Jimmy Ryan ran down the street, dribbling an imaginary basketball. He stopped and faked a pass. Then he took a shot at an imaginary basket.
"Ryan scores again!" he said. He grinned at himself in a store window.
It was a school holiday. Jimmy's new friend, Peter Sanchez, had invited him over to spend the afternoon at his apartment. They were going to play video games.
Peter lived in a brand-new high rise. It looked at least forty stories tall. When Jimmy entered the lobby, the doorman asked whom he was visiting. The man called up to Peter's apartment, 29A.
After the doorman gave the OK sign, Jimmy strolled over to the elevator.
He pushed the up button.
While he waited for an elevator, he pretended he was an astronaut. "Are you ready, Ryan?" he said under his breath.
"Roger, Mission Control," he answered his own question.
Just then, the elevator to his right opened. It was empty, so he stepped in and turned to face the door. "Mission Control," he said, "this is Ryan. Ready for blast-off."
Jimmy pushed the button for Peter's floor, twenty-nine. The elevator door swished closed. Suddenly Jimmy almost felt as if he were going up in a rocket. Before he knew it, he was at the tenth floor.
Pressing against one wall, he watched the small black screen over the door. Red numbers winked on and off. 11, 12...
At 13, the elevator whooshed to a stop. Jimmy guessed someone was getting on. But when the door opened, no one was there.
Jimmy peeked out. No one was down the hall either. He stepped back into the elevator and waited. The door stayed open. He jabbed the button for the twenty-ninth floor again. But the door didn't close.
"I guess it's stuck," he said to himself. "I'll just have to walk up."
He tried the button one more time. When nothing happened, he sighed and stepped into the hall. Jimmy noticed that the gray tile floor was worn and dirty. The overhead lights were dusty, old white globes. And the walls needed a good coat of paint.
Boy, they must have run out of money when they got to this floor, Jimmy thought. He shrugged and looked for some stairs. But there was no sign of any.
All he found was another, shorter hall. He saw that it led to a third hall that ran the same way as the first. Together the three halls made the shape of an "H".
A strong smell suddenly filled Jimmy's nostrils. He stopped, sniffed, and looked around. Thick black smoke was pouring into the hall. It was a fire! He had to get out of there and call the fire department!
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