Readers� Theatre of September 11, 2001

Created by ENGL 112B, March 21, 2007

 

It�s late.

Get kids ready for school.

Wait. Kids are at school.

Must be still � sleepy.

Mom was in the kitchen making breakfast for Seth.

Heard Mom gasp; then she yelled, �Oh, My God!�

She cradled the remote in her shaking hands.

I turned to the television and there it was.

Chaos� Building on fire�Airplane

Where? What? Is this real?

Silence in the room.  Silence in my house. Silence on my street.

We were glued to the TV�Just watching

Staring in horror.  One building, one plane

Fire. Smoke. Voices. Screams. Disbelief.

Did I just see that?  People jumping.

Then! Like an instant

Another plane crashed into the building.

Screams. Fire. Smoke. People. Shock.

My mom grabbed her phone.

Rings on the other side.  She is crying.

She is crying. Dials until she gets�

Wait.  My dad was to be on an airplane today, right?

Where could he be?

Oh my God.  Oh my God.

Mom still trying�Finally�He is okay.

ALL governments locked down� Dad�s okay.

I hear my mom�s whisper

�May God help us all.�

                                                Elena

 

On September 11th, I was attending Menlo College and I was living in the dorms on campus.

A friend of mine came into my room and was yelling frantically about the planes being hijacked

and then crashing into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon.

I had been sleeping so I was in a bit of a daze still and the shock didn�t set in for a while.

Everyone�s television sets in their rooms blared news reports and showed scenes of chaos and carnage.

It was very intense and surreal. 

Spent the rest of the day calling my family and friends who didn�t live on campus.

                                                            Jamie M.

I can�t remember what

I did for the rest of

that day, after seeing the morning news.

 

But I knew after that

planes didn�t fly for

a long time.

 

When they started again

it was so strange,

something that once

was so familiar.

I never really noticed

planes that much,

living in the flight path

of three airports.

 

But now this familiarity

seemed so foreign

and it was scary

and startling.

 

We would hear a plane

and go to the door or window

and watch them

like when we were little

and heard the really loud ones.

 

We made sure the plane

wasn�t going astray

and watched until it was out of sight.

Eventually we stopped noticing again.

                                                Jamie A.

I thought a tornado had touched down right ion Bleeker Street.

A black funnel cloud came right down the street at me,

And I jumped under a car.

The next instant I couldn�t see anything�

dust and dirt and pieces of things screamed by me,

blocking out the sun and every piece of daylight.

I felt like I was in a blender.

I thought the care was going to lift off.

Stuff was hitting the car like a gang of hoods

was banging on it with baseball bats.

It was like the Exorcist and Ghostbusters all

rolled into one, and I don�t mean that in a funny way.

Locusts and the Book of Revelation went through my head,

along with a million other things.  I was scared.

 

It lasted about two minutes, then let up a bit.

I peered out from under the car.

Stuff was still swirling around like

confetti on New Year�s Eve, but I knew it

wasn�t confetti.  I knew it was part of

New York City, and the rest of it, I didn�t want to know what it was.

But I did.

It seemed like there was no sound, but

I�m sure there was.  I was in shock�

                                                            John A.

Holy Shit!!

No way this is happening

No way this just happened

Some one finally grew the balls to attack us

All those poor people

All those policemen

All those firemen

All those civilians. Wow!

I�ll tell you one thing, whatever small bug

did this just woke a giant sleeping elephant.

And it�s gonna� go on a rampage!

I don�t know

Why is he just sitting there?

Why isn�t he moving?

Is he just as shocked as we are?

I think it�s sad that just 6 days before

My son was born

Welcome to the world son!!

I don�t know

Five years later we see the death of a ruthless dictator

But why? He didn�t attack us

so we are told

Did he?  He didn�t.

I don�t know

The attack made us paranoid

With that stupid home land security

Is it a blue day?  An orange day? A purple day?

I don�t know

                                                            Miguel

(perspective of Captain Lewis Williams, astronaut)

I didn�t feel like

getting up that

morning.

 

What most people

don�t realize

is that

as an astronaut

you spend most of your day

exercising.

 

It keeps your muscles

from atrophy.

 

I had a long day

planned

of first weights

then cardio

then a bit

of science

then more cardio.

 

We didn�t find out

until a couple days

later

about what happened.

 

We joke sometimes

quietly,

about how for us it�s 9/13

 

The ground crew,

wracked,

told us about

the planes,

the towers,

the flags till flying.

 

Eventually

more news came

of war

of death

of outrageous gas prices

(Courtesy of my wife)

When we landed

people were

still talking

but

we weren�t.

 

When you see

the world

from so far

away

it�s amazing how

small

everything seems.

 

(Even the Great Wall of China

seems pitiful against the gleam of Asia)

 

So could we be

blamed

for not caring?

 

Even if

we looked

we couldn�t have seen

the

towers

fall.

                                                            Jason R.

I took ice readings in Sector Ten again today.

9 meters under still at �53 points.

The flusher stopped working, but I still had to go badly.

Bill came back in a huff with his dogs and said, �Did you hear?

They bombed New York.�

I couldn�t listen to him because I had to go so bad,

I ended up braving it in the cold

to the Station D.  Ten feet is far to walk

when it�s freezing out.

When I came back, George and Stanley were listening

Too and that�s when it hit me.

People think that Antarctica takes the heart from the scientist,

but I cried that day.

                                                                        Nelson W.

(Note: Alex is keeping the lower case style of Karen Hesse)

and everyone was silent

except for our physics teacher

who bet it was afghanistan

 

and i remembered in first grade

the foreign exchange student

who was from afghanistan

and that afghanistan

was the largest word i could pronounce

 

and i remember that time when countries were colors

on a map

that i could touch with my hands

and then move on

                                                                        AlexVo

I don�t want to answer it.

The phone continues to ring its drilling tones.  It is an added distraction to my chaotic,

stressful, bustling not-yet-a-routine.

Jon�s first day at preschool.  Photos for the scrapbook.  Packed lunches.  Breakfast. Jess�

homework. Sunscreen. Sweatshirts. Shoelaces. Parents arriving.

Frantically wiping up every crumb and spill  Throwing the dishes into the dishwasher

and Marcus out of the house before he can make more mess.

I don�t want to answer it.

But, I do.

 

Laura is alert and concerned.  She knows my parents are coming to visit and are flying.

A plane has crashed.  New York.  World Center Towers.

I don�t understand why she is so worried.  A crashed plane?  Serious but so what?  It�s

not going to be a jumbo jet.

 

I�ve no TV; I turn on the radio.

The serious tone of the announcer starts to sink in.

 

I calculate how long Mummy and Daddy have been in the air since take off from

Heathrow.  They should be over the East Coast of America�

 

�The domestic airlines, United�.�

 

I am overwhelmed when I hear the word, domestic.

Overwhelmed with a wonderful sensation of relief that my parents� plane is not affected.

Overwhelmed by a cold wrenching sense of guilt for being relieved.

Overwhelmed by a searing empathy for people with loved ones on those planes.

Overwhelmed by horror for the people witnessing and partaking of this piece of history.

Overwhelmed by the depressing enormity of the political implications and ramifications.

 

So much anger and evil and hurt and fear.

Can love shine through any of this?

                                                                        Vicky G-J

�Go ahead and leave the TV on, Mom, I want to watch it while I get ready for class!�

�All right, give me a kiss.�

I gave her a one arm hug, and a half kiss because

the other half of my body was curling my hair.

�I love you.�

�I love you too.�

I was watching the TV in the reflection in the mirror I was using in the bathroom adjacent to the living room.  The one I was using to curl my hair.  I would glance back and forth from my work with the curling iron to the TV.  I stopped when I saw the Blue Screen and �Special Report� flash on the screen.  I put down my curling iron, picked up the clicker, and sat on the arm rest of my couch facing the screen.

�It appears a small aircraft has hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in Manhattan this morning.  We don�t have any facts just yet but�

Oh my God, that�s another plane.�

A voice on the news isn�t supposed to have that kind of urgency.  I was startled, but I saw it,

and it wasn�t a small plane; it was a large passenger plane�the kind I use every summer to travel to see my family in Boston.  But it looked so small compared to the building that it flew right into.

I picked up the phone and dialed my mom�s work:

            �Thank you for calling Staples in Newark.  This is Mary, how�

I cut her off,

            �Mom, it�s me.�

            �Is everything okay?�

            �Yeah, put on the news something�s going on.�

While my mom was walking to the break room, and I was left on hold listening to some �Mac is back 90s song,� the first building began to billow enormous amounts of grey and black pillows of smoke; it appeared to be falling into itself, one step, one floor at a time.

            �Michele, oh my God, What�s going on?�

            �I don�t know, Mom; they don�t know.�

            �Oh, my God, Mom; it�s gone, you can�t see it; it�s only smoke. It�s gon.e.�

I went to class that morning.  I had a test. I walked, I drove, I parked, I ate, I talked. I did my regular routine.  I went home, and that�s when regular changed.

At home we still know exactly what went wrong, how it happened, what exactly did happen. 

I just remember my dad repeating, �This is no accident; no one gets to the Pentagon.�

                                                                                    Michele Celino

Confused.

Scared.

Shocked.

Is this really happening?

This morning I woke up

worrying about a test.

What does that matter now?

Why?

Who are these people?

Why are we studying chemistry

today when we should be

watching the news?

What if I was on that plane?

What if I knew someone who just died?

Is the Bay Area the next target?

I can�t even imagine a life ending,

especially in that fashion.

How insignificant are the values

that people place on others� lives?

Why am I at school?

Why are we even having school?

I don�t know what to say to my friends.

They don�t know what to say to me.

We talk about normal things,

knowing we should be

talking about something else.

We go about it by saying it�s

sad, and then doing nothing.

What can we do?

What can I do?

What can anyone do?

                                                                        James W.

So when the news first broke, a teacher came in, handed

my teacher a sheet of paper.  He read it.  But it wasn�t

too clear � or maybe we didn�t really understand what it meant.

            �Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center; one in Washington.�

Maybe it was because it was early, but my classmates and I didn�t think much of it;

9:00 a.m. is not pretty for high school students.

            �Was it an accident?  How do you crash into a building?�

            �Maybe it was a plane? Is it a prank?  I bet it is.�

            �I don�t know.�

My teacher was as clueless as we were.

An announcement came, telling us to gather in the rooms with televisions.

I walked into one, sat for an hour, watching the

Towers crumble one after another, then over and over again

as they were replayed.  Some were outraged; some cried;

Some just sat there in silence.

How to react? Could I� I should, but in what way?

School wasn�t canceled, but all we did was sit in that room,

Watching but not seeing.  Hearing the announcers discuss

who did it, how many are dead, but not hearing them, not believing.

Someone muttered, �Does this mean we don�t have a test today?�

                                                                                    Art T.

Got a call this morning.

�We�ve got an emergency here.

Please report to work immediately.�

I got right up.

Didn�t have time to shave or shower.

Kissed my wife.

Told her I loved her.

Put on my uniform.

The guys picked me up in the truck.

Sirens whirring,

�What�s going on?�

�A plane hit one of the Towers,� my boss said.

What could I say to that?

The Apocalypse, had it come?

Time to do my job.

We got there five minutes later.

I never thought it�d happen here.

It was ground zero. People screaming, crying, praying�

We had to go in there and do our job.

As we went inside and discussed what to do,

we heard another loud boom.

�Oh shit!� my friend said.

Is this Armageddon?

The building was falling apart.

We had to save what we could.

A piece of rubble fell near me.

�Yea though I walk through the

valley of death, I will fear no evil.�

I thought about my daughter.

Would there still be a world for her to grow up in?

Does she know I love her?

                                                                        Andy C.

That place � the World Trade Center � gone!

That place I knew so well�

The path trains screeching into the station

--it was always clean,

almost shiny � and the long escalator

ride up and up to the concourse

In the mornings, the commuter caf�

was closed, memories of me and

Robin there, sharing a drink with the

affable, yet difficult to understand

bartender � it�s gone now.

All the shops still closed too � as

hundreds of us from New Jersey

filtered into the city�walking

hurriedly through.

My friend Anne, who worked there

long ago, and once fell 20 floors in

the elevator before the brake caugh, at

least she wasn�t there that day, but

others were, childhood friends gone!

My dad took me to lunch at

Windows on the World � it�s gone!

The rush of air when you opened

the door in the lobby to the outside

And the way the Towers looked � I liked

them best at sunset, they looked real,

orangey and earthy and now

they�re gone!

                                                                        Chris C.

Clicking through radio stations

Riding to school

Mom say, �Go back.�

�I like this song!�

�Go back!�

Then I hear what Mom heard.

�A plane crashed into the World Trade Center.�

I get out, walk into band.

�What is going on,� I wonder.

A television shows a building, smoking.

Then another plane smashes

into another building.

The heaviest silence I�ve

ever heard weighs down

on a room full of instruments.

Even the rowdy drummers

who normally talk so loud

during rehearsal, remain still

and silent.

Until questions erupt from

the mouths of fifty students,

filling the room with

unharmonious noise.

                                                            Jamie B.

It was like a scene from an action movie.

First one hit.

Then another.

But no. This was no movie.

It was real.  It did happen.

The clouds of smoke continued to rise.

Dust everywhere.

People everywhere.

Debris everywhere.

Helicopters hover in the sky like a hawk eying its prey.

Firefighters, ambulances, police come from all directions,

Aiding the victims

Reaching for the ones inside

Trapped

Lost

Their fate ends here.

                                                                        Sandra T.

When I walked out into the kitchen that morning,

my mom had on the news.

She said, �We�re witnessing history.�

I thought nothing of it,

Blew it off.

Like the Unibomber, OJ �

It sucked, but it wasn�t the end of the world.

When I got to school,

people were crying.

There was a prayer circle.

It was starting to hit me.

My English teacher had an open conversation

about it.

My econ teacher went on with class as

though nothing had happened.

My drama teacher when down the halls

yelling.

He told me who Osama Bin Laden was.

He told me I was gonna� get drafted.

My parents told me he was exaggerating.

I went to bed terrified.

When I woke up, the house was still there.

No one blew up Newark, CA.

                                                                        Gerry D.

I think that I remember

but I don�t

not really

It was a dull

grey morning but then

my mother and the television

talking

with pictures instead of words

                                                                        William A.

All the television stations were the same.

All of the radio stations were the same.

Everyone talked about the same thing.

School was cancelled that day,

but not until after I arrived.

A woman came into our classroom

and told us all to evacuate the campus.

The parking lot was one

big traffic jam as all the students

tried to leave at once.

Only later did I learn that

it was a bomb threat that caused

school to be cancelled.  Had I

known that, I would not have

sat in traffic in the parking lot

for 45 minutes�I would have

run like hell.  Later, at home on

my front balcony, my neighbor,

who had just moved to the US

from Canada a week before, comes

running out of his apartment

in his pajamas and says, �Your

country is f***ed-up, eh.  I�m

going home.�  All day, TV stations

were the same.  All the airplanes

in the country were grounded.

That is what they said. Then why

did I wake up in the middle

of the night to the sound of

an airplane?  I went outside

in the dark, in my pajamas

to look up to see the

plane that was not supposed to

be flying in our sky, and I

found that several others were

standing outside their apartments,

in their pajamas, staring up

at the sky.  I never went back

to sleep that night.

                                                                        Kari C.

It was 9:30 a.m., and

I heard a bang.

The loudest ban I had ever heard.

It was on the door to my room.

 

�Wake up,� my roommate called.

 

He told me what had happened.

I was in disbelief.

�Is this some hoax?� I said.  Comedy

Central wouldn�t go this far, I thought.

�It�s no joke,� he replied.

 

I ran down to the first floor of my

apartment where the TV sat.

 

I watched as the towers fell, and then

fell again.  Only to fall once more in front

of my not so innocent eyes.

 

It�s almost as if I had been waiting,

and fearing this event since the start.

 

Was this it?

 

No more time to shine.

All plans aborted.

Why didn�t I do something to stop it?

I care about both sides.

After all,

We are only human.

                                                                        Andy B.

Mama always got home at 6:48 PM

I�m so mad at her.  She said my grades aren�t

good enough, and so I can�t go out

to Angie�s party.  When I tried to tell

her about my new dress and how

I had to be there because Becky

was going, and she obviously had a

thing for Frankie, she wasn�t even

swayed one bit.

 

She said I�d better be here when she

got  back from work.

 

Work, work, work.  That�s all she cares

about.  I don�t see what the big del

is.  It�s just a stupid tower. She

doesn�t care about me, so why

should I care about her?  I told

her that I hated her �cause I knew

it�d make her cry.

 

I stayed home from school to get ready for the party.  I was in such

a rush I didn�t even have time to

watch TV.  I was running late.  Didn�t get

done till 7:05 PM.  But luckily, Mama was

late from work.  Thank God.  And I went

to Angie�s party in my new dress.

                                                                        Sylvia G.

I really am not callous or

non-compassionate

but on September 11,2001 I was in

my office at Western Carolina University

sitting at my computer � back to the office door�

cramming for an 11:00 class.

Sandra came in, �A plane has just crashed into

the World Trade Center.�

 

I had to think � the World Trade Center?  I was stressing

over papers I hadn�t gotten graded � I needed to stay on task.

A second colleague, Gayle, came a few minutes later� her

voice in shock said again, �Planes are flying into the World

Trade Center.

 

I wandered over to my writing class � in an electronic

classroom where CNN was playing.

I watched, my class watched as the Towers crumbled,

people jumped to their deaths, smoke and ask blurred

reality.

 

One of my students left in tears � her father was at

the Pentagon.

                                                                        Dr. Warner

The phone rang, it was still early

my daughters were eating cheerios

watching Dora

hola said Dora

Hello I said, answering on the third

ring

when he said my name I didn�t recognize it

but my stomach knew what my head didn�t

uh oh.

He said, �I love you� and �kiss the girls for me�

Be brave

I won�t get down,

but what do you say

when your child needs more orange juice and

the dog is whimpering to be let out

and your husband is just call

to say

goodbye.

Later

My mother came directly

bearing unwelcome details

�they crumpled, came down, the walls

they just folded in on themselves.�

And from the second floor balcony I can see the

Smoke, billowing up, across the river

and me thinking about that ringing phone

and wishing I could have

reached through that phone and �

                                                            Sima K.

The newscaster says a second plane

has just hit the World Trade Center

We are under attack

People are screaming and crying on TV

I sit on the bed, my hair still wet,

sharing the same shock and horror

as the strangers� faces being broadcast

I wonder how close my cousins are,

if they are ok

I pick up the phone to call my mother

but there is no service

I am alone

Hundreds of miles away from family

Thousands of miles away from the

Chaos and terror that is live on

my small glass screen.

The first building falls

I begin to cry

I have never felt this close to my

nation before

I see people jumping from

windows, like small birds

unable to fly, It is surreal

I am at a loss, hurt and upset, my

Heart aching for the passengers on

those planes, the indescribable fear

they must have experienced

for the people in the World Trade Center,

innocent lives sacrificed, trapped and

waiting for someone, anyone to rescue

them

for the brave policemen, firemen and

civilians who are risking their own

lives

I try to call my mom again but can

not reach her

I am angry

Angry at the people who could do

such a thing to men, women and

children, husbands, wives, mothers

and fathers

I am angry at the people in charge

of this country, those we have

entrusted our safety to

I am angry that our President sits

still, inactive

I watch the second tower fall

I am falling

I am crying

I do not understand

I do not feel safe

I want someone to blame

I want to talk to my mother

Papers and debris fall from the sky

on television

People and parts and dust block out the

sun

And it seems so far away, yet so

heavy inside me

                                                                        Amber K.

I slept through my first three classes.

Everybody had been watching the news about some sort

of crash and we didn�t do anything.

 

Not me.

I was too tired from last night�s party.

I was happy to sleep through my silent classes, only

with the sound of the anchor�s voice.

 

During break, my best friend told me that a plane had

Crashed into the shopping mall in Vegas by accident.

Ooh.  That was a pretty nice outlet.

What a pity, I thought.

 

During 4th period our teachers starts the class

with a moment of silence.

For  what? I whisper to my classmate.

 

Turns out a plane didn�t crash in to the shopping mall

at all.

Turns out it wasn�t an accident either.

Oh my god.

                                                                        Jean K.

As soon as I heard that a plane had

crashed into the Towers, a flood of

names rushed through my head.

Who did I know who was living in New York?

Rebecka? Julia? Rick? Nicole? Chris?

Julia!

She went to NYU but had job that took

her all over the city.

I frantically pulled out my phone

and tried to dial her number.

My hand was shaking with worry so it

took me a few times.

She and I had gone through grade

school and middle school together.

I remember her performing the lead

in our fifth grade production.  She sang

beautifully.

Then her voicemail was playing on my phone.

Voicemail?  I tried the number again and

again, but still no answer.

I left a somewhat frantic message and hung up.

I hoped she didn�t answer because

she was talking on the other line,

not because she was in danger.

It wasn�t until hours later when I heard

from her.

A huge sigh of relief, but then I realized

I was one of the lucky ones. How many

out there were not so lucky.

                                                                        Kari S.

I was brushing my teeth

when I turned on the television in my room

it was set to the same station it always was.

The news was on; the volume blaring in the background.

I rinsed my mouth and went back in my room.

I had never seen the World Trade Center up close.

The cameras focused on one tower.

Fire crackling, smoking, engulfing the air.

Black clouds of smoke mixed with pieces of debris.

The television screen was dark�

there was nothing to see.

 

Through the black clouds of smoke

another plane appeared in the distance.

I had always been told that planes

qre supposed to fly at a certain height.

But this plane was flying so low.

Just then, the plane collided with the second tower.

Explosions and screaming.

People running through the streets of  New York.

Still I couldn�t see anything.

Only clouds of black smoke

I have never seen the World Trade Center up close �

Looks like I never will.

                                                                        Adrienne H.

My alarm went off that morning

but music wasn�t playing

the DJs weren�t laughing

they weren�t playing a joke

a plane hit the towers

what towers?

World Trade Center�

If it�s for the world

shouldn�t everyone get along there?

What about the people

in the building

on the planes

what did they do?

I saw a fireman on TV

Where was his family?

Was he one of the ones reported dead

later that evening?

Heroes were made

Innocent lives were lost

We watched it at school

Would they come hit our school too?

What about the bridge?

the beautiful Golden Gate

Please don�t come over here

go away

We didn�t do anything wrong

Why would you separate

mommies and daddies from their kids

why would you take away loved one

what did they do to you?

Why?

                                                                        Stephanie E.

I usually wake up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready for work.

I work on the 13th floor in the Twin Towers as

a secretary for Mr. Johnson.  But this

morning my alarm didn�t ring.

I woke up at 8:00 a.m.; I immediately jumped

out of bed and started rushing to prepare

my morning coffee, which is

also set on a timer to start brewing

at 7:00 a.m.  I went into the kitchen

and the coffee was just beginning to

brew.  Thinking to myself as I entered

the shower stall.  This is going to be

a terrible day � and what excuse

I could give Mr. Johnson for being late.

I couldn�t tell him I had overslept.

He wouldn�t believe me because I�m

never late.  I finally got out of

the house, walked to the train

station and saw hundreds of people

crying.  I asked the man at the

newspaper stand what was going

on, he replied, Where the hell have

you been lady, don�t you listen to

the news, we have been attacked.

The Twin Towers fell down thousands

are dead.� I was shocked with disbelief.

All I could do was cry and think

my safe world has been violated. I

thought, �the Third World War will soon

begin.�

                                                                        Monecia L.

I remember coming downstairs

that morning, running late as always

and finding my father

silently standing

in front of the television.

 

I asked him what it was

that was so interesting

and looked to see for myself

 

later at school we watched the news

they had a special feed to

all the classrooms

just for the occasion

everyone around me was

just happy to get out of work

 

For days after that

there was nothing

but the same footage

on TV

 

Not that anyone

ever, ever wanted

to go through watching

such horrors again

 

But we all did

anyway.

                                                                        Jen J

I woke up.

I heard about it.

saw the pictures on the news

just like I see pictures on the news

every other day.

We had been attacked.

attacked.

What did it mean to be attacked?

Was I attacked?

I went to class,

about half the room knew

half the room was just confused

and the day moved on.

There were new stories

every hour or two,

new opinions, new death counts,

but what it all meant,

I sill don�t know.

I wasn�t crying.

I wasn�t scared.

I went to the store

and bought groceries

and the checker asked me

how my day was going,

but it was different,

it meant something more on that day

and still I didn�t say much.

She didn�t really want to know

what I thought, did she?

                                                                        Andrea F.

I first heard about the attacks

those awful attacks on this normal day

September 11, 2001

I am a New Yorker and felt the pain

 

Seconds after the pain

I felt the fear

I did not know if my family was well

and I rushed to the phone.

 

Yet on this morning none of my calls

would go through.

A full day I had to wait

to hear my brother�s voice say

he had not gone to work that day.

                                                                        Vivian D.

I thought it was just going to be

another regular day.

I thought I would go to school,

read about poetry or something I

wasn�t interested in, snore through

math, and I thought wrong.

I got to school without watching

the morning news or listening to

the car radio � a rarity in its time.

I still thought it was going to

be another regular day.

We never watched TV in my first

period class, but that day the TV

was on. That�s when I realized

that day wasn�t going to be another

regular day.

Then I saw a plane crash into

a building for the first time in my

life, and it wasn�t a movie, and it

wasn�t the last time I saw it either.

Two towers fell that day and may

lives were touched, and I can never

forget what was supposed to be

another regular day.    

                                                            Jackson H.

KGO Radio

blaring through my clock radio,

woke me up.

The newscasters were nervously talking

about a plane crashing into the World Trade

Center.  They sounded like after the �87 quake �

Disorienting.

I was confused, thinking maybe I

needed coffee so I could figure out what

my ears were telling me.

I turned on the TV as I was getting

ready for work,

and I started to feel sick when I

realized what had happened�

that my mind wasn�t playing games

with me�that my ears heard

correctly�and it wasn�t a joke.

For some reason, I drove the 50 miles

from my home in San Francisco to Santa Clara, where I worked.

 

I went to my office and sat there,

staring at Yahoo News.  My co-workers

were all in their offices, doing the

same thing.  It was strangely quiet. Dreamlike.

After thirty minutes of starting, I went

home� in a daze and sat in front of the news

all day.  Later that day, the CEO sent out

word that Phil Rosensweig was on

one of the planes.

My boss was good friends with him.

This is real.  I�m really not dreaming.

Life has changed.

                                                                        Tirah M.