Vertical Travel
by Ron Nyren
(Originally published in 100 Word Story)
The summer of no breeze, six men carried an enormous fan up the stairs of my grandmother’s four-story townhouse and installed it in the roof. At night, it hauled in dead air like cloth from a bolt. I lay in bed, hearing June bugs bat the screens.
When my grandmother’s emphysema advanced, she had an elevator inserted at the stairwell’s center. I refused to ride it: through the white ironwork cage, you could see the fan’s blades whirling above. She waved as her tan pumps disappeared beyond the ceiling. We held our breath, waiting to see if she would return.