It’s a Beautiful Morning, But Did you Notice?
Probably the story of every person
It was a beautiful morning, but Sam didn’t notice.
Like every morning, scrolling through his Instagram feed, he pressed the button for the elevator. His office was on the sixth floor of the Grand Park Tower. Music blared into his ears, drowning out the city noise. Coffee in one hand and his phone in the other, he would enter the elevator.
A short thirty second ride would take him to his destination.
The elevator door opened to reveal two fellow iPhones scrolling away. Sam noted that he had met the one in the back with a dark green shirt. Or rather seen her many times in the elevator. She usually exited on the third floor.
Sam entered, his eyes still on his phone screen as his thumb pushed one photo up to disclose another. Hah! This is a good photo, he thought as he saw the picture he had been tagged in. It only got forty-two likes? Do I look fat? Nah! Maybe it was just posted too late last night.
The elevator halted, one of the iPhones got out. Sam moved to clear the path, and scrolled again. This time on the Gram popped a picture of his cousin standing on a beach, happily tossing a ball. #Weekendvibes read the post. Sam smirked as he remembered the same guy had called him three days ago. Dumped by his girlfriend, there was no way he could be so happy.
Sam felt another jerk as the elevator halted again, the dark green shirt exited. It will be my floor next, Sam reminded himself. His attention was snatched back by his phone that vibrated to notify him that his photo had received another like. Sam felt good as his thumb automatically clicked to see who was this person giving this forty-third like. It was his mom.
Ah! He had forgotten to call her again yesterday.
It had been almost two months since he had spoken to her. The last time she called, he had sent it to voicemail. He would call her today, he decided.
The elevator halted for the third time, and Sam stepped out with his eyes still to on his mom’s profile picture. He noticed she only followed three people- him, his sister and his sister’s husband Paul. As a kid, Sam had been close to his Mom. He would share everything with her. They would go to the Hudson River Walk Park at Tarrytown. Sitting on a funny smelling park bench, they looked at the Hudson, carrying the ferryboats from one bank to the other. It was after he went to college that Sam started censoring his stories for Mom, and they slowly drifted apart. Sam decided to set a reminder, to call that evening.
As his phone turned into a calendar, Sam suddenly felt a cool breeze on his face. He looked up from his phone. He had walked a few steps from the elevator in the usual direction of his office desk. With his nose no longer facing his phone, he realized he was in a small corridor. As his eyes adjusted to the beam of natural light coming from the door ahead, he realized that this was not leading him to his work space. He removed his headphones from his ears, and he could hear the distant murmur of city. Had he gotten off on a wrong floor?
And then it hit him!
Sam had forgotten to select his floor when he got into the elevator. Within three scrolls on the Instagram page, the ride had brought him straight to its default last stop: the topmost level of the building.
Sam had never been there, he realized as his feet carried him forward onto the terrace. Breathing in the morning fresh air he looked over the city scape. The tall buildings peeked through a blanket of fluffy white clouds. He could see the Hudson flowing peacefully as the ferries scurried away. Sam smiled as he tried to see if the River Walk was visible from so far away. He could almost remember the funny smell of the park bench.
