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St. Valentine's Day
The lights went out the moment Mason lit up the last candle. He had a festive meal prepared and the
table laid in the office for St. Valentine’s Day. Samantha was out of town, and they could have stayed at
home, but Mason thought it would be nice to re-live their days of passion right here, the passion they
shared ‘christening’ the office or ‘working’ up late. Julia did not mind, and so—
“A convenient thing, those romantic candles,” he murmured. At least he did not have to sit in the
darkness now. “I wonder where Julia—”
The cell phone rang.
“Julia?”
“Where are you?” said the voice he could hardly recognize as his wife’s.
“Up in the office. What’s up, honey, where are you?”
“Stuck in the damned elevator, somewhere between floors.”
“Here?”
“Yes, this damned building. I can’t stay here another minute, do you hear?!”
“But Julia, you have to, maybe a few hours,” Mason reasoned. “If there’s no electricity there’s no way I
can possibly—”
“I CAN’T STAY HERE!!”
He heard some loud bangs.
“What is the noise?”
“Nothing, just me thrashing the walls. I told you, I told you, you forget I am claustrophobic, I can’t stay
here MASON!”
“Julia—”
“MASON I CAN’T STAY HERE!”
“Stay calm, Julia, you know there’s no real danger. Just a phobia,” he tried to appeal to her mind.
“No real danger? No real danger? Well, - well, look out of the window – do you see any lights at all?”
Mason had to admit the situation was worse than he’d expected: as far as he could see the whole city
was in total darkness. He gave a cough instead of an answer.
“So there’s no hope they’d start with this building, right? There’s no light—”
“Julia—”
“Mason Capwell, I don’t know what I shall do to you if you don’t get me out of here, N-O-W!”
“Julia, please. Don’t panic. You know there’s no way I can do it myself. You’re stuck between floors,
right?”
“I know. But can you imagine how I’m feeling locked in here, this tiny cubicle, and pitch-dark, I can
suffocate here, for heaven’s sake!!”
“No you cannot,” Mason argued. “It’s not hermetic. You will not starve, either. You just have to stay calm.”
But his words seemed to have no effect on her. The panic had seized Julia completely.
“Bring help now, or I’ll tell Samantha you’ve subjected her mother to torture,” she threatened.
Mason sighed. “Ok, Julia. Just try to relax. Breathe. There’s plenty of air in there.”
He disconnected the line and tried the stationary line. Dead. He tried to call emergency services, to no
avail. Obviously the problem with electricity left the city without means of communication.
After Mason’d tried every service he could think of, he had to give in. He dialed his father’s
troubleshooter’s number.
“Bill? It’s Mason. I need help.”
He did not have to add that. Bill knew perfectly well that Mason would rather die than turn to his father’s
man. If he did, something really serious must have happened. Well, Bill was a well-trained employee.
“What is it, Mason?” he asked coolly.
“My wife’s stuck in the elevator in our office building. She’s claustrophobic, and well, she does not feel
too good. I need to get her out. Immediately. And I mean immediately.”
“With no electricity—”
“With no electricity,” Mason said in a no-nonsense voice. “Use stuntmen from the latest action movie, or
steal a backup generator from a hospital if you have to. Who’s the troubleshooter here?”
Bill grinned. A chip off the old block.
“Yes, Mason,” he replied. “As soon as possible.”
“Sooner.”
“I’m on my way. Where are you yourself?”
“Top of the building. My office.”
“Ok.”
Hardly had Mason pressed the button when the cell phone rang again.
“Julia.”
“Mason how could you leave me ALONE?” she yelled. The voice was hardly his wife’s at all now. Mason
wondered what he could do.
“Julia. The communication lines are dead. I had to call for help. And I have only one cell phone on me, as
luck would have it,” he explained.
“I see,” she said so meekly Mason shivered. Was it really that bad?
“Please please hold the line,” she begged, “don’t leave me please – MASON?”
“Sure.”
He sat down, loosened his tie, and fitted his feet on the desk.
“I’m scared. I’m so afraid the ropes will give way.”
“They will not. You know ten people can get into that elevator, and you are skinny.”
He hoped for a flash of anger as a reaction to that, but the things appeared to be more complicated. Julia
turned a deaf ear to his questionable compliment.
“Mason – if something happens to me, tell Samantha I love her. You won’t fall off the wagon again if I get
killed – please Mason, Samantha’s going to need you?”
Mason definitely did not appreciate the direction her mind was racing.
“Julia. Nothing will happen to you. Nothing bad can happen. A few hours in that elevator is all you have
to bear. It’s not scary. Remember how we got stuck in the Capwell hotel elevator before we signed the
baby contract?”
“I did not want to get into that elevator with you,” Julia pointed out. “Tête-à-tête with you.”
“You did not want to be tête-à-tête with me anywhere,” he agreed. “Ok I dragged you in. But then, us
sitting on the floor, you leaning on my shoulder, me pouring my heart out – was it that bad? I mean it was
probably the first time you saw me for what I was.”
“Well, your revelations did tug at my heart,” she admitted. “I never expected you to be so – human.”
He chuckled. His scheme was working.
“I knew you were sincere. But – you always seem to have more than one motive for doing what you do,
you always have ulterior motives. How do I know you did not tell me all that about Mary and your unborn
baby just to make me change my mind?”
Mason shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe this too. Sometimes I cannot tell myself. I just know how I felt and
that I meant every word I said. If you changed your mind about my fatherhood, I can’t help being happy
for this byproduct of my confession.”
“I wouldn't put it past you to have paid to hold that elevator for an hour or two, to make me hear you,”
Julia said, and he could hear she was smiling.
And here he made a blunder.
“I wouldn’t undertake something as risky,” he said. The word ‘risky’ sent Julia back into her panic.
“RISKY? You see you admit it yourself it is risky, it is dangerous to be in a stuck elevator!”
Mason sighed audibly.
“You could have strangled me there, for all I know, that was all I meant,” he tried to amend.
“What does it matter now.”
“Ok, Julia, just relax. You won’t let that stupid elevator vanquish you, will you? You did not let it get in the
way of our happiness, once; remember when I got stuck and you were waiting for me on the beach?”
“Ha, that was when I really got close to murdering you. I felt so humiliated there, all dressed up, with the
dinner, the waiter, the violinist, all alone there, like a fool!”
“I’m sorry. Don’t let it defeat you, is all. We’re the masters here, not that silly machine. Let’s stay in
control. Remember when we stopped it? Before our rehearsal dinner?”
“Ah yes.”
By the sudden change in her tone Mason could tell she remembered it all right. He smiled. It was a much
better topic.
“Are you sitting down?” he asked.
“I am; why?”
“What do you have on?”
“A dress. Why, Mason?”
“Which dress?”
“That ivory one.”
“Ah, low-cut.”
“Right.”
“No bra fitting under it.” He lowered his voice to an intimate whisper.
“Right.”
“Stockings?”
He could tell she smiled. “Stockings.”
“High-heeled shoes?”
“I’ve kicked them off.”
“Good,” he approved. “I’ve loosened my bow tie.”
“Glad for you.”
“I’ve dipped my finger in my glass of champagne.”
“Champagne?” Julia echoed.
“Nonalcoholic, of course.”
“So you have champagne there, huh?”
“And candles. All set for a romantic dinner. Shall we let the circumstances spoil it?”
“That we shall not,” Julia said with determination.
“Here’s my girl.”
“So there’re candles, are there?”
“If you want me to share the darkness I can blow them off,” Mason said.
“No, I want to see you,” she said softly.
“Ok, and the darkness you are in is very intriguing. Intimate. Turns me on.”
He was very good at those seductive undertones.
“So what are you doing, washing your dirty fingers in your glass?” she teased.
He chuckled. “Yeah. To trace circles on your neck. And then on your breast. Slowly…”
“Did not know you were a professional in telephone sex,” she laughed.
“Oh I have many hidden talents. Is your hair down?”
“Yes.”
“Get it up, will you. I want to kiss your neck. I know you love it.”
“I want to run my fingers through your hair,” she said chokingly. He heard he was getting to her.
“Why don’t you do it.”
“It’s so soft, so beautiful. You know I love your hair.”
“I love the way you stroke my hair, honey.”
She was getting to him too, all right.
“Are my earrings in the way?” Julia said.
“Yes, take them off please. You may just slip them into your shoes, or throw them away. I’ll buy you a
new pair tomorrow.”
“Ok.”
“Julia?”
“Yes?”
“I want to kiss you.”
“Why don’t you.”
“I want you to feel me.”
She laughed. “The strangest thing is I am feeling you.”
“I want to kiss every inch of your skin.”
“Mason…”
He could hear her sharp intake of air, and then a little shriek.
“Julia? What’s wrong?”
“It’s moved, the floor’s… Well, the light’s on. It’s getting down. I mean, not falling down--”.
“Bill,” Mason said with relief. “Down – you mean the first floor?”
“No it’s stopped – well I guess it’s the ninth floor. Hello Bill.”
Mason could hear the male voice mutter something, as he was hurrying down the stairs.
“Hi Bill.” He shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. Appreciate it.”
“No prob,” Bill said. “Shall I give you a lift now? Home, Mrs. Capwell?”
Julia looked at her husband. She looked smashing. Mason smiled at her.
“No, thank you very much,” she refused. “I think we need to finish some business up in the office with my
husband now.”
Mason’s eyes flashed. He cleared his throat.
“Yes – we must look into a, h’m, an urgent case. Thank you, Bill.”
He put his arm round his wife’s waist, and they headed for the stairs.
The lights went out the moment Mason lit up the last candle. He had a festive meal prepared and the
table laid in the office for St. Valentine’s Day. Samantha was out of town, and they could have stayed at
home, but Mason thought it would be nice to re-live their days of passion right here, the passion they
shared ‘christening’ the office or ‘working’ up late. Julia did not mind, and so—
“A convenient thing, those romantic candles,” he murmured. At least he did not have to sit in the
darkness now. “I wonder where Julia—”
The cell phone rang.
“Julia?”
“Where are you?” said the voice he could hardly recognize as his wife’s.
“Up in the office. What’s up, honey, where are you?”
“Stuck in the damned elevator, somewhere between floors.”
“Here?”
“Yes, this damned building. I can’t stay here another minute, do you hear?!”
“But Julia, you have to, maybe a few hours,” Mason reasoned. “If there’s no electricity there’s no way I
can possibly—”
“I CAN’T STAY HERE!!”
He heard some loud bangs.
“What is the noise?”
“Nothing, just me thrashing the walls. I told you, I told you, you forget I am claustrophobic, I can’t stay
here MASON!”
“Julia—”
“MASON I CAN’T STAY HERE!”
“Stay calm, Julia, you know there’s no real danger. Just a phobia,” he tried to appeal to her mind.
“No real danger? No real danger? Well, - well, look out of the window – do you see any lights at all?”
Mason had to admit the situation was worse than he’d expected: as far as he could see the whole city
was in total darkness. He gave a cough instead of an answer.
“So there’s no hope they’d start with this building, right? There’s no light—”
“Julia—”
“Mason Capwell, I don’t know what I shall do to you if you don’t get me out of here, N-O-W!”
“Julia, please. Don’t panic. You know there’s no way I can do it myself. You’re stuck between floors,
right?”
“I know. But can you imagine how I’m feeling locked in here, this tiny cubicle, and pitch-dark, I can
suffocate here, for heaven’s sake!!”
“No you cannot,” Mason argued. “It’s not hermetic. You will not starve, either. You just have to stay calm.”
But his words seemed to have no effect on her. The panic had seized Julia completely.
“Bring help now, or I’ll tell Samantha you’ve subjected her mother to torture,” she threatened.
Mason sighed. “Ok, Julia. Just try to relax. Breathe. There’s plenty of air in there.”
He disconnected the line and tried the stationary line. Dead. He tried to call emergency services, to no
avail. Obviously the problem with electricity left the city without means of communication.
After Mason’d tried every service he could think of, he had to give in. He dialed his father’s
troubleshooter’s number.
“Bill? It’s Mason. I need help.”
He did not have to add that. Bill knew perfectly well that Mason would rather die than turn to his father’s
man. If he did, something really serious must have happened. Well, Bill was a well-trained employee.
“What is it, Mason?” he asked coolly.
“My wife’s stuck in the elevator in our office building. She’s claustrophobic, and well, she does not feel
too good. I need to get her out. Immediately. And I mean immediately.”
“With no electricity—”
“With no electricity,” Mason said in a no-nonsense voice. “Use stuntmen from the latest action movie, or
steal a backup generator from a hospital if you have to. Who’s the troubleshooter here?”
Bill grinned. A chip off the old block.
“Yes, Mason,” he replied. “As soon as possible.”
“Sooner.”
“I’m on my way. Where are you yourself?”
“Top of the building. My office.”
“Ok.”
Hardly had Mason pressed the button when the cell phone rang again.
“Julia.”
“Mason how could you leave me ALONE?” she yelled. The voice was hardly his wife’s at all now. Mason
wondered what he could do.
“Julia. The communication lines are dead. I had to call for help. And I have only one cell phone on me, as
luck would have it,” he explained.
“I see,” she said so meekly Mason shivered. Was it really that bad?
“Please please hold the line,” she begged, “don’t leave me please – MASON?”
“Sure.”
He sat down, loosened his tie, and fitted his feet on the desk.
“I’m scared. I’m so afraid the ropes will give way.”
“They will not. You know ten people can get into that elevator, and you are skinny.”
He hoped for a flash of anger as a reaction to that, but the things appeared to be more complicated. Julia
turned a deaf ear to his questionable compliment.
“Mason – if something happens to me, tell Samantha I love her. You won’t fall off the wagon again if I get
killed – please Mason, Samantha’s going to need you?”
Mason definitely did not appreciate the direction her mind was racing.
“Julia. Nothing will happen to you. Nothing bad can happen. A few hours in that elevator is all you have
to bear. It’s not scary. Remember how we got stuck in the Capwell hotel elevator before we signed the
baby contract?”
“I did not want to get into that elevator with you,” Julia pointed out. “Tête-à-tête with you.”
“You did not want to be tête-à-tête with me anywhere,” he agreed. “Ok I dragged you in. But then, us
sitting on the floor, you leaning on my shoulder, me pouring my heart out – was it that bad? I mean it was
probably the first time you saw me for what I was.”
“Well, your revelations did tug at my heart,” she admitted. “I never expected you to be so – human.”
He chuckled. His scheme was working.
“I knew you were sincere. But – you always seem to have more than one motive for doing what you do,
you always have ulterior motives. How do I know you did not tell me all that about Mary and your unborn
baby just to make me change my mind?”
Mason shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe this too. Sometimes I cannot tell myself. I just know how I felt and
that I meant every word I said. If you changed your mind about my fatherhood, I can’t help being happy
for this byproduct of my confession.”
“I wouldn't put it past you to have paid to hold that elevator for an hour or two, to make me hear you,”
Julia said, and he could hear she was smiling.
And here he made a blunder.
“I wouldn’t undertake something as risky,” he said. The word ‘risky’ sent Julia back into her panic.
“RISKY? You see you admit it yourself it is risky, it is dangerous to be in a stuck elevator!”
Mason sighed audibly.
“You could have strangled me there, for all I know, that was all I meant,” he tried to amend.
“What does it matter now.”
“Ok, Julia, just relax. You won’t let that stupid elevator vanquish you, will you? You did not let it get in the
way of our happiness, once; remember when I got stuck and you were waiting for me on the beach?”
“Ha, that was when I really got close to murdering you. I felt so humiliated there, all dressed up, with the
dinner, the waiter, the violinist, all alone there, like a fool!”
“I’m sorry. Don’t let it defeat you, is all. We’re the masters here, not that silly machine. Let’s stay in
control. Remember when we stopped it? Before our rehearsal dinner?”
“Ah yes.”
By the sudden change in her tone Mason could tell she remembered it all right. He smiled. It was a much
better topic.
“Are you sitting down?” he asked.
“I am; why?”
“What do you have on?”
“A dress. Why, Mason?”
“Which dress?”
“That ivory one.”
“Ah, low-cut.”
“Right.”
“No bra fitting under it.” He lowered his voice to an intimate whisper.
“Right.”
“Stockings?”
He could tell she smiled. “Stockings.”
“High-heeled shoes?”
“I’ve kicked them off.”
“Good,” he approved. “I’ve loosened my bow tie.”
“Glad for you.”
“I’ve dipped my finger in my glass of champagne.”
“Champagne?” Julia echoed.
“Nonalcoholic, of course.”
“So you have champagne there, huh?”
“And candles. All set for a romantic dinner. Shall we let the circumstances spoil it?”
“That we shall not,” Julia said with determination.
“Here’s my girl.”
“So there’re candles, are there?”
“If you want me to share the darkness I can blow them off,” Mason said.
“No, I want to see you,” she said softly.
“Ok, and the darkness you are in is very intriguing. Intimate. Turns me on.”
He was very good at those seductive undertones.
“So what are you doing, washing your dirty fingers in your glass?” she teased.
He chuckled. “Yeah. To trace circles on your neck. And then on your breast. Slowly…”
“Did not know you were a professional in telephone sex,” she laughed.
“Oh I have many hidden talents. Is your hair down?”
“Yes.”
“Get it up, will you. I want to kiss your neck. I know you love it.”
“I want to run my fingers through your hair,” she said chokingly. He heard he was getting to her.
“Why don’t you do it.”
“It’s so soft, so beautiful. You know I love your hair.”
“I love the way you stroke my hair, honey.”
She was getting to him too, all right.
“Are my earrings in the way?” Julia said.
“Yes, take them off please. You may just slip them into your shoes, or throw them away. I’ll buy you a
new pair tomorrow.”
“Ok.”
“Julia?”
“Yes?”
“I want to kiss you.”
“Why don’t you.”
“I want you to feel me.”
She laughed. “The strangest thing is I am feeling you.”
“I want to kiss every inch of your skin.”
“Mason…”
He could hear her sharp intake of air, and then a little shriek.
“Julia? What’s wrong?”
“It’s moved, the floor’s… Well, the light’s on. It’s getting down. I mean, not falling down--”.
“Bill,” Mason said with relief. “Down – you mean the first floor?”
“No it’s stopped – well I guess it’s the ninth floor. Hello Bill.”
Mason could hear the male voice mutter something, as he was hurrying down the stairs.
“Hi Bill.” He shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. Appreciate it.”
“No prob,” Bill said. “Shall I give you a lift now? Home, Mrs. Capwell?”
Julia looked at her husband. She looked smashing. Mason smiled at her.
“No, thank you very much,” she refused. “I think we need to finish some business up in the office with my
husband now.”
Mason’s eyes flashed. He cleared his throat.
“Yes – we must look into a, h’m, an urgent case. Thank you, Bill.”
He put his arm round his wife’s waist, and they headed for the stairs.