THE LIFT - POLLY GRANGER #1
Polly was late for work. Everything had been going wrong. She had slept through her alarm this morning. How could that happen? She felt grimy, because in all the rush she hadn't had time to shower. She had laddered her tights, snagged on something on the tube. She had had to stand the whole way from Holborn.
Now she was waiting for the lift at her office building on Canary Wharf. A magnificent building that rose into the sky, floor upon floor, as it dominated this part of the London horizon. She was involved in the most bizarre of conversations.
"Believe me lady, you don't want to catch this lift."
"Yes. I do."
"No Ma'am," replied the smaller, compactor of the two, "not now, not this lift."
"But this is my lift, I work here."
"Not this lift Ma'am, try later, or that one over there."
Polly wanted to scream, but she was still holding it together.
"Listen to me. This is my lift. I catch it every day. I am very late. I am catching this lift."
"Can't let you do that Ma'am."
"And stop calling me Ma'am. Are you Americans?" she asked exasperatedly.
"No Ma'am, we are adventurers."
Polly paused for thought. They were two of the weirdest guys she had seen in a long time. It wasn't the brightly coloured purple, green, and orange hair and beards, or the alchemical symbols tattooed on their faces. It was their costumes. Like two guys from a SWAT team, but tie dyed instead of camouflage. Perhaps that was their camouflage. Both men carried extra-large duffle bags.
"Gentlemen, I am catching this lift."
"Okay Ma'am," replied the smaller, who now accepted that the persistent woman was going to share their ride. He introduced himself as Walter. "And this is André," he indicated his larger companion.
"Like the giant?"
"Yes, like the giant."
"Weird," she muttered, "who are these nutters?"
"Not nutters Ma'am," said André, in a voice that was decidedly silken for a man of his stature, adventurers."
"Adventurers with supersonic hearing?" she muttered again blushing.
"Yes Ma'am, it comes in handy."
"On adventures?"
"Yes Ma'am, on adventures."
Polly was saved from any more of this whack job conversation by the ding of the bell. The lift doors whispered open.
Standing either side of the door, the two mismatched, but identically dressed men bowed their heads and held out an arm, inviting her to enter first. With a few unexpected butterflies in her stomach, Polly stepped into the lift.
.
THE LIFT IS NOW AVAILABLE AS A 12,000 WORD NOVELLA (Published June 2021)
.
COPYRIGHT RICHARD WEALE ©2020
