Chapter Seventeen: Elevator Choice:

For some reason, I remembered a strange little antidote from my days as a soldier. I didn’t know why I thought of this. It just popped up in my head. Anyway, I remembered this particular incident. This was the night before I went off to that stupid war.

We were spending the night in downtown Bangkok. It was some sort of a going-away party. The guys were enjoying themselves with drinks, dancing, and flirting with the ladies there. I spent most of the party by myself. I didn’t think that I was in the mood. At the time, I wanted to be alone. I had gotten close to a couple of new recruits, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the argument that my girl and I had before I left. We still weren’t talking to each other. Normally, a guy would’ve given up and cut their losses. That just wasn’t who I had become. What did she do to me? One of the officers walked up and smacked me on the back.

“You having fund, boy?” he asked. I forced a smile on my face.

“I’m a little tired,” I said. “I think I might call it a night.” The officer, I don’t remember what his name was, frowned.

“So soon? Well, get some rest, private,” he said. I bowed my head.

“Thank you,” I said. I finished my drink and walked away from the bar. Now, this party was on the ground floor of this building. In order to go to my dorm, I had to take the elevator up. Our rooms were up three or four, no, three floors up. I pressed the up button and waited. I had just planned to go up to my room, take a shower, and go to bed. Two other soldiers walked by, laughing and talking loudly. They didn’t see me as I flashed them a little wave. I barely knew those guys anyway.

I looked up when I heard the elevator ding. The doors slid open to reveal six other people inside. So much for riding alone in my thoughts. I slid in through the gap and walked all the way to the back. It wasn’t going to be a long ride up.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

So, there we all were. Seven people in an elevator. All of us standing there in silence as we rode up to the room. I couldn’t remember a time that felt so awkward. I felt tempted to speak up, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. Oh boy…

Just when I thought that it couldn’t get any weirder, one guy walked up and pressed the emergency stop button. That caught our attention.

“Huh?” I asked.

“What the hell?!” one of the other men asked. The man who pushed the button stepped forward. He kept his back to us.

“So, I bet you are wondering why I’ve gathered you here,” he said. No…

“No, we weren’t,” a man in front of me said.

“What the hell are you talking about, old man?” another man asked. Finally, the old man turned around. We could barely see his face with the brim of his hat hiding his eyes. He broke into a huge grin.

“Good, now we can begin,” he said.

“What the hell are you doing?” another guy asked. “I have a flight to catch in the morning. I don’t have time for this crap!” The old man held up his hand.

“This won’t take up too much of your time. I promise,” he said. I stared at him just as confused as everyone else in the elevator. He lowered his hand.

“If you could have one wish in the world, what would it be?” he asked. There was a long pause.

“What kind of a question is that?” the man with a morning flight to catch asked.

“Just humor me with this,” he said. The elevator went quiet again. The old man stood waiting.

“Um…” one man spoke up. All eyes were on him. The man didn’t back down.

“I just don’t want to be a disappointment to my family,” he said. He sounded so genuine. The old man nodded as he listened. He didn’t say a word.

“Well… I just want to get back home and see my kids again,” another man said.

“Is there any point to this?” plane guy asked. The old man didn’t answer. Plane guy groaned and rolled his eyes. One by one, everyone started listing what they wished for. I listened to this group of strangers. These were all just men with simple desires. Lonely men, ordinary men. Some of them reminded me of me in a way.

I noticed everyone was looking at me. Oh…

“And what about you?” the old man asked. I pointed to the bridge of my nose. Me? The plane guy narrowed his eyes.

“Hurry up and tell us your stupid wish so that we can get on with it,” he said. Everyone kept staring at me.

“Uh…” I said. My eyes shifted back and forth. Everyone wanted to get off of this elevator. I was holding everyone up. Okay then…

I quietly said my wish to myself.

The old man grinned. He said one more thing before pushing the up button.

“Thank you for your time, gentlemen,” he said. That was more to himself. The plane guy snorted.

“What the hell was the point of all of that?” he asked. At the time, I didn’t know what it was, but it felt like something was at stake here with this exercise.

The next day, my troop and I headed off to that stupid war.

Honestly, I don’t know why I thought about that weird memory.