An Elevated Experience

I was already late.

I managed to catch every stoplight on the way there. I parked the car in a rush.

The sun was shining brightly. I passed several people in the lot as I hustled toward the building.

Nobody made eye contact. Nobody even looked at me. Some were intently gazing straight ahead, others staring at the ground. One was talking on her phone and another was fumbling with a stylus on a PDA pad.

I lamented on our seemingly devolving society as I darted thought the main entrance toward the elevators. Narcissism and self absorption have become the norm.

The elevator door started to close; I ran quickly toward it.

Hold the door.

I could see two men inside the elevator car.

One was furiously typing some incredibly important secrets of the universe on his handheld. He was jabbing the keys frantically and his expression was sour.

The other was kneeling on the floor ruffling through his black laptop bag. His head was cocked sideways as he fingered through each document laying inside his bag, carefully examining each one before he moved to the next.

Neither man looked up. Neither man moved. Not a single inch.

I reached the elevator just in time. The door made a harsh grating noise as it jerked back open and allowed me to to pass.

I practically jumped through, apparently startling the Mad Texter. His head jerked up; his expression morphed from simply sour to sheer acid as he looked at me. Apparently I'd interrupted his digital conversation. His gaze at me didn't last long. His handheld vibrated and his attention promptly returned to the device.

The Paper Shuffler didn't look up at all. He grunted at the document he was looking at and grabbed for the next. As for my entrance, apparently he hadn't even noticed that I had stepped onto the elevator.

I looked at the panel. Curiously, none of the buttons were lit. Still slightly out of breath, I pushed the button for my floor.

I looked at the men standing on either side of me and considered letting them in on the fact that they hadn't selected their floor. It was at that moment that Paper Shuffler found the document he was looking for, grumbled, and got to his feet. He muttered to himself as he searched for something in his jacket pocket. He pulled out a pen and started scrawling on the paper.

The doors to the elevator closed and we started to ascend.

I looked closely at both men. I was not entirely sure either man was aware I had joined them. Again, I considered apathy and the downfall of our society.

I decided to remain silent. Apathy, be damned. My elevator companions could figure out their own travel paths with out my involvement.

When the doors opened on my floor, I exited without saying a word. I heard the door close behind me. I chuckled as I tried to guess how long it would be before the two men realized what happened.