Cam and her mother followed Mrs. Scott to the elevator. Eric and his mother followed Mr. Scott to the stairs.
“When did you first know you had a great memory?” Mrs. Scott asked.
“It was me. I was the first to realize it,” Mrs. Jansen said. “When Cam was little I read to her every night. One night I was in a hurry and skipped a page. ‘No, Mommy,’ Cam said. ‘What about the man with the blue shirt, red pants, and sneakers?’ She described everything on that page. After that we had lots of fun playing all sorts of memory games. Cam was just two years old, but she always won.”
“That’s amazing,” Mrs. Scott said.
The elevator doors opened. Cam and her mother followed Mrs. Scott onto the elevator.
“Does your great memory help you with your schoolwork?”
“Cam does very well in school,” Mrs. Jansen said.
“It’s easy for me to remember spelling words,” Cam said. “And I always remember what I read.”
“Is there room for me?” asked a woman wearing a long green dress and carrying a large open handbag. “I have trouble with stairs.”
“Of course there’s room,” Mrs. Scott told the woman. She waved her hand and told her to come onto the elevator.
“In class I always raise my hand, but my teacher hardly ever calls on me,” Cam told Mrs. Scott. “She says, ‘I’m sure you remember the work. I want to find out if others in the class remember.’”
An old man with a cane got on the elevator.
Another old man and his wife got on. They were friends of Mrs. Scott.
“This is such a nice party,” the man said.
A man wearing a dark blue jacket and holding a paper coffee cup came on.
A woman wearing a tight flowered dress was about to get on. She was holding a plate with a gooey piece of cake.
“Please eat that first,” the old man with the cane said. “I don’t want that messy cake to get on my clothes.”
The woman quickly ate the cake. She licked the gooey icing off her fingers. Then she gave the plate to a waiter and got on the elevator.
A young man in a fireman’s uniform got on.
“That’s it,” Mrs. Scott said. “There’s no more room.”
Mrs. Scott was standing by a set of buttons. She pushed a button and the elevator doors closed.
“We’re going up,” Mrs. Scott said.
Cam and her mother were pressed against the wall of the elevator. Cam took a deep breath and held it. Then the doors opened and people got out. Cam exhaled.
“The big windows are to your right,” Mrs. Scott announced.
“Let’s go see,” Mrs. Jansen said. “We parked our car right in front. I bet from up here it looks like a little toy.”
Cam turned to Mrs. Scott.
“Thanks for the ride,” Cam said.
Cam stopped.
“Oh,” she said. “I think something is missing.”
Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!”
Cam quickly opened her eyes. “Mrs. Scott,” she said, “your pearl necklace is gone!”