Mini story 1
John thought he would wait for another elevator since this one was so crowded, but decided that he would squeeze in. Everyone was going to the lobby so he didn’t even bother to try and push the “L” button. He hoped that he wouldn’t be late for his first real date with Chelsea. He’d met her online (“a sure sign of a pathetic existence,” he told himself) but, they really seemed to have a lot in common, and he had sent he a real picture of himself so he wasn’t worried she’d be surprised with his appearance. She had a dog, which John was real excited about since he couldn’t have pets in his apartment. He was even more excited when she said it was an Irish Setter; he had a stereotypical view that a single middle-aged woman would have some “yip” dog-one of those poodles with little bows in their fur. He looked at his watch and cursed to himself that he was going to be late. A quick jolt and a sudden stop of the elevator told him that was indeed going to be the case.
Mini story 2
Karen cringed as she saw yet another man try to squeeze onto the elevator. They were already packed in like a subway car, why didn’t he just wait for the next one? She then refocused on the lousy day she had just had. Mr. Randolph, her boss, had asked (aka told) her to work on Saturday to help with the monthly close. This was her weekend with her son and that last thing she wanted to do was give her ex-husband an extra weekend with him. The department had already been through yet another round of layoffs, and she couldn’t afford not to be a team player. She thought about what would happen when she told her son that he was going to spend an extra weekend with his father; he would scream with excitement about being able to spend an extra weekend playing video games, while she pretended not to be disappointed about his excitement. She had wanted to get him a WII for Christmas, but she just couldn’t get the money. Karen was working diligently convincing herself that was the only reason her son wanted to spend extra time with his father, when she felt a quick jolt and the elevator stopped dead.
Mini story 3
Richard wondered when the guy that was pressed up next to him in the overcrowded elevator had last bathed. The stench was overpowering, at least to Richard, and he couldn’t wait to get off the elevator. He had always had claustrophobia, but thanks to his therapist, it seemed to be under control. He really didn’t have any choice, since the location of Merkel, Winters, and Salton, where he had just started working two months ago, was on the thirty-fifth floor. His therapist told him to take deep breaths and imagine himself in a very calm location. That seemed to be working, although right now he wished he could crack open an imaginary window. As he felt the sudden jolt and then realized that the elevator had stopped, all those therapeutic notions became moot as a sense of fear and dread overcame him and he embarrassingly found himself screaming and trying desperately to get out of the elevator.
Mini story 4
Jerry and Stephen couldn’t believe they were going to get away with it. All they had to do was get off this elevator, take a cab to the airport and catch their flight to Mexico and they would be home free with nearly two million dollars. They had been planning this caper (Jerry loved that word and used it often, much to Stephen’s chagrin) for months. No one at the armored car company where they worked knew they were lovers. Several employees thought it was odd that they spent so much time together outside of work, but they both talked often about their girlfriends so that no one would think anything was going on between them. They had just collected about one hundred thousand dollars from a gold exchange company on the forty-fourth floor and were barely able to contain their excitement on the elevator ride down, when they felt a sudden jolt and saw that the elevator had stopped dead.
Mini story 5
Jim was annoyed, as he felt his little shopping bag containing all his personal items from his ten years at Flagstaff Industries, being crushed against his thigh by yet another person squeezing into the elevator. He couldn’t understand how he had gotten laid off. He always got good performance reviews and he had even gotten a raise six months earlier. When Jackson called him into his office, he actually thought he was going to be promoted to management. As soon as he heard the word “rightsizing,” Flagstaff’s term of the month for “fired,” he knew it was all over. What was he going to tell his wife? They had just bought a new SUV and tuition at their kid’s private school was coming due. He wondered where, in this economy, he would get another job. Would they have to move? His wife was a nurse so she could get a job anywhere. The main reason he didn’t want to move was because he would have to leave Sara behind. Both Sara and Jim were married to other people, but that had prevented them from having a three-year affair. He was hoping that he could see Sara tonight, under the auspices of a night with the boys to drown his sorrows, when he felt a sudden jolt and realized that the elevator had stopped dead.
Instructor feedback
Again nice job building skyscrapers of plot. These 5 mini stories alone, if you were seriously invested in the subject matter and characters have the fuel to fire compelling short stories. . .
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