Recenty, an emergency button was installed in the elevator for just such a circumstance. Our building elevator is very old. 50+ years the repairman said, and in need of replacing. I pressed the emergency button and a woman answered on the other end. She asked me where I was located and told me that help would arrive "within the hour." It was 5:05pm and I was due on-the-air at 6pm.

At this point I took out my cell phone and I was able to call my wife in the building and tell her I was stuck, I asked her to phone Fabio at FMU to tell him of my situation. She reported back that she had contacted Fab and that Station Manager Ken was now also aware that I was stuck. A thought occurred to me that perhaps Station Manager Ken was thinking this was the craziest excuse for not showing up that he had ever heard.

I decided to try and phone Fabio and try and see if I could do the show live from the elevator if possible, but he wasn't able to hear me. I could hear him, but he couldn't hear me. He kept saying, "Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? I can't hear you!" And of course I was saying "Fab! Fab, it's me! It's me!" but he couldn't hear me. Sadly, I hung up and began to appraise my situation.

A couple of neighbors happened by. I could hear them. barely, through the thick elevator door. They stayed for a little while to keep me company, but in time I could tell they were getting restless, so I told them I'd be fine that they could go. Help was on the way. My wife also came and talked to me for a while. It was an odd feeling, like prison I suppose. Being close to someone, but being unable to touch them or, in my case, even to see them.

I suppose it was maybe twenty-minutes later that the first twinge of anxiety came into my mind. I told myself it would be all right and that there was no need to freak out, but in my isolation, I did briefly imagine things like "Is there enough air in here? What if this thing falls! What if the wires catch on fire and I burn alive in here." I didn't get too carried away with such thoughts, but I entertained them ever so slightly. I was also trapped with a large black plastic bag full of trash which I had brought with me to place on the curb. I imagined how, if I fell, I would use the bag at the last second to break my fall and soften my impact. I even thought about using it as a makeshift beanbag chair as I had nowhere to sit in the small 3' x 4' space. At some point a admitted to myself that there would be no Dusty Show. That made me sad because I enjoy it so and often put a lot of work into preparation.