A man in his late 20s, balding from
the top and sides... forget it, he's bald-
ing from every which way, spoke in a
very disturbed manner. He was
squeezed in close to the woman he was bitching to;
let's assume it was his wife or girlfriend. "I just hate
being pushed into things. And, Isten," he kept saying
over and over, "if we would have just taken the stairs
like I had suggested, we would never have been
caught up in this mess. Next to the man and lady
was a teenaged kid about 13. He was chewing gum
and snapping it and blowing tiny bubbles, making it
noises, while waiting for the elevator to continue
operation. An old lady about 78 stood beside the 13-
year-old, who was fucking with his gum impatiently.
The old lady was a good sport. She's been through
a lot in her life and felt quite confident that she could
withstand the wait without losing her cool. Another
elder, a 78-year-old man accompanied by his dog.
was also stuck in the elevator. The dog was small and
very hairy. The dog wasn't scared or frightened, at
least not yet. The elevator had only been stuck for
fifteen seconds at this point, but the balding 27-year-
old was really beginning to boil. His voice rose as the
lights went out. "I'm claustrophobic!" He began to
bang on the doors. "Let us out of here!" The old lady
said in a polite voice, "It won't be a minute now.
don't you worry. I've been stuck in plenty of eleva
tors in my time." The teenager crouched down to
pet the dog. The old man stopped him. "I wouldn't
do that if I were you. He bites. The kid laughed.
"That dog doesn't look like he'd hurt a fly. What
kinda dog is he, anyhow?" The old man completely
ignored the teenager's inquiry. The balding 27-year-
old managed to hold it down for a while. Suddenly.
the darkness was gone. The lady friend of the balding
2
"You have a collect call from
Adapter, will you accept?" "I'm
sorry, operator, I don't know any
one named Adapter." "Sorry, sir, your call
was denied." The fat lady on the receiving end
went back to what she was doing before the
phone rang, ringing out some clothes that she
was handwashing in the tub. The phone rang
again, twelve times. "This is gonna piss me
off." the fat lady said to herself, as she strained
the last bit of water from her son's jeans and
rose to answer it. "Hello?" "Collect call.
ma'am." There was silence. "Yes?" The fat
lady's voice was annoyed. "From who? Hello?"
"Collect call, ma'am." "OK, from who?"
"Adapter." "Tell your Adapter he's got the
wrong number!" The fat lady slammed the
phone down. "Jesus Christ." She let out a
deep breath and then returned to the clothes.
She began to string them out on a line and pull
them out the window where they could catch
some sunlight. About fifteen minutes went by
guy lit up a smoke. "Are you kidding me?" the old
man with the hairy dog said. "You're not gonna
smoke now, are you? Not at a time like this." He too
then banged on the doors. "Hello? Hello? Excuse me?
We're all stuck in here! Would somebody please
help? The elevator was an old one, about 5 x 5 ft.
Three huge drags, and the whole place was filled
with smoke. The old man started to fake like he was
coughing. "Put that thing out!" he screamed. The
balding 27-year-old took hold of the smoke and had
a big drag for himself. "It settles my nerves," he said
The 18-year-old lady loved the commotion. She
was eating it up. After all, it was exciting for her.
She wanted to see what would happen next. Well,
what happened next didn't excite her too much. In
fact, it kinda pissed her off. The old man's hairy dog
took a piss. The balding 27-year-old kicked the dog
in the ribs. He might've continued kicking had his
wife or girlfriend not stopped him. "This is just
great," the old man began talking to himself as the
small dog whimpered sounds of agony. The teenaged
boy was quiet. The old lady was not sure what to
think or do. The cigarette was still lit, and the smoke
continued to linger. The dog found a dry area to coil
himself up in away from his piss. The lights in the ele-
vator finally came back on after about thirty min-
utes of darkness. The whole thing jolted and began
to move. The elevator doors opened. The smoke
and the people inside began to filter out into the
hotel lobby, all but one. The teenaged boy stayed
inside the elevator and rode it to the basement floor
where he got out and exited the hotel into a dark
alley. There he met up with his friend Stanley. The
two walked to the park and sat down on a bench
where they counted and divided their money.
After they were finished, they got to feeling
and no telephone ring, no doorbell, no noth-
ing, just the fat lady in her medium-sized
apartment. She was now done with the
clothes. She decided to take a short rest on
her couch which her son had just bought for
her. It was fuzzy and soft. It had little floral
patterns on it. She sat there and thought about
maybe going on a diet, but she didn't really
want to, she liked eating. She was not really
fat. She was big-boned, though, and that made
her think she was fat. But she wasn't really fat.
It's gonna be anytime now for the phone to
ring again," that's what she was thinking, and
then it did. Ring, ring ring! She picked it up.
"Hello, is Danny home?" "No. Danny's not
home." "Oh, is this his mom?" "Yes, this is his
mom." "Oh, this is Adapter. Why didn't you
accept my collect call? I'm stuck over here in a
bad part of town. I need somebody to come
get me." "Well, Danny isn't home right now."
Adapter held on the line. "Well, do you know
when he will be home?" "I have no idea."
3 stories by
Mark Gonzales
pretty good about themselves. In cash they had a
hundred and fifty-three; seventy-five each. The ele-
vator scam had worked well, and the night was still
young. Stanley suggested they try the Hyatt Regency
or the Bonaventure. Danny, his friend, was still
chewing his gum. He thought it over. "The
Bonaventure's got too much hotel security. Where is
the Regency at?" "Out by the airport," Stanley said.
"There's a ton of hotels over there. Danny was
skeptical. "We got lucky. It's too risky. Suppose I'm
stuck in there, and I'm just about to nab a wallet, and
I get caught? I could get my ass kicked." Stanley
made fun of Danny. "Oh, what. are you going pussy
on me?" "No." Danny said angrily. "How about you
ride the elevator and I'll stop it?" "I would," Stanley
said, "but look at me, no one's gonna wanna ride an
elevator with me." Danny looked at Stanley. He was
big and dirty. He looked like a criminal. "I guess
you're right." Danny said, feeling bad for him. A
moment of silence passed. "Fuck, Stanley," Danny
said, "we just robbed some people in an elevator. We
are criminals Stanley said, "But not bad criminals."
Danny chewed his gum. "We sure as hell ain't good
criminals, Robin Hood was a good criminal." Stanley
said. "Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to
the poor Danny looked out into the distance of the
park. There weren't too many people out, only a
Sew, a couple guys kicking a soccer ball.
3:
It was my fifth suspension
of the new school year. My
mom and dad were really
mad. They were fed up
My dad told me I was too old for a
spanking. I guess what really made them
angry was that the dean at my school, Dr
Segall, threatened to send me to a new
school. It was his only solution. Well, the
next day my parents pulled me from that
school. Now I was gonna go live with my
Aunt Millie. I called her Marshmallow
Milie because every family get-together
she would bring marshmallows. We
would roast them and tell stupid sto
ries. I hated her dumb marshmallows. I
always wanted to tell her her Garl Scout
days were over, but I never did. I always
sat there and pretended to have fun. I
guess sometimes it wasn't that bad, but
living with her was gonna be weird. She
lived in New York in a high-rise on Park
Avenue. I was gonna go to a private
school, one which my father and aunt
both attended. She picked me up from
the airport. She was happy to see me,
but I was also ready to try her hand at
disciplining me. Along the ride in the
chauffeured car from New York's JFK
to her humble abode was pretty much
quiet. When we got into the elevator
and were on our way up to her place,
she spoke. "I guess the times are really
changing," she said. "Look at this." She
pointed to a piece of wood paneling in
the elevator. It had graffiti etched into
it. "The children today have very little
respect for anything. They write in here
all over the place. It gets cleaned up
pretty quick, but, look, now they're
carving into this nice wood. Oh," she
said, "if I could just get my hands on
one of those little buggers. I'm pretty
sure it's the Matthews' kids. Or maybe
it's the Serpico's, they have a son who's
a real terror." She was not talking to me,
WALKING FEET
Stories may not
be suitable for
young kids.
Adult advisory
suggested.
she was just angry. When the elevator
got to her floor, we get out. Opening
her door, she looked at me with all my
luggage. I too then looked at myself and
all my luggage and tried to figure out
what she was seeing "You are to stay
clear of both of them, the Serpico's little
boy, and those Matthews kids, they're
trouble. "OK," I said as the door to her
place came open, and I wobbled in with
all my stuff. "You've got a lot of things."
"I know," was my reply. "I'm gonna put
you up in the Lion Room." I followed her
through her house. She flipped the light
to the Lion Room on. "This room is to
remain how it is." "Yes, Aunt Millie."
"And if anything in here is damaged or
broken, you will pay for it, do I make
myself clear?" "Yes," I said as I looked
around the room and immediately
understood why it was called the Lion
Room. "Settle yourself," she said. "The
closet is here." She pointed to the clos
et. "Hang your things in there. The
dresser is over there. Your shoes will go
neatly beneath the bed." "OK," I said.
"Now, this room must be neat at all
times, all right?" "All night." I said. "Above
the nightstand is my most prized posses-
sion." I looked over to the nightstand.
"That's my lion alarm clock." "Looks
neat. What's it de?" "It gives off a loud
roar to wake you up." I quickly pulled off
my backpack to have a look at it. But
before I could reach it, she hurried over
and snatched it up into her hands. "On
second thought, maybe I'll keep the lon
with me in my room. If anything should
happen to him. I wouldn't know what
to do." I looked at the lion in her hands
and was seconds away from asking her
to show me how he worked. But I knew
I was not here on good terms, so I just
looked down at my luggage and contem
plated unpacking. "I'll put him in a safe
place while you unpack." "OK." I said
and began to unpack. "When you're fin
ished..." "Yeah?" I said. "Meet me in the
dining room." "OK, Aunt Milie "When I
was done, I went into the dining room.
Aunt Millie had hot cocoa ready. I was
seated. "First I wanna tell you a little bit
about your new neighbors "OK, let's
hear about my new neighbors." I didn't
say that, but I was thinking it. She began
telling me about the neighbors. "To the
left of us is Mr and Mrs Henderson. They
have a little baby girl who's four. They're
a real nice couple. To the right of us is
where the Serpicos live. The boy is four-
teen and an absolute menace." She kept
on talking, and my mind went on to
other things, not paying much attention
to what she was saying "Did you hear
me "What? Oh, no. I'm sorry, Aunt
Mille, I'm tired. The plane fight has left
me exhausted. What did you say "I said
that Mr Gerdie upstairs is a retired pro-
fessor. If you need any help with your
homework, I'm sure he'd be more than
happy to help you. He's a really fine gen-
tleman. My eyes started getting heavy.
"Really?" "Yes. And to the left of him is
the Smiths, Nancy and Bill, they have a
teenaged daughter about your age. A
real bright girl, straight A student.
Although, I'm not sure if she's home
now, she might be away at boarding
school." "I'm tired, Aunt Millie, it must
be the time difference. Plus, that long.
exhausting fight "Yeah, OK, you go to
bad then. I'll wake you up about 9:00 or
9:30. Does that sound good?" "Yes,"
replied. As I stood up and started off for
the Lien Room, it hit me. "What if I get
hungry I turned back to my Aunt Millie
and asked, "If I wake up in the night,
Aunt Millie, and am hungry, is it OK if I
go to the kitchen and fix myself a little
something to eat?" She paused for a sec-
ond. I guess she was thinking about disci
pine because she said, "No, the kitchen
is off-limits. When you need something
to eat, I'll for it for you." I turned away. I
was really sad. I continued on to the Lion
Room and got into bed. The darn bed
squeaked, and it was hard to fall asleep,
but I finally did. I remember my dream
really well. It was very futuristic, kinda
electrical... well, not at first. At first it
was kinda strange. I dreamt that I got
up in the middle of the night and was
hungry, so I snuck into the kitchen for a
midnight snack, but when I get in there
and looked through the cupboards, all
could find were marshmallows-dozens
and dozens of marshmallows. It was
ridiculous Marshmallows of al different
sizes and shapes. Then I opened the
fridge for some milk and there were
more marshmallows everywhere. It
was kinda like a nightmare. So I went
back to the room. I wasn't tired. I just
looked around at all the lions, and then I
started to think about the lion alarm
clock. "Man," I thought to myself, I wish
he was in here with me." I asked.
myself, "What would persuade my Aunt
Millie to let me keep him back in here
with me?" Then it hit me. "Maybe if I
could catch the person who was vandal
izing the elevator, maybe she would be
happy, and I could use the lion alarm
clock Well, here is where it gets futur-
istic and computerized. I reached into
my backpack and started pulling out all
these strange wires and things. I don't
know how I knew where they went or
what they did, I just did. Dreams are
weird that way. What I was rigging up
was a video camera that had a tiny wire
like a hose that was a lens. It was all con
nected to a little computer-like box. I sat
there in the Lion Room setting it up real
sneaky and trying to be quiet so
wouldn't wake my Aunt Millie. Well.
after my little wire contraption was fin-
ished, I snuck out of my Aunt Millie's
apartment. I crept through the building
until I found a door to the elevator shaft.
I got on top of the elevator and set up
my video camera. The small computer.
ake box was a kind of sensor that would
trigger the video camera to record
whenever someone entered the eleva
tor. I was excited. I was gonna catch the
little bugger that my Aunt Mille said she
wished she could get her hands on. Like
a flash and zoom, I was back in the Lion
Room, resting and waiting for daytime
when I could sneak back up into the ele-
vator to retrieve my equipment and bust
the culprit. Well, it happened so fast, it
was like a dream, and afterwards it had
me wondering why in dreams, does time
ever really make much difference? Well,
it was back with me-the camera and the
little computer box, the long hose-like
lens, the evidence, everything-and 1
reviewed it, and sure enough I had
video'd one of the Matthews kids.
probably on his way to school. He pulled
out a big black marker and scrawled out
his name or tag or code name or what-
ever you wanna call it. I showed my
Aunt Millie the video footage. She was
happy All of the sudden it was nighttime
again. I couldn't wait till morning. She
kept saying "First thing. I'm marching
straight up to tell his parents." I felt good
because I could see how happy she
was. But now the time came when I'd
have to ask her permission to use the
lion alarm clock. Well, I did. At first I
thought for sure she was gonna say no,
but this was a dream. She said, "Yes. Just
one minute, and I'll go get him." She
went into her room and came back
with the lion in her hands. I was so
happy as she plugged him in and sat him
on the nightstand next to my bed. At
first it was hard for me to get to sleep
after she turned out the light to my
room and said good night, because I kept
imagning what it would be like to wake
up to the sound of a lion's roar. But it
wasn't until the next day that I realized it
was all just a dream, because I woke up
with her shrugging at my shoulder. "It's
time to get up. Breakfast is ready."1
didn't wanna get up. I only wanted to
sleep, sleep soundly until I awoke to the
sound of a lion's roar
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