The Dreaded Meeting

   Gregory charged along the spiralling streets with an air of anxiety. He was due at a meeting later today concerning the future of the company which he ran. The prospect of being jobless after many years in charge was looking ever more likely. The relationship between Gregory and his employees had been fractured long before last week’s financial blow which had further plunged the company into chaos. Gregory was a pessimistic person, but he had a strong feeling that this meeting would be his last, and he felt that many others probably suspected this too. Was there any point in even attending this financial meeting?  

As he entered his workplace, he noticed someone getting inside a lift. Gregory sprinted towards the lift, hoping to get to the meeting as quickly as possible, only to be greeted by an uncompromising grey door slamming in his face.

“I better make the most of now as that’s likely to be the best thing to happen to me all day,” muttered Gregory.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Gregory wandered over towards the nearest escalator. As he stepped on the moving staircase, His thoughts were still consumed by his crucial meeting. A colourful poster on the side of the escalator soon interrupted his thoughts and made Gregory laugh. He felt that a weight had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.

“My rucksack!” cried Gregory, who had hastily spun around to find his brown backpack lying on the escalator, a few steps down from him.  

The usually popular escalator was currently deserted, therefore highlighting what was probably the only disadvantage of going in early today; having no one else around to help him. The escalator continued on with its usual ascent, as though nothing out of the ordinary was occurring. Gregory attempted to walk down the escalator the wrong way in order to retrieve his rucksack. While he found this to be somewhat difficult, he noted that it was easier to go against the flow of the escalator than it was to go against some of his colleagues. Gregory clutched onto his bag, however it refused to budge. The noticeable absence of colleagues made him not care about whether he looked stupid or not as he bent down and tried to twist his bag around, but to no avail. He didn’t want to break his bag as it had lots of necessary documents for his meeting. He urgently needed a pair of scissors, something which he didn’t currently have. It was starting to feel like the longest escalator ride ever.

Gregory turned to face forwards again in order to see how much time he had. Luckily, he was now stood on the longest escalator in the building and it had roughly just passed the one-third distance. He knew that it would be too problematic to go against the movement and run to the bottom of the escalator. Gregory decided instead to sprint to the top of the escalator before a plan could formulate in his head. 

He then proceeded to hurtle down the staircase towards the reception desk.

The receptionist was involved in a deep conversation with a colleague before turning to address Gregory, “That’s not something you hear every day.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s Monday,” replied the receptionist.

“Oh, right. That’s true. Look, I’m really sorry, but I need some help quickly. My rucksack is stuck on an escalator,” said Gregory urgently.

The receptionist gave Gregory an odd look.

“I know it’s probably the first time you’ve had to deal with this kind of thing but I had to leave my rucksack behind on the escalator in order to get help quickly. I need a pair of scissors, or anything to free the rucksack before it gets to the top. I’ve got many important documents in there you see,” explained Gregory.

“OK, I’ll get one of the escalator technicians over to you,” replied the receptionist.

“Why do you need to call out an escalator specialist just to get a pair of scissors?” reasoned Gregory.

“It’s not part of my job description, so it’s either them or no one,” snapped the receptionist.

Within moments, a man donning a hat which was shaped like a step on an escalator walked towards the reception desk.

“Are you the escalator technician?” asked Gregory nervously.

“No, I’m the escalator cleaner,” he replied.

Another man wearing an escalator hat bounded towards Gregory, and stood next to the escalator cleaner. “How may I help you?” he smiled.

The visibility of people wearing such hats was another sign that Gregory was early to work. Either that or he was still dreaming.

“I need help urgently. My rucksack got stuck on the escalator and I left it behind to get help. I don’t know how far up it is but it must be getting near the top,” said Gregory.

“Man, so the escalator might be put out of use? Thanks for informing me man,” said the escalator technician.

“I was a bit more concerned about my bag getting damaged to be honest. It’s important for my upcoming meeting. I need to free it with scissors or something,” said Gregory.

“Well, we both want to rectify this situation don’t we man? The escalator is 172 steps high and it takes about two and a half minutes to get to the top, so we’ve still got a chance to save your rucksack and my escalator as well man. Especially if I shut up now. Let’s go man,” replied the technician ushering Gregory to follow him.

“I was almost starting to forget my gender there for a moment,” muttered Gregory to himself.

As they reached the bottom of the escalator, both men stopped to see if they could see the whereabouts of the rucksack.

“I think I can see it. Is it brown?” asked the technician

“It is,” replied Gregory.

“I make it about 40 steps from the top. I don’t know if we can get there in time. Someone’s halfway up the escalator, let’s ask if they can help,” said the technician before calling out, “Oi! Can you help?”

The stranger on the escalator turned around abruptly.

The technician continued shouting, “This bloke over here got his rucksack caught in the escalator, and we need you to free it in any way you can. There’s not much time left.”

The stranger looked ahead to the top of the escalator. “OK, I’ll give it a go,” she said, making her way towards the rucksack.

The technician looked at Gregory, “Let’s go up too.”

“I’m not sure if I want to. I think I’ve suddenly developed a fear of escalators,” replied Gregory.

“Come on, just get on and don’t think about it,” replied the technician reassuringly.

As the escalator technician and Gregory started to run up the escalator, they noticed the stranger had made significant progress on their way to the rucksack.

“I reckon she’s only got ten seconds left,” commented the technician.

“I’ve done it,” shouted the stranger triumphantly.

Before Gregory could react, he could feel himself losing control as he slipped over. “At least my rucksack’s alright now,” he muttered while he lay on the escalator feeling helpless.  After making a few failed attempts to get up, the escalator technician offered to help Gregory up.

“Thanks,” said Gregory standing back up.

As he neared the top of the escalator, Gregory froze in horror. The very person he didn’t want to see was currently stood with her back to Gregory at the top of the escalator. Gregory was being driven closer by the escalator even though he didn’t want to.

“I can’t get off,” said Gregory.

“What?” replied the escalator technician.

“I know it sounds stupid but I’ve got to stay on this escalator. If I don’t, I’ll face the wrath of my accountant,” said Gregory.

“What about your rucksack?” replied the technician.

“I’ll let the CCTV cameras keep a watchful eye on it,” said Gregory.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Can you look after it please then? Just for a couple of minutes” asked Gregory as he started to make his way down the ascending escalator for the second time. Luckily, no other people were using the escalator at this present moment. Once Gregory had reached the halfway point, he slowed his pace so that he was going at the same speed as the escalator, albeit in the opposite direction. This had the effect of him staying in the same location while the surface under him moved.

To pass the time Gregory stared at the escalator which shined an unambiguous shade of silver. He felt that now was the time to get acquainted with his enemy. The more time he spent observing it, the more he began to appreciate its features. While each step looked the same from a distance, they each had their own character. Some steps had their grooves worn out and looked to soon be in need of replacing, while others looked boastful in their sheer metallic glory. It suddenly hit Gregory, how much he had missed out on during his daily escalator commute. All these small things which he took for granted. Things which he had unseen over time. Sounds which he neglected on a daily basis, such as the soft whirring emanating from below. All of which had been snatched away by his subconscious from what must have been some twenty years ago. Gregory realised that a part of him had died, yet that very part of him had now been resurrected. How had he let all of this fade into his subconscious? The escalator before his very eyes had just been bought back to life. Never was he going to let this, or anything else for that matter fade out of his consciousness ever again.   

“I’ve been here too long haven’t I?” muttered Gregory once he had drifted out of his thoughts. With a new lease of life, Gregory faced in the right direction again, and grabbed onto the black handrail with determination, in order to make sure no further accidents would happen. All he wanted was to finally get off safely.

Gregory was knocked backwards as someone pushed past him.

“You’re standing on the wrong side of the escalator.”

“It was a mistake. Anyway, you still had room to get past me,” moaned Gregory who had hurt himself in the process.   

By the time he had finally reached the top, he had to limp off the escalator.

“Have a good meeting,” said the escalator technician handing Gregory back his rucksack.

Gregory froze. He’d forgotten about the meeting during the whole escalator drama. However he was just grateful to make it through this series of incidents.

Luckily for Gregory, the meeting went without any incident and the accountant had come along to the meeting with positive news. All of Gregory’s employers had kept to their best behaviour too. Gregory walked out of the room with a smile on his face. He had never envisioned that things would turn out this good. Gregory’s expression dropped as a familiar whirring noise dominated the surrounding area. Gregory sighed and rounded the corner to be confronted by the rotating silver beast.

Gregory spoke with defiance as he pulled up his shirt sleeves, “Round 2, here we come.”