Elevator Descent

A heavy rumble and a harsh scent of burning metal jolt two passengers in an elevator. John looks around to confirm the odor. He peers at the eyes of the woman in the elevator with him. She’s wearing headphones and smiling at TikTok videos of gardening, oblivious to the danger as she leans into her phone.

Eeeeeeeeeeeiiieeeeeclaaaaaank

The elevator sways, makes a sudden stop, and rattles, throwing its two occupants to the ground. John's heart races, his chest heaving with each breath.

“I haven’t even had a girlfriend yet, and I am already up to episode 1,639 of Soreike! Anpanman—just one left. I can’t die yet,” he thinks.

John tries to get up, but his knees feel like rubber. His nerves are overwhelming him. Of the six million ways to die, this scenario is dead last thanks to the pain of asphyxiation and his dread of tight spaces like elevators and MRI machines.

"A-a-are you okay?" he says to the woman, his voice high and cracking with fear.

"Oh, I'm fine. I think I twisted my ankle, but besides that, it's okay," she gives him a thumbs up. "They'll come get us anytime now."

"We don't know that," says John. "Maybe the building is on fire or we got hit by an earthquake." He tries to stand again to press the emergency button, but his body is still weak with fear. So he crawls. His knees ache from the hard surface. He's disgusted when he presses down on a moist piece of discarded gum. Angela notices that the back of his pants is wet. She smells urine and shrinks away from him in disgust.

"Dude, relax. I'm from LA and my family is originally from Peru. This happens all the time there. We get around ten thousand tremors per year. I’m over all the false alarms. Besides, I was on my way to work, and I hate that job, so this is a perfect excuse to just catch up on my TikToks." Angela used to suffer from panic attacks on a weekly basis until she discovered TikTok gardening videos. They work better and have fewer side effects than valium or weed at keeping her calm.

"You're crazy! We're gonna die here if we don't get out." The elevator shrieks again. John forces himself to stand and begins to throw his body against the door until something cracks and a slit of light three feet tall beams through. He pulls, screams, and cries to muster the strength to pry the doors open until finally, he does. The ledge to their floor is above them so he climbs and drags himself through the opening. "Come," he says to her and extends his hand. "We are free."

The elevator screeches again so he pulls his hand back.

"I'll just wait for this video to finish," she says as the elevator plunges 90 feet. Her eyes dart as she becomes pale, reading a notification on her phone.

“8.0 earthquake mangles NYC.” Her phone rings.

With wide-eyed shock, John looks down. “Was that the Soreike! Anpanman ringtone?” he thinks and covers his face in grief.

Curious Minds: A Lesson on Food and Learning

“What is food? Can anyone tell me what food is?” says Carol to her class of jittery kindergarteners.

“Food is delicious,” Tom's chubby fingers squeeze a Snickers bar. His mouth is smeared in chocolate.

“Very true," says Carol. “But that's not exactly the answer I am looking for.”

“Me, me,” Janine raises her hand enthusiastically.

Carol nods, “Take it away, Janine.”

“Food is crunchy, gooey, and smelly,” grins Janine as she remembers her least favorite dish, liver stew.

“Yes, but... come on guys, we spoke about nutrition in class every day this week,” Carol puts her hand on her forehead.

The children's faces scrunch up in thought.

Adam scribbles notes on his construction paper with crayons and says, “Food is energy. You can calculate how much energy using Einstein's equation E=mc2.”

“Well, that's not what we learned in class, but it's very impressive, Adam. Where did you learn that?” Carol fixes her glasses.

“ChatGPT. I asked it last week when you told us we’d start talking about food on Monday. That led me down a rabbit hole, and you know how that is.”

Carol looks around. “Thank you, Adam. And yes, you are correct. Have the rest of you heard of GPT?”

Everyone nods.

“So why didn’t you all use it?”

“My sister was making a boyfriend,” says Jeremy and puckers his lips.

“I was finding out who’d win in a fight between Octonauts and Dinosaur Train,” Bobby closes his fists.

“I see, so no one else used it to study, am I right?”

“No, Ma'am!” all except Adam shake their heads vigorously.

“Going forward, can we all agree to use all tools to get smarter and learn better?”

“Yes, Ma'am!” They all shake their heads vigorously.