Anger Management -- A One Minute Story

Author's note... So, I'm in the elevator the other day, and this weird little drama starts playing out in my head ... what if...?

I walk on the elevator on the 53rd floor, hit the "L" button, and take my usual spot, holding up the corner with my back, hands gripping the brass bar just above my ass.

The doors close. The descent begins.

Across the car, I catch my reflection in the red plastic panel.

I fix my hair.

The elevator slows to a stop. I roll my eyes. Sometimes, working on the 53rd floor, you just feel entitled to an uninterrupted trip to the lobby. Once in a while. Every so often. When you want it.

The doors slide back into the shaft. This guy walks on.

He's short, a little stocky, but not too stocky. Older, probably in his fifties. Thin hair that fills his forehead. He's wearing a light blue shirt and a navy blazer. And he's carrying this briefcase...that's more like a ... a... a minature piano. It's this giant rectangular cube with a little briefcase clasp on top, black, all beaten up. Must be a lawyer.

I look at him and then at the case. What the hell is he carrying in there?

I look at him again. I bet I could take him.

"Give me your briefcase," I say, without moving.

"What?"

"Give me your briefcase."

He laughs, nervously. I don't. I don't blink and I don't look away. "Why should I?" he says, and his voice breaks a little, but he clenches his fist, too. I've got him -- he's considering it...

"I want it," I say. "I'm going to take it." And lean over and reach for the weathered black leather handle.

A meaty hand shoves me back. So I stand up and punch the guy in the gut. As hard as I can.

But it doesn't feel very hard. I must have held back. So I hit him again and again until the air rushes out of my lungs like an old accordian and in my head I picture a mighty pendulum swinging into my own gut and smashing me against the wall.

The man picked up his giant briefcase and left the elevator.

"I will have that briefcase," I tried to shout, but it came out as more of croak.

The elevator door closed.

I go back to work.

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