Eloise The Elevator Queen: A Children's Story

Eloise, a nine-year-old girl with long light-brown hair, lives near the top of a big apartment building in New York City. Every day she rides the elevator down to the lobby, where her friend the doorman Ronald greets her. On Saturdays Eloise buys a chocolate croissant at Rosie’s restaurant and gives half to her friend Henry, a homeless man who sits on a blanket outside Rosie’s, offering blessings for a dollar. Eloise appreciates that she has a home, and her own room.

Transcript

Eloise the Elevator Queen,

Written and read by Jacob Watson.

Eloise,

A nine-year-old girl,

Lived with her parents in an apartment near the top of a tall building in New York City.

Eloise had long,

Light brown hair past her shoulders,

The ends of which curl slightly up with a little flounce at the ends.

Every day,

She rode the elevator down to the ground floor,

Where Ronald,

The doorman,

Greeted her and walked her outside to catch the bus to her school.

Three other kids got on the elevator at different stops and rode down with Eloise,

Chatting all the way.

They did most of the chatting because Eloise,

As always,

Was enchanted by the elevator ride.

She dipped low,

Bending her knees,

When the elevator car slowed down and stopped at a floor,

And rose up on her toes when it accelerated down again.

She lifted off her feet and seemed to hover in the air,

Light as a feather.

She was always sorry when it finally slowed and,

With a hesitant,

Soft clunk,

Arrived at the ground floor.

Every so often,

Maybe it happened once a week,

When no one got on the elevator and she was the only person all the way down to the ground floor.

Something magical happened.

First of all,

The elevator seemed to pick up speed as if it knew no one had pushed the button to stop it,

And no one was going to push it.

When the elevator did not slow down to stop to pick up more passengers and kept dropping,

Eloise,

All alone,

At first felt afraid,

But she quickly realized that what she was afraid of was that someone would get on the elevator with her.

She could never tell if the elevator was going to suddenly slow down and wind to a stop on a floor where someone she didn't know would get on.

Instead of feeling scared because she was all by herself,

She discovered she liked riding the elevator all alone.

One week,

On one of those magical days when no one got on,

She smiled happily to herself.

But then she realized that she wasn't all alone.

She looked around.

All she saw was the four walls of the elevator car,

One of which had the door with the crack in the middle where the two sides opened.

The regular silver box with the numbered buttons for the floors,

And the white poster with safety notices.

But this day,

She wasn't alone.

The car looked empty,

But Eloise could feel someone else with her.

At first,

She was scared.

She looked around again.

Empty.

Nobody.

She scrunched her eyes shut.

Then she smelled something,

Like old crackers in a kitchen cupboard,

Musty and dry.

She opened her eyes and looked around.

The elevator bounced a little as it passed from one floor to the next,

But it still didn't stop to let anyone on.

Eloise saw a wisp of blue smoke curl out from the elevator floor.

And then,

To her astonishment,

She saw a little old lady standing right there in front of her.

She was smiling and had bushy,

White hair.

Hello,

Eloise,

The little lady said in a high voice,

Clear as a bell.

Eloise stared at her.

How did she get into the elevator?

Who was she?

Hello,

Eloise,

The little lady said again.

Don't you know it's impolite not to answer when you are spoken to?

The elevator bumped down past another floor,

And the bump woke Eloise up.

She said,

No,

I mean,

Yes.

Where did you come from?

The little lady said,

That's not important.

Anyway,

I ride this elevator all the time.

My name's Heather.

I've seen you a lot.

Always down and up,

Up and down.

But how do you know me?

Asked Eloise.

I just told you,

I see you all the time,

Right here on the elevator.

But when there are other people here with you,

I can't say anything.

I just keep quiet and watch.

I see everybody.

Eloise blinked her eyes.

Yes,

She saw the little white haired lady in front of her.

But how did she get on the elevator?

It hadn't stopped to let anyone on.

Who was she talking to?

Who was talking to her?

Who was Heather?

I only have a minute or two left.

We're getting down to the ground floor,

Said Heather.

I want you to know I see you,

And I won't let anything bad happen to you.

Just so you know.

I used to live here in this building on the 42nd floor.

A nice apartment for years,

Along with Harold and our cat Josie.

They both died.

And then I died.

But here I am.

Eloise shuddered.

Or was it the elevator car bumping down past another floor?

Pretty soon they would be at the lobby.

Heather?

She said,

Not recognizing her own voice.

What,

Dear?

Well,

I'm glad to meet you.

Me too,

Heather replied.

Heather,

What was that blue smoke just before I saw you?

Oh,

That.

It has something to do with the magic,

I think.

You know,

That word magic is just what I call the permission I have.

Permission to see you and talk with you.

Other people can't tell.

I don't even know who or what gives permission to us.

Bump.

The elevator car stopped.

They had reached the ground floor and the lobby.

There would be short pause and then the elevator doors would open.

Heather said,

Goodbye.

I'll see you again and we'll talk again.

I want to know more about your friend Henry.

And when you are going to paint some more pictures.

That is,

If no one else gets on the elevator with you.

And then suddenly Eloise was alone in the car.

Eloise couldn't help but look around.

Okay,

She said,

Not really knowing where to look as she spoke.

Then the elevator door slid open and she stepped into the lobby and there was Ronald,

The doorman,

Striding across the wide floor toward her,

Looking at his watch.

He saw her and waved to her.

Eloise looked back at the elevator just as the doors were sliding shut and she could see it was empty.

No sign of Heather.

She turned to greet Ronald.

Hi,

Eloise,

He said,

Greeting her with a wide toothy smile under his mustache.

Hi,

Ronald,

She said.

She thought for a moment about telling Ronald about Heather,

But then she decided not to.

At least not yet.

Since it was Saturday,

Ronald knew what Eloise was up to.

No school.

So it was a visit to Rosie's restaurant just down the street.

Ronald knew from knowing Eloise that she was too old for him to take her hand,

Like he did when she was little.

So he walked beside her to the front door.

Eloise walked through the tall ornate door with polished brass decoration all around and,

As always on Saturdays,

Turned left and set off down the street.

She knew exactly where she was headed.

In fact,

You could see Rosie's sign from the apartment doorway,

Red and hanging out over the sidewalk.

It was early and Rosie's would be almost empty because it was a Saturday.

Eloise turned to wave thanks to Ronald and walked quickly down to Rosie's.

She pulled hard on the door.

It was heavy and stepped inside.

As usual,

Marjorie was right there behind the counter and,

As usual,

She spotted Eloise right away and smiled a greeting.

Hi,

Eloise.

It must be Saturday.

Yup,

Said Eloise,

Smiling in return.

Are you having your regular chocolate croissant?

Margaret asked.

My regular.

With tea,

Please.

Coming up.

Eloise looked around to see mostly empty seats.

Eloise remembered the day as if it were yesterday.

Her parents had brought her to Rosie's for the first time on the day they had moved into their new apartment building.

Eloise was really tired from their long drive down into the city and carrying her suitcases into the elevator,

Then down the long hallway to their new apartment and into her new bare room.

The three of them put their suitcases down in the new apartment and went down to get a bite to eat.

They found Rosie's nearby and Eloise quickly ordered a cheeseburger,

But she couldn't eat very much of it.

She was so anxious about her new place to live.

When they left to go down the street back to their new apartment,

Eloise looked back the other way past Rosie's.

She wasn't sure why and to this day she doesn't know why she did,

But she did.

She saw a man lying on the street not far from Rosie's doorway.

She stopped walking and her arm pulled away from her mom's arm,

Who was holding her hand.

Mom,

Eloise said,

That man fell down.

She looked again more closely and now she could see that the man was sitting on a blanket.

He looked right at her,

His eyes meeting hers.

The man's face was square,

Whiskered and sunburned.

His ample hair stood up from his head,

Colored a mixture of brown and gray.

Her mother,

Tall and startled,

Turned to look.

She peered down the street.

At first,

Eloise wasn't sure her mother saw the man on the sidewalk,

So she said,

Right there,

Do you see?

Her mother grabbed Eloise's hand again.

Yes,

I see.

He didn't fall.

He's a homeless man,

Begging Eloise.

Come on.

But mom,

He needs something.

By now,

Eloise's father had turned around and was watching.

The man lying on the sidewalk had noticed that the three of them had stopped to look at him.

Hello,

My name's Henry.

A dollar for a blessing.

Eloise felt his words go inside her.

She saw him sitting upright on his blanket,

Looking right into her eyes.

But her father was pulling her sleeve and saying,

Let's go,

Eloise.

Eloise felt her neck twist as she looked back at Henry as long as she could.

Now,

A year later,

Henry was still there in his same spot.

Eloise went out the door and walked over to Henry.

He looked up,

Saw her and smiled.

Yep,

I'm still here.

Eloise smiled back at him.

Yep,

Henry,

I'm still here,

Too.

Here's part of my chocolate croissant.

Still my favorite.

And Rosie makes them better than anybody.

Thanks,

Eloise.

God bless you.

We've got kind of a tradition going,

Don't we?

Eloise said back,

You too,

Henry.

And yes,

We do.

She waved goodbye and walked back along the sidewalk to her apartment building and went in.

After waving to Ronald,

She walked over to the elevators and pushed the button for her floor.

More than ever grateful that she had a place to call home.

Reviews

This has been recommended to me lots of times and I finally decided to give it a go! It was amazing and I am very thankful!
-Nancy ❤️✨

Love it this story is awesome and I love it i listen to it over and over again!
Love,
Winnie.

P.S. My real name is Emily. And I am a kid

Good night to tired to write any more gonna stop talking you’re amazing story has made me very very tired good night to all and to all a good night have a good day or night👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👧🏻👧🏻👧🏻👧🏻👧🏻👧🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻🧒🏻🧒🏻🧒🏻🧒🏻🧒🏻👩🏻‍🦱👨🏻🧑🏻👩🏻👦🏻👱🏻‍♀️🦹🏻‍♀️🎅🏻👩🏻‍🦽👩🏻‍🦯🛼🛼🛼🛼 Can you make another Eloise storie I love 💗 them!!!!!!! 👩🏻‍🦽👯‍♀️😍🥰😍🥰😍. P.P.S my big sisters name is Ella

Good 👍🏽

I LIKE IT AND IT IS MY ONLY FAVORITE THING. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT WORK. YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT WORK 👍 AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS 🎄 😊 ❤️