The Elevator

"Think outside, no box required."

Unknown

My dear friend, Marc Byrnes, loves to ski. Every year, he goes on a ski trip with a bunch of his buddies, and a while back, I went along as well. We went to Snowmass, Colorado, one of the best ski spots in the country.

There were nine of us on the trip. We skied in small groups each day, and we had dinner together at some nice restaurant each evening. One night, we got back late, trudging through the snow, and went into the lobby of the hotel toward the elevator.

When the door opened, we all piled in, and I hit the button for the third floor. We started up, but as we passed the second floor, the elevator suddenly stopped. And there we were, nine of us, packed like sardines in a can.

We knew no one would hear us if we yelled, and no one was at the front desk. There was no cell signal either. I had this awful, sinking feeling, imagining us standing there the whole night long, as I noticed the big sign at the back of the elevator: “No More Than 6 Persons Allowed In The Elevator At Any Time.” Great!

Without a word, Marc started gently jumping up and down. I was about to yell, “Are you crazy?” But, all of a sudden, the elevator started moving! In a few seconds, the door opened, and we were all getting off at the third floor. In utter amazement, I asked Marc, “How did you know to do that?" And he replied, casually, as he walked toward his room, “Oh, we got stuck in there last year!”

"The Elevator," from The Saturday Morning Post at hankfrazee.com. Text "Saturday" to 22828 to subscribe.