I stood in the elevator, Muzak in my ears and the drowsy scent of perfume in my nostrils. The elevator belonged to an exclusive downtown office building - the kind with a marble floor in the foyer that goes on for longer than you can hold your breath. The perfume belonged to the elegant lady lawyer who had stepped out with silk stockinged legs at the twenty-fifth in her hi-powered red suit and Manolo Blahniks. I didn't belong anywhere in this building. I was only there to meet a friend.
The elevator stopped only a couple of floors short of the penthouse. The doors opened and the Muzak kept going - Coolio played on some Binatone electronic harpsichord. The lobby was empty except for another business lady - younger this time - in short black skirt and hounds tooth check jacket - carrying a leather briefcase. She stepped into the privacy of the elevator and I was suddenly aware of how scruffy I must look in my jeans and leather car coat. The air was sweet with a new perfume - a muskier, more intoxicating blend. I shuffled my feet.
"Thirty, please", she said. Two floors further up. I didn't have to touch a button. Thirty was were I was going too. The doors closed. We both looked at the floor. The lift started and then stopped again, moments later. We both looked at each other - I tried a smile, shrugged my shoulders as if to say ,"All the money in this building and they can't even get the lifts to work properly." She didn't say a thing. Nothing happened - and seemed to take a long time about it. We both sneaked glances at each other a couple more times - becoming gradually less and less sure how to handle the situation - until she finally strode over to the emergency phone and pulled it out of its cabinet. She held it to her ear.
"Engaged!", she said. "How the fuck can an emergency telephone be engaged?" She held it out to me so I could hear the tone.
"Beats me," I said, "Maybe all the elevators have stopped and they've only got one phone line?"
"Maybe," she looked angry. "Fucking typical. How many elevators do you think they have in this building?"
"There were six sets of doors in the lobby."