Ela was in The Asansör.  ‘Asansör’ literally meant ‘elevator’ in Turkish.  However this wasn’t just an asansör, it was The Asansör.  It was a red brick tower built into the side of a hill that consisted solely of two elevators.  There were two stops, zero and one, both of which were on a ground floor.  As a plaque on the tower explained:

One of the historical places Izmir, Asansör Tower has been built in the year 1907 by a jewish philanthropist; Nesim Levi Bayraklıoğlu to render the difficulty for the elders, children and pregnant women to climb the stairs due to the altitude differences between Mithatpaşa Street and Halil Rıfat Quarter.

Ela tried to not give much thought as to why Mr. Bayraklıoğlu would want to render things more difficult for the elderly.  She also tried not to pay much attention to the wailing songs of Dario Moreno that played in the elevator, but this was harder to do.  Ela stepped out of the Asansör at the top (floor 1).  That placed her in the middle of the Asansör Restaurant patio where Green was seated with Dirty by his side.

“Ela!”  Green called out “Glad you could make it, come have a seat.”

Ela pulled up a chair and gave Dirty a pat on the head.  “Green, you haven’t washed this poor dog yet?”

“I’ve washed him twice.”  Green defended himself.  “He just rolls in the mud the moment you let him outside.  He wants to stay true to his name.”  Ela looked down at Dirty, Dirty looked back up at her, though it was hard to be sure since his shaggy hair covered so much of his face. 

A waiter brought them both glasses of blended scotch and a plate with moss covered rocks on it.  Green picked up one of the rocks and eyed it suspiciously.  “Anything else?” The waiter asked.

Green dropped the rock back on the plate.  “No, that’s all thanks.”

When the waiter walked away Ela asked “Why did he bring us these rocks?”

“Who knows?  It’s probably trendy at the moment to have some mossy rocks on the table.”  Green picked up his drink.  “He brought us what’s important.”

They had a drink.  “So why did you want to see me?” Ela enquired.

“I thought it’d be a nice day out, beautiful weather today.  I was already coming here with my photography club; I thought you’d like to come out as well.”

“Photography club?  Where are they?”

“Most of them are over there at Yaşar Aksoy Park.  You can get a good shot of the Asansör Tower from there.  Ah, but here comes one of our members now, Esen.”  Esen was a woman of about 30 years of age.  She would be beautiful if it were not for the rather serious scowl on her face.  “Hey Esen, how’s it going?”

Esen looked at Green and said “When anger surges through thy heart, let not thy foolish tongue take part.”  Then Esen took one of the mossy stones from the table, turned and marched off.

“What’s with her?”  Ela asked.

“Oh the whole photo club is in a bit of a tiff.  It was my turn to pick out a location to go to and they thought my choice to be unoriginal.  But it’s a great place for photos, you have the tower, a great view of the bay and we have Dirty, he makes a great subject.”  Green pointed over to Yaşar Aksoy Park where several people were taking photos of the tower with expensive looking cameras “They complained but it hasn’t stopped them from taking plenty of photos.”

The two of them sat there silently for a while.  A steady stream of people walked through the restaurant patio to get to the elevator.  Asansör Tower was a tourist attraction but locals also relied on it to get up and down the hill.  At the foot of the tower a photographer unconnected to Green’s club took shots of a wedding party.  After a while the waiter returned, after a quick glance at the plate of stones he proclaimed “You took one of our stones!”

“One of my friends took it.”  Green explained.  “I’ll get her to return it.”

“No!  You stole it!  You’re trying to steal our stones!”

“It’s just a little rock, relax, I’ll get it back.”

The waiter was now red in the face.  “You stole our stone!”  He grabbed Green and demanded “Give back the stone.”  Green had remained calm until the waiter touched him, then he delivered a punch to the waiter’s nose that sent him sprawling across the floor.  The other patrons at the restaurant gave them horrified looks.

“I think we should go.”  Suggested Ela.

“Agreed.”  Green threw some lira on the table, more than necessary, and they went out.  They walked in the direction of Yaşar Aksoy Park.  As they walked by Green called out “Esen, they want that rock back, please return it.  I’ve got to go, see you all at the next meeting.”  Everyone but Esen said goodbye and wished him well, if somewhat insincerely.

Once the Asansör Restaurant was out of sight Ela said to Green “So there’s nothing you wanted to tell me?”

“There’s nothing really left to tell.  You’ve made your decision and now you’ll have to live with it.”

“I’m not going to kill Red.”

Green ignored her proclamation.  He suddenly had bigger concerns.  “We forgot Dirty!”  He cried out.  Green spun around, Dirty was right there, following behind them.  Relieved, Green reached down to pet his dog.  “Dirty, Dirty, Dirty.  You make me want to think like a mountain.”