Chapter Two -- An Elevator Named Frank

He pushed 36 again, hard, and this time the doors opened when the lights showed 29. He pushed again and again, but it never stopped at 36.
 
 

Finally, the elevator opened at 25, and a little red-headed curly-haired boy in funny-looking shoes got aboard. The shoes had big thick soles that made him look about three inches taller than he was.
 
 

Mike was so mad at the elevator that he was in no mood to be friendly to strangers. "Why are you wearing those silly-looking shoes?" he asked. "Are you trying to look taller than you are?"
 
 

"Silly-looking shoes?" the kid asked back. You're a fine one to talk -- wearing street shoes on an elevator."
 
 

"And what should I wear on an elevator?" Mike challenged back.
 
 

"Elevator shoes, of course. Just like these."
 
 

"Who are you, anyway?" asked Mike.
 
 

"Leroy's the name, and fun's the game." The kid did a double backward somersault, which is awfully hard to do in the closet-like space of an elevator.
 
 

Mike didn't know what to say to that. So he just turned toward the elevator controls.
 
 

"Don't push those buttons, kid," said Leroy. "They won't do you any good. Frank here will just take you where he wants to take you."
 
 

"Frank?"
 
 

"Some elevators have minds of their own. At least this one does. His name is Frank."
 
 

The elevator lights flashed off and on. Mike turned around quickly. There was no one else in the elevator with them. The doors were shut.
 
 

"Look, kid," said Leroy. "Do you want to be a button-pusher all your life? Me, I just let it take me where it's going to take me. No button pushing for me, right Frank?"
 
 

The elevator lights flashed off and on again, and without either of them pushing any buttons, the elevator went speeding upwards.

 Mike leaned against the back wall, breathing heavily. Aunt Maggie was waiting in the car out front. She would start to worry. He couldn't let Leroy, this silly little kid in elevator shoes, get in his way. And Leroy was standing in front of the buttons now, smiling like he knew everything there was to know in the world.
 
 

Mike lunged at him. Leroy ducked aside, and Mike landed against the wall with the buttons. Half a dozen buttons lit up. He must have hit them all by mistake.
 
 

Quickly he hit 36. But it was too late. Already, the elevator was turning downward.
 
 

"Oh, no!' screamed Mike. "Now it will take forever to get to Mrs. Grant's apartment. And Aunt Maggie is waiting..."
 
 

Leroy laughed, rolling on the floor, kicking the air with his big elevator shoes. "Look, kid. Don't take it to heart. That button pushing doesn't make any difference -- none at all."
 
 

"But don't you understand?" asked Mike. "Now it will have to go to all those other floors before it goes to my floor, Mrs. Grant's floor -- number 36."
 
 

Leroy laughed some more. "Do you think you're the first kid who has pushed a bunch of buttons? Why this high rise is full of kids, just like you and me. And they all want to go somewhere. Some are in a hurry. Some just want to mess around and push buttons and see what happens. Why, those buttons have been pushed so many times already, it'll be years before Frank here gets around to yours."
 
 

The elevator went up and down, up and down, stopping at one floor or another for a few seconds before rising or falling again. Mike just stood there staring at the flashing lights of the floor indicator. He was puzzled. "You just said this elevator is named Frank." 

"Right, kid."
 
 

"And that this elevator has a mind of its own and can go anywhere."
 
 

"Right, kid."
 
 

"But which is right? Is it going to all the floors that all those kids pushed? Or is it just going where it wants to?"
 
 

"Beats me, kid," Leroy laughed. "Maybe Frank's just broken. Maybe when you push 36, he thinks you mean 33. And maybe you have to push 39 for him to hear 36. All kinds of things are possible if you want to worry about them. Me, I don't worry. I just figure Frank's got a mind of his own, and I go along for the ride."

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