Elevator rules.I love elevators. The best part is watching the lights blink blink the involuntary movement of one or both eyelids of both eyes simultaneously. The frequency varies between species. Cats blink the least, with the possible exception of owls. In birds it is the lower eyelid which is moved up to meet the upper lid. on the way to my floor. My name is Tina. I am three years and one week older than Bernie Bernie may refer to:
elevator, in machinery, device for transporting people or goods from one level to another. The term is applied to the enclosed structures as well as the open platforms used to provide vertical transportation in buildings, large ships, . Since I'm I'm Contraction of I am. Our Living Language Speakers of some scattered varieties of American English sometimes use I'm instead of I've or I have in present perfect constructions, as in older, I can run much faster, and Bernie would cry every time I got there first. That's why Mom started making elevator rules. Rule Number One If Tina pushes the button on the outside, then Bernie gets to push the button on the inside. This rule worked very well until Timmy Timmy is a shortened form of the name Timothy. People
Contraction of did not. didn't did not didn't do like that, so Mom made a second rule. Rule Humber Humber, river, Canada Humber, river, c.75 mi (120 km) long, rising in the Long Range Mts., W Newfoundland, N.L., Canada, and flowing SE then SW, through Deer Lake, to the Bay of Islands at Corner Brook. Two If someone else gets in, you have to let him have his turn. It has to be fair. Once we visited Aunt Mimi in the big city. Her apartment is near the top of a really tall building. Bernie and I loved the elevator ride going up. After we had kissed Aunt Mimi good-bye, I said to Bernie, "I'll I'll Contraction of I will. I'll I will or I shall I'll will ~shall race you to the elevator!" We bolted down the hallway. "Wait!" whined Bernie, trying to outrun out·run tr.v. out·ran , out·run, out·run·ning, out·runs 1. a. To run faster than. b. To escape from: outrun one's creditors. 2. me. He knew that whoever won would get to press the button on the outside. Bernie was afraid that if he lost, someone else would be riding and he'd lose his turn. We ran so fast that Mom couldn't keep up. We both hit the button at the same time. When the door opened, we hopped in. We hadn't pressed any buttons inside yet, but just as Mom was coming around the corner, the door closed. Bernie started to cry, even though the elevator didn't move. When the door reopened, Mom was standing there with her hands on her hips. Rule Humber Three No getting on elevators without a grown-up grown-up adj. 1. Of, characteristic of, or intended for adults: grown-up movies; a grown-up discussion. 2. . Mom likes to make rules. One time when Mom took us shopping at a big department store, Bernie showed me an elevator by the shoe department. When the door opened, we saw a grown-up in a fancy suit standing near the elevator buttons. The man said, "Which floor, please?" Bernie said, "Look, he presses the buttons for us!" "Toys," I said in my most important rule-following voice as we boarded the elevator. Bernie and I were having such a good time in the toy department that we forgot about Mom--until we heard the clicking of her shoes behind us. "You've been lost for twenty minutes!" she scolded. "I've been looking everywhere." Bernie answered her in his sweetest voice. "We weren't lost, Mommy. We were here. Tina got the elevator guy in the fancy suit to take us." Rule Number Four Only grown-ups we know count when it comes to Rule Number Three! We live in an old building with only four stories. The staircase staircase - jaggies winds around the outside of the elevator, which has a window. One day, Bernie and I were about to walk down the stairs Adv. 1. down the stairs - on a floor below; "the tenants live downstairs" downstairs, on a lower floor, below (since Mom wasn't with us) when our neighbor Mr. Kelly got on the elevator. Bernie jumped on with him and said to me, "Let's race!" I ran down the stairs as Bernie watched me through the window. At the bottom, Mrs. Patel was just getting on the elevator. I had won easily, so Bernie wanted to try now. "My turn!" he said. I got on with Mrs. Patel, and Bernie took off up the stairs. The elevator passed him. At the top, I started my victory dance. "Help!" screamed Bernie from a flight below. At the emergency room, Bernie wanted a blue cast on his foot, but his ankle was only sprained. Mom was pretty upset. Rule Number Five No more racing elevators. Last night, we were at a fancy hotel for a wedding. Mom was busy talking with friends, and Bernie and I were bored. Bernie pointed to an elevator in the lobby. We wanted to ride it, but we didn't want to get into trouble. "If we shared the buttons with everyone, didn't race, and made sure there was a grown-up we know ...," said Bernie. "No, Bernie," I said. "Mom wants to be able to see us." The door opened, and the elevator emptied except for one lady--Aunt Rita. Bernie pointed. "Look, it's all glass. Mommy can see us!" Bernie was right. Part of me was tempted to get on. Then I realized that I had learned something else from all of Mom's elevator rules: I had learned when she'd make up a new one. So I made up a rule for her. Rule Number Six When in doubt, ask Mom first. Bernie made a funny face at me and said, "I hope there aren't too many more elevator rules. I can only count to seven." |
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