The Elevator and the Banana – Illustrated by Irena Brodeski

by Mel Rosenberg - מל רוזנברג

Artwork: Illustrated by Irena Brodeski

After fruitful careers as a scientist and inventor I've gone back to what I love most - writing children's books Read More

Joined Oct 2013
Published Books 1559

When I was a young boy, I lived in a tall building on the nineteenth floor. We had an elevator. Inside the elevator there was an elevator man who opened and closed the door. He was an old man, but he stood up very straight and always had a smile on his face. I was jealous of him because he had a splendid uniform.

On my way to school in the morning, I would press the button and the elevator would soon appear. The door would open. There was the elevator man. “Good morning!” he would say with a big grin on his face. Usually there were other people in the elevator. They were on their way to work. The elevator was crowded and the elevator man was busy opening and closing doors and saying “Good morning”, and “Have a splendid day”.

When I arrived home from school, I would often be the only person in the elevator. Besides the elevator man, of course. And that is when he would tell me his splendid stories. I was not in any hurry to go home. And he had nowhere to go, either, except up and down. Sometimes, I would just join him on his journey up and down the building. His stories were much more interesting than my homework. “Did I ever tell you about the time I was captured by a pirate ship?” He asked me.

He told me about how, as a youngster, he had got lost one day at the harbor, and had been kidnapped by a bunch of pirates who took him on a ship to a distant island in the Caribbean. Three days after they arrived, he was able to escape and swim to a nearby island. He told me that a shark had bit off one of his toes, but when I asked him to show me, he just smiled.

On the island, there were bananas. Millions of bananas. The elevator man had survived for a year eating two bananas a day. To keep himself from getting bored he started painting the bananas.

Years later, when he was rescued and taken back home, he began working as an elevator man.

The story sounded a bit far-fetched, and I told him so. The very next day he gave me a painted banana. And the day after that. He was very good at it! This went on for months and months. Every day a new pirate story and a beautiful banana.

One day, I noticed that the elevator man was not smiling his regular smile and was not standing as straight as usual. “I am going away for a while” he said. He told me that he wanted to return to the Caribbean and visit the island where he had been stranded so many years ago. “I want to see whether the island is still full of bananas, and whether people live there now” he told me. “Perhaps there are houses, even hotels. Who knows, perhaps there are tall buildings with elevators. After all, so many years have come and gone.” The elevator man smiled and shook my hand. “Oh, and by the way, my name is Joseph”, he said. As always, he gave me a beautiful painted banana.

I watched as the elevator man slowly closed the door of the elevator. At home, I ate the banana and saved the peel as I always did. It didn’t turn dark for weeks and weeks. Until, one day, it suddenly withered and blackened.

A week later, the package arrived. “Dear young man”, said the note, “You have always admired my uniform. I know that you will take care of it until I am able to return. Yours, Joseph”.