Chapter 5

"I should have brought something to tie back my hair," Sonoko complained, confronted by a sufficiently reflective surface within the elevator. "Can you believe all that wind?"

Under normal circumstances, Elaine might have jumped to the wind's defense. But at that point she was just glad Sonoko had finally reached an end of the seemingly inexhaustible topic of a renowned, now retired, jewel thief her family had once been obsessed with challenging.

"It's to be expected on such a tall and square building." Kudo commented, "wind speeds increase with height, you know."

"Obviously I wouldn't know a random fact like that," Sonoko said, now intent on brushing her shoulder-length hair back behind her ears, with limited success. "I was told the wind wasn't supposed to pick up until late tomorrow morning besides."

"It's true then!" Elaine cut in, speaking over Sonoko somewhat. "High up places are windier!" She didn't often have her more whimsical observations confirmed by adults. It sparked such a burning curiosity in her she could hardly contain herself. She chased after Kudo as he exited the elevator, bombarding him with questions.

"Why? Why is that? And why's it matter that the building is square?" Elaine liked strong breezes; if the same wind just wasn't as powerful on a rounded building, she would have to avoid them.

"A couple of different reasons," Kudo put a finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling "A decrease in both friction and density, plus there is the pressure gradient between warm and cool air to account for since it increases with height..."

She blinked up at him, still waiting for an answer she could make sense of. When he looked back down at her he realized just how far down he needed to look.

He smiled and began again. He held up one finger, "There is less friction further from the ground, things like trees and other buildings don't get in the way and slow it down."

He counted out a second finger. "Then there is the density of the air, in general, air closer to the ground is all pushed together, the little bits of air are like a bunch of people on a crowded street, it's harder to run through a crowded street than an empty one, right?"

Elaine nodded, imagining the bits of air like tiny puffy creatures that let out itty bitty squeaks when they bumped into the walls and each other.

"The final reason is a bit tougher..." he tapped a third finger pensively. "It has to do with what makes the wind in the first place. Wind is just air moving from high to low pressure; as you get higher there is a greater difference between the pressures of warmer and cooler air, thus stronger wind." Elaine was still nodding along as they walked, but he must have noticed her apparent epiphanies had become out of politeness rather than understanding because he asked. "Are you able to blow up a balloon?"

"Yes.."

"But you haven't always been able too, right?"

She shook her head, still not sure where he was going with this, or if she needed to be offended.

"It took a lot of effort, because you were trapping a bunch of air into a tiny balloon increasing the pressure. But what happens if you open up that balloon..? all the air comes blowing out. It didn't want to be crammed inside with all that other air, not when the air outside the balloon didn't have to be. Wind is like that. Sometimes, when it gets cold, the air in a certain place gets so pushed together that it pushes back more and more. It wants to move somewhere where its neighbors don't push back so much, but it's neighbors want to move there too. The wind is fastest when bits of air become jealous of how spread out their neighbors get to be. When their closest neighbors have it almost the same, they're slow about it. But when someone not that far away gets a lot more elbow room, that's when the wind really picks up."

"I guess I get it... it sounds like air just doesn't like crowds, like Uncle Shu. The air is always just trying to get away from all the other air..." She thought she understood it well enough, but had since lost interest. "Are we going to go back on the roof after this?"

The hesitation on both of their faces told her no, even if they had said yes she wouldn't believe them now. Uncle Kudo thought it was too dangerous, and his friend Sonoko thought it was too windy, and now this whole trip had been a waste.

"We'll have to see if there is still time after we clean up your scrapes and get our ice cream," Kudo said. "You still want to do that don't you?"

"I guess," she agreed, if only because she knew disagreeing wasn't going to change anything.

She was sure then that she'd lost her chance and it didn't take long for her to have her suspicions confirmed. It was about the same time the physician had just finished picking the rock and dirt from her injuries and started disinfecting them. It stung really bad, and she'd been so caught up in the pain that she hadn't noticed Sonoko had taken a phone call until she got back.

Actually what really got her attention was when Sonoko and Kudo started whispering behind her. It had been the window cleaners on the phone letting her know they were beginning to set up a system of horizontal lifelines on the upper levels of the roof- whatever that was. All Elaine knew was it meant they needed to stay out of the workers' way; smashing any remaining hope that she might be allowed up there again.

When it was finally time to go back up to the level with the ice cream bar Elaine's spirits were low, her patience for conversation was minimal, and her calves were so wrapped up in bandages that it looked like she was wearing shin-guards.

She didn't listen to whatever the adults had started discussing now; she didn't care.

She found herself unfairly annoyed at every employee they passed. Of course, cleaners for the main areas came out at night when they wouldn't be such a bother to everyone. Everyone except for Elaine. They didn't seem to mind Elaine's glares; well they didn't seem to notice. They always tucked out of the way before the three of them came by. She thought it was funny that she never caught any one of the cleaners looking at them, but somehow they always got out of their way in plenty of time.

There was a tall man ahead of them in a hall when they turned a corner once, and just the same her ducked into a doorway. She was closer that time and noticed that as he approached the door he bent slightly down, kind of like he was bowing to the wall. It was only as something in front of him flashed briefly green before the door opened that Elaine realized he had a lanyard around his neck and a black card hanging there; just like Sonoko's special badge!

The door closed behind him just before they reached that point in the hallway of course, but the man had given Elaine an idea. A pretty naughty idea, if she was being honest.

It would be fine. She'd take her pictures and return Sonoko's badge before she would even notice, probably. Hopefully.

But how was she going to get it?

Sonoko didn't wear lanyards. She'd mentioned that on their way up to the roof. Well, more like she had declared it. She'd gone off about how it wasn't fashionable or becoming a woman of her age, and that it made her look like she worked there, so people would stop to bother her with questions. She was the building manager, of course, so she did technically work there. It had been kind of a tangent, something she did a lot in Elaine's experience. Her special badge was in her clutch purse, that was what was important.

She thought she might be able to reach in when Sonoko tucked the purse under her arm, something she often did whenever she stopped walking a moment. A lot of the purse stuck out behind her where she wouldn't have a good view of it.

The problem was Uncle Kudo, he noticed everything. She never got away with anything when he was around, more than Uncle Shu, and even her mom. Kudo was usually more fun than Uncle Shu though, if only because he played soccer and had answers for some of her more unusual questions.

Maybe she could use that, if he was busy answering her question, he might not notice her take the badge from Sonoko. They were coming up on an elevator; it was just the time to put her plan to the test.

What had Sonoko and Uncle Kudo been talking about? She wasn't sure, but Kudo had his thinking face on, like a dog on a scent. Neither one of them was talking anymore since Kudo was caught up puzzling about something so she didn't have anything to latch onto. She would just have to use one of her unanswered questions from earlier.

"Hey wait a minute." She stopped in her tracks for dramatic effect. "What about the building, you said it's windier cause it's square right?"

"Hmm, you're right I didn't answer that did I?" She got him talking just as they reached the button to call the elevator.

Yes, that was perfect. They were all stopped now, and Sonoko even tucked her purse under an arm.

"That has to do with the air pushing together again. When the wind hits the flat side of the building it doesn't know where to go, it has to go somewhere. It can't pass through, or go the way it was going, so it builds up that pressure, that push-" Kudo kept on talking, but Elaine was only focused on the badge sitting in the purse in front of her. But this was no good. His eyes were on her, making sure she understood his explanation. This was even worse than if she hadn't asked him a question at all. "- so it goes up, and down, and to the sides, all equally because no direction was easier to go than the others, they all took the same amount of push. If the building were more round, the sides would take a lot less push than up and down, so most of the wind could go around without building up so much."

After pretending to think about it for a second, Elaine declared, "They should only build square buildings from now on then."

This sparked a look of concern from Kudo, and she wondered if she should have listened more to his explanation.

"Square buildings actually can cause problems for the people on the street, since the downdraft can make the wind on ground level much stronger."

"But I like stronger wind," she complained.

"You wouldn't if it knocked you down or caused a car accident."

"Yeah.." she said, even though she still liked the wind from square buildings better. She didn't understand why people built them if they were causing all those sorts of problems anyways.

The elevator doors opened and Elaine realized her chance. Everyone always faced toward the door in elevators, right? And would be close to each other. If she stood in the back she could reach into Sonoko's bag without anyone noticing.

The doors opened and Elaine darted to the back and turned about, the wall rail behind her, Sonoko and her bag before her. Kudo came in as well and pressed a button. Now was her chance. Doors closing, heart pulsing so hard she could feel it in her fingertips, Elaine inched even closer to Sonoko. She darted a look at Kudo, one at the slightly open purse, another to Sonoko. It was so quiet, just the whirr of the elevator moving floors. She just had to reach out and take it. It would be right on top. Just reach out. Just reach- Dizziness swayed her as the elevator came to their floor. She still hadn't reached for it. Another glance at Kudo. The doors were opening. She- she couldn't do it. Was she sweating? Her skin felt clammy.

She exited the elevator feeling guilty and all fuzzy. She hadn't even tried and she still felt awful.

Dejected, Elaine trailed after her guardians as they came to what Sonoko proclaimed to be their destination. Sonoko gestured wildly with her hands like she was just learning a floor routine she wasn't comfortable with. The room was dark and empty so her introduction of it didn't amount to much. Elaine didn't share in Sonoko's exuberance, and even entertained the thought, if only for a moment, that she was entirely too sullen to properly enjoy icecream.

But then Sonoko had flipped on the lights, just for her. That was always one of her favorite parts: when the lights of a big empty space came on. The larger and more grand the place the longer it took all the lights to come on. It was always such a spectacle, coming on in stages as if to say "look here, no look here! And here!" All of it some big welcome because she had arrived. For a moment, she forgot her guilt from her failed plan, and took in the room.

It was the grandest place meant just for serving ice cream she had ever even conceived. All the furnishings were marble and sleek and there were pillars that came down into the room just for decoration, and a big round counter in the center.

"All this is for ice cream?"

"It used to be a lounge and display room, but was repurposed when Kid famously ordered a 'straight-up road, hold the rocks,'" she deepened her voice and leaned cooly back against the bar as she quoted him then burst out laughing at her own impression. "They renamed it 'Neat Ice Cream' and now it specializes in floats and has an all nut-less selection of ice creams churned in house."

Sonoko did seem prone to random fits of laughter, but that felt like she was telling a joke. She didn't get whatever it was and decided to move on so that wouldn't be obvious.

"What's the best one?" she asked, resolving to pick whichever sounded the weirdest, unless Sonoko would let her have a taste of each one in order to decide.

She was all caught up in the possibilities of it all that she barely noticed when Kudo excused himself for a minute. In fact, she was half-way through a plot to convince Sonoko she needed to taste each flavor, in combination with each other flavor, before she realized the opportunity that opened now that Kudo had left.

Sonoko was bending down to scoop ice cream every couple of seconds, and her purse was sitting on the counter in front of Elaine unguarded. Without Kudo there to watch her, she easily slipped the black security card from Sonoko's purse and into her pocket. When Sonoko straightened back up to hand Elaine yet another sample, she was still none the wiser. It was entirely too easy. Even still, her heartbeat just as much as before, maybe more now that she had actually done it.

Kudo still wasn't back when she excused herself to the restroom, and it was a good thing he wasn't because she was certain he'd figure out what she had done just by looking at her face.