3/29/2006 - Larry

Sometimes when I am waiting for the elevator to pick me up I hear a voice. If I press the 'up' button and the elevator is going down, it slides right past my floor and I hear the voice ascend and descend accordingly. My favorite part is the chuckling. You can hear it grow and fade in volume;

fourth floor, hehehehehe

third floor, HEHEHEHEHEHE

second floor, hehehehehe

first floor, ........hehe.....

basement.

In spite of the talking and chuckling, and especially when I am not paying attention, Larry the Janitor and I startle each other at least once a day stepping on and off the elevator. When this happens, I jump and Larry chuckles. It goes like this:

Me: "!"
Larry: *chuckle chuckle*

Before Larry steps onto the elevator he is always saying something in a very excited way. He continues to talk as he pushes the button. It's like he's having a conversation with an old friend, only he's not talking to me really, and no one else is there.

Larry is the only person I really like listening to while he talks to himself. Most of the time I find it incredibly disturbing and annoying, but when Larry talks to himself I love it because Larry never has anything bad to say.

Today I am riding on the elevator with Larry and his big blue dumpster cart. "It's a grey, grey day," he says, and I don't say anything, I just listen to him. "It's terribly grey and rainy."

He looks up at the sky and I follow his gaze, but I don't see anything except for the grated elevator ceiling with the tiny circulating fan behind it that's supposed to help us breath in this metal box.

"Ye look up at the sky and all you see is grey." He closes his eyes and shakes his head and for a moment I think I might not hear him chuckle this time. But then he opens his eyes and cracks the biggest smile I've ever seen. The kind that squeezes the water out of your eyeballs like they're sponges and pushes it all to the corners of your eyes, making them sparkle and holler in jubilation.

"Oh but just a while ago all that grey broke apart just a little bit,"

He's looking up at the sky again. "And there was our glorious sun, and it was just shining down on all of us, and it lit up the world just for a second..." There's the chuckle. I am so happy to listen to Larry talk.

".... thank you Lord, for this day. Thank you for this day, Lord!" He lets loose a rich, deep laugh as he walks out of the elevator and pushes his big blue dumpster into the hallway. His laughter fades away as the doors close and he walks away from me; and I am left almost, but not quite, the way I began: speechless.

There are angels among us. I know it, I love it.