Lucas Camilo

Krista got back from the MTM conference on Sunday and is working on a report from the conference, so look for that soon. Meanwhile, the big news today is that Lucas got stuck in an elevator!

Last week Lucas, Krista, and Victor made their first trip to our neighborhood library’s story time.  While Lucas didn’t love it, he seemed to be warming up by the end of the hour, so this morning we decided to go back again.  Burke was finishing up a phone meeting so Krista, Victor and Lucas headed out with the plan that Burke would meet them up the street.

The kid’s story hour is in a building next to the library with six or eight stairs from the front entry to the main area.  And thankfully, they have a small elevator specifically for people who can’t walk up stairs.  It’s tiny and key operated, but we made it work last week and figured this week would be no different.  But half way up, with Krista and Victor just barely squeezed in with Lucas, something on his chair got caught and the elevator stopped.  And no matter how many times Krista and Victor turned the key and pushed the buttons, nothing moved.

So we shouted, and nice people from the library came.  Since we weren’t actually in their building, they had to call other people, and those people didn’t answer their phones.  Meanwhile, it got hot.  Lucas started giving the frantic “go” sign, and Krista tried not to look up and take in the smallness of their space (though fortunately the elevator shaft actually opened up a few feet before the ceiling, so the people outside could be heard). Victor doesn’t like the heat to begin with, and the mugginess made sweat gush down his face, though he insisted on fanning Lucas instead of himself the whole time.

After about 10 minutes with no sign of anyone who knew what to do, Krista asked the nice staff to please call Burke and call 911 (neither Krista nor Victor’s phones were working).  As calmly as possible she shouted to the people outside that Lucas had medical equipment that would require some serious acrobatics to use should there be a breathing emergency inside.

Someone called the fire department while someone else called Burke and left him a message.  Fortunately Burke got the message quickly and jumped on his bike and raced to the library a few blocks up the hill.  We were imagining how to pass Lucas out of a stuck elevator if the fire department busted the doors down, but fortunately it didn’t come to such drastic measures.  By the time the firefighters walked in with their break-down-the-door tools, someone had found the emergency switch (apparently kept behind a panel requiring a screwdriver to access), and Krista, Victor, and Lucas were slowly lowered back down to the ground floor.

Lucas really only lost it when the elevator started dropping — maybe because he realized story time was at the top of the elevator, not the bottom.  When they opened the doors Lucas was surrounded by six looming firefighters — many a toddlers’ dream come true.  Unfortunately Lucas isn’t into fire fighters, so he wouldn’t even give them a full thank you.  He just said “go” until we got him out of the steamy building and into the fully air conditioned library next door.

Lucas relaxes with a video after his harrowing adventure