19 years old, and dressed like a stereotypical thug. He leaned his back against the wall, chewing a gum. Helen looked away, so he wouldn’t catch her staring at him.
First floor, second floor, third, fourth… right between fourth and fifth, the elevator stopped, with a loud noise and a violent shake, that made Helen lose her balance and fall to the floor.
"What the fuck..?" growled the boy.
The elevator didn’t move.
"Oh, no!" said Helen, crawling back up and brushing her hands.
They looked at each other.
"Press the alarm button!" said the boy, no, when she looked at him, she realized that he was a young man, not a boy.
She pressed the red button. Nothing happened.
"Shit!" said the young man. "Must be something wrong with the power."
"There’s a phone over there," said Helen, and pointed to a box over in the corner.
He opened the box door and tried the phone.
"Hullo? Yeah… this damned elevator’s broken, and we’re trapped in here! Huh? The one in front of the toys’ section… How long will that take? Ah, fuck! Tell them to hurry up!"
He hung up, and slid against the wall until he sat on the floor.
"They’re gonna call for a repair guy," he said. "Won’t be here for at least half an hour!"
Helen sighed, and sat down opposite him. Her dress was already dirty, sitting down on the floor wouldn’t matter.
The young man sulked. Helen felt nervous by the awkward silence.
"What’s `10K´?" she asked, pointing at the print on his sweater.
"A rap group," he said. "They’re really fucked up!"
The way he said it made Helen wonder if he was being sarcastic. At least she had managed to break the ice.
"What’s your name?" she said.
"Rick," he said. "You?"
"Helen," she said.
"You never heard of 10K?" he asked.
"No," said Helen. "I don’t know that many rap groups."
"Wrong colour," Rick grinned.
"Excuse me?"
"Rap’s not for white people," said Rick. "It’s the poor man’s music. Gangsta rhythms. Ghetto songs. Rap is the voice of the ghetto."
"But there are some rap musicians that are white," Helen protested.
"White trash!" said Rick. "Wannabes! They think it’s just a matter of grabbing the mike and letting off steam, but it’s not! Rap comes from the inside! It’s the sound of a black man’s heart in the white man’s world!"
Helen didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know anything about rap music, she always thought it sounded like an auction. Besides, she had more urgent matters to think about right now. The walls of the elevator seemed to be moving inwards. So did the ceiling. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
"How long have we been in here?" she muttered, and checked her watch again.
"Don’t like the company?" said Rick.
"It’s not that," said Helen. "I just don’t like being trapped in a small elevator.
"Yeah, right!" said Rick. "Hey, they’ll get us out of here in about one hour, and then you’ll be rid of me, and you can go home to your rich family!"
"One… hour?" Helen panted.
She was breathing heavil now, and her eyes flew around the tiny cube in which she was stuck.
"Hey, are you OK?" said Rick, finally realizing that she wasn’t acting, something was really wrong.
Helen got up, and started banging the door.