A Smooth Get-Away

Planning for every known catastrophe, we check and double-check our plane and taxi reservations, we pack early, lock up our suitcases, turn off water, gas, electricity, notify friends. We can never be too careful.

There's always a new wrinkle to every trip. The taxi doesn't show up, there's a greve and traffic is completely blocked, we leave something on or open.

No exception this week. We were taking our suitcases down the elevator in the dark early morning hours. Trying to be quiet for our neighbors. Trying to make a smooth get-away.

I was stationed at the bottom on the ground floor, taking the suitcases out of the elevator and lining them up inside the door to the street. As I watched the elevator, which was supposed to be heading my way with one last load, but instead of going down, it went up. Yikes. Then, I heard an awful elevator noise like the doors were unsuccessfully opening and then closing, frantically trying to expel our suitcases.

I raced up the stairs, grabbed Terry and we went up. The suitcases were stuck in the door.

Evidently one of the suitcases tipped or rolled into the buttons for the floors. When it rolled, it also stuck in the little accordion doors inside the main door. After five frantic minutes, seeing our flight leave without us, we freed the suitcases, got out to the street and into our waiting taxi.