“

The one with no personal space. This person comes inside the elevator, and tries to lean on you as if you owe him. Get real, sir.

“

This sounds like the beginning of a really bad stand-up performance. I don’t care.

“

I would like to try these new blue cheese tortilla chips, so I will open the bag here at the supermarket and have a few.

“

It is odd yet existentially endearing, perhaps even beautiful, to think of how a group of strangers who would otherwise never share a silent minute or two in a metal box now have this moment together, and to dismiss this moment as either a modern inconvenience or banal imperative throughout their day, into the week.

“

And one by one, the elevator empties; the temptations dissolve and the whispers quiet and there’s just you left, you who set your sights so high, you who is best suited to take this thing as far as it can go, you who wants to soar.