Doors of Love

By DesDownUnder

Copyright © 2008 By DesDownUnder. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 4: The Elevator Doors

It was impossible for me to sit quietly in the safety of my rooms. I just had to go downstairs and see if I could help them. At least, welcome them.

Wait! I couldn’t go downstairs looking like this. I ran into my bedroom and rifled through my closet, looking for my genuine 1990 muscle shirt. Not that I had any muscles to speak of, but the clever designer of this shirt had cut it in a way that allowed the wearer to think they were a body builder. It was just made for me. Finally, I found it and the matching sky blue nylon hot-pants that did nothing to conceal the remains of my butt. I quickly brushed my hair and splashed some after shave on my face.

I dashed into the small hallway landing and pushed the elevator button. It was one of the reasons I liked this place. I hate climbing stairs when I come home from work. It was only a small elevator for three people, maximum, but it did the job.

The elevator made no signs of working. That’s unusual, I thought, it is normally quite reliable. So I decided to take the stairs, thinking to myself that the boys would have to lug all their stuff up to their apartment if it wasn’t working. I supposed I could help them.

By the time I had reached the bottom of the darkened stairs (the damned automatic lights never work) I saw why the elevator wasn’t working.

The boys had propped it open with the entrance foyer pot plant. I had always wondered if that thing had a use.

“Hey guys, want a hand?”

They stopped and looked at me. Eran stared open mouthed at me as Bryce stepped forward.

He waved at Eran to get behind him as if to protect him from me.

Was my shirt really this intimidating?

Bryce’s eyes squinted in the dark and then relaxed as he recognised me.

“It’s okay, it's Jase from the other day. You know, with the killer phone,” said Bryce with an ear to ear smile decorating his face.

Eran trotted out from behind his friend. “Hello,” he beamed with his sexy half-open dreamy eyes, “Do you live here too?” His eyes widened as he asked his question with anticipation for the answer.

“Up on the second floor,” I said. “Are you two taking the third floor apartment?

“Yes, we got kicked out of our last place. They were really nasty there. They blamed us for wrecking the faulty garage doors.”

“And don’t forget the dishwasher,” said Eran.

“Well, that might have been our fault; we didn’t know it would melt down the plastic take-away containers and block the filter, causing water to flood the kitchen and lift the vinyl tiles.”

“Well, you’re here now,” I said, trying to welcome them. “Why don’t I give you a hand to unload the van and get you settled in?”

“Oh, we have everything out of the van and into the elevator,” said Bryce.

“Oh No,” said Eran, “we will have to take some stuff out of the elevator; there is no room in it for us.”

They immediately headed to the elevator as I called them back.

“Just leave it all in there and we can walk up the stairs and call the elevator up to the third floor.” As I turned to climb the stairs, the automatic lights finally came on.

They high fived each other, “Oh, he is so clever,” said Eran as they started to follow me up the stairs.

“I think you will need to shift the pot plant first though, it is holding the doors open,” I said as delicately as I could.

“Oh okay,” said Bryce. “We used it to stop them closing so we could get our stuff in the elevator.”

“Good idea,” I said, “I don’t think that would have occurred to me.” (Let alone be able to shift the brute of a thing I thought to myself.)

I watched as they pushed the pot plant across the tiled floor. Suddenly it stopped as it caught on the lip of a tile that wasn’t seated as well as it should have been.

They pushed with all their might, but it wasn’t going to budge over the edge of the tile.

Bryce laid down on his back in a most interesting position as he raised his knees towards his chin in what I thought was an all too familiar fashion, his feet aimed squarely at the now-cowering pot plant. I looked on with sudden terror for the safety of the plate glass entrance doors.

“I got it,” he shouted.

“Stop!” I yelled as I rushed over to them.

“Look, you just need to lift the base of the pot over the jutting edge of this tile and it will move easily into position. I’ll lean in and lift the pot, you two push.”

“Okay,” they said.

“He is really smart.” I heard Bryce whisper to a smiling Eran as they snuck a quick kiss. I looked the other way.

I should have known better. The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor with the pot plant trying to attach itself to my left foot. They had pushed too hard and had run over my foot. I was in agony.

“Quick, ring emergency,” said Bryce to Eran, who did as he was told. I wondered how he managed to ring so fast with one hand. His other hand was gripped tightly by his boyfriend who looked on with a seriously worried expression. It made me wonder if my time had come.

“I’m alright,” I lied. “You boys go upstairs and get the elevator to your floor and unload your stuff. Quickly, before anyone gets here”

I knew I had to get them out of the way before the paramedics arrived. If I was careful I could get out of this without them being implicated.

Watching their leg muscles twitch and flex as they ascended the stairs side by side took my mind off the pain in my foot for a moment. It was only a short time before the doors closed on the elevator and it started to move. It was well on its way when the foyer lights started to flicker. There was a groan from the elevator shaft. I could hear sparking noises followed by a very loud bang.

I should have realised. The elevator was overloaded and had blown its fuse. Worse than that, I could smell something burning. I was relieved to find it wasn’t me.

Eran came traipsing back down the stairs in the dark. He must have the eyes of a cat.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “The power and lights have gone off.”

“I noticed,” I said. “I’m okay except for my foot. Did the elevator get to your floor?”

“Yes. It sort of staggered at the last moment as the doors half opened and then there was a loud bang.”

“That was the fuses blowing,” I told him. “You and Bryce must get all your stuff out of the elevator as quickly as you can, before anyone arrives. Can you do that?”

“I think so,“ he said. “But shouldn’t one of us be with you in case you go into a coma or have a heart attack?”

Coma? Heart attack? What is this kid, an advance scout for a funeral home?

“No, look, I’m okay here, just go help Bryce.”

“Well, if you are sure you’ll be all right?”

“Yes, I’m sure, now go!” And he ran back up the stairs. I couldn’t see a thing in the now darkened foyer. There was an eerie glow from the street lights.

Then I heard a voice, “Are you there?”

It was Miss Abernathy, the elderly spinster who rented the ground floor apartment. I had forgotten all about her.

“I’m over here, Miss Abernathy,” I called out. “I fell over in the dark.”

“The lights have gone out,” she said to no one in particular.

Now, Miss Abernathy was a charming old dear who generally sat up all night watching television, when she isn’t out riding her motorbike. She says she cannot sleep at night.

“Is that you, Jase? What are you doing sitting on the floor?’

“I fell over.”

“Oh, you poor dear, I will make some tea.”

“Miss Abernathy, The power is off,” I remind her.

“Oh, that doesn’t matter, I have a gas stove, I never did trust that electricity business, and Jasey you really must remember to call me Lucy.

She disappeared. All was quiet. Too quiet. It was then I heard an almighty crash from above, followed by several clangs, bangs and thuds. They were getting louder and louder. Then they stopped. A moment later, they started again.

Something was falling down the stairwell. In the half light from the street I saw a dark, shadowy case flip around the top of the stairs and come tumbling down, straight for where I was laying.

I rolled over and looked as the case crashed to a standstill alongside me with an almighty clanging thud.

Bryce and Eran came running down the stairs.

“Are you all right? Are you alive?”

“Yes, I am, I think, what the hell was that!”

“That’s our case of dumbbells, we do weightlifting,” Bryce announced with somewhat more pride than I thought the situation warranted.

“It fell out of the elevator when we pulled out the mattress,” said Eran.

“Well, you better get this thing out of the entrance as fast as you can,” I shouted.

Lucy appeared at her door, “What is all this shouting?” she inquired. “What’s all that banging and clanging about?”

She looked at the two boys. “Eran. is that you? Bryce?”

“They are the new tenants for the third floor apartment,” I stopped in mid-sentence. She knew them.

“You know these boys, Lucy?”

“Of course I know them. Eran is my nephew, my great-nephew to be precise.”

“We took your advice, Aunty, and rented the apartment,” Eran said.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” asked Lucy.

“We wanted to surprise you,” Bryce said.

“You have certainly surprised me, boys, but then you always do.”

I sat on the floor while they stood around chatting. How nice.

Off in the distance I could hear a siren. “Quick, get this case out of here,” I said.

“I’ll make tea, come down when you are finished,” said Lucy and she went back into her rooms.

“I didn’t know you were related to Lucy,” I said.

The boys picked up the case. “She is my grandmother’s sister,” said Eran.

Just as they got to the first landing on the stairs, Bryce leaned around the corner and quickly whispered with a wink, “She’s a lesbian.”

Right, I thought to myself, that explains the Harley Davidson.

A few minutes later, a fireman appeared at the door with a search light beaming straight into my eyes. He was followed closely by a paramedic in his sexy green jumpsuit. “What happened?” said the fireman.

“I tripped in the dark and the pot plant fell on my foot,” I said.

“Is anyone else in the building? We have a fire sensor gone off in the elevator shaft.”

“A fire sensor?” I exclaimed.

“Yes, but don’t worry, they often go off when the elevators malfunction. Now who else is in the building?”

“There is an old lady, Miss Abernathy, here on the ground floor apartment, and two tenants on the third floor.”

“Right,” said the fireman. Gawd, he was so butch and rugged and handsome. I so wanted him to rescue me. He turned to the sexy-looking paramedic. This was almost worth getting my foot nearly amputated.

“Have a quick look at his foot and then get him outside. I’ll run up and get the guys out of the third floor as well as the old lady down here. We have a controlled situation for the moment.”

He leaned into his lapel and started to talk into a microphone, relaying instructions to the waiting firemen outside as he dashed up the stairs.

“The paramedic began his examination, holding my poor foot in his tender hands.

Suddenly he looked up as we heard a loud scream from upstairs, followed by a decisive thud.

Lucy opened her door, carrying a cup of tea. She looked at the paramedic.

“Hello, dear,” she said, looking at him, “would you like a nice cup of tea?”

He looked up at her as if she was insane, which on a normal day might well be the case. Well, at least a little senile, but tonight she was ticking over on all cylinders.

Just then, I could see Eran and Bryce coming down the stairs. They were carrying the fireman.

“He fell over the dumbbells which had spilled out of their case,” said Bryce. “He’s unconscious.”

“I think he’s dead,” said Eran.

Well, at least it wasn’t me …yet.

As they carried him past the paramedic, he quickly felt the fireman's neck pulse, and then told them to get him outside onto the ground. Unfortunately, they had to go past Lucy, who was standing in the shadows where they couldn’t see her, holding the cup of tea. As Bryce turned to walk past us, the fireman’s boot swung around and knocked the cup of tea from her hands up into the air. I watched as the steaming hot liquid kind of jack-knifed in midair, before diving straight into my crotch. I screamed, but the paramedic was a quick thinker and grabbed a bottle of water from his kit, poured it all over my now see-through nylon shorts and then proceeded to rub them with a towel to soak up the fluids. He rubbed with great energy. “Stop, I said, if you keep that up….”

“Sorry, mate,” he said, “I just wanted to stop you from being scalded by the hot tea.”

He was making me hotter than the tea.

He turned around and started to examine my foot.

“Does this hurt?” he said as he twisted my foot around. “Move your toes for me.”

I did as he asked. “Any pain when you move them?’ he inquired.

“No,” I said, “the foot is just sore.”

”Okay, It doesn’t seem to be broken, get it checked by your doctor if you get any swellings or if the pain worsens.”

He reached back into his bag and pulled out a needle, “I’m going to give you a shot for the pain. Your foot will be sore for a few days.”

He jabbed me in the arm with the needle, and I almost immediately started to feel dizzy. Damn, I hated this feeling of losing control.

I saw a blurred Eran walk back into the entrance. I just managed to hear him ask, “Will he live? He’s not dead is he?”

It was then that I noticed the smoke coming from around the ground floor elevator doors. Then everything went black, very, very black, as I wondered about the poor fireman and the paramedic’s home phone number.