9/11-Where were you?-My little story
I got up that morning and turned on the TV and NY1 the local news channel came on. They were reporting that a plane had hit one of the towers and showed the view from a helicopter. I sat there dumbfounded and wondered “What idiot did not see that building there?” As I continued watching TV the second tower got hit.
Oh My God What the hell is going on here? I thought. To show you how my mind works I immediately thought of the plot of Die Hard 2 where William Sadler sabotages a planes instrument system remotely and makes it crash. I naively thought for a second that there must be a glitch in air traffic control. I flipped to NBC and they started talking about the attack on the Pentagon and an analyst commented that this was no mistake it was a terrorist attack. I really felt like a simpleton.
It occurred to me that I should call into work and tell them I’m not coming in.
I called in and got in touch with the acting store manager Dan Craig. I told him I wasn’t coming in and he remarked that a lot of people were calling out. He said it in a tone which made me think he didn’t really understand the enormity of what was going on. I found out later that the cops came into the store and told him to shut it down or else he’d be arrested.
As I continued watching the house phone rang. It was my mother.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course I’m all right, I’m at home.” I said rather annoyed. Shame on me for being like that.
“Well I thought you might have been down there.”
“For what Mom? We don’t have a store down there.”
“Well I was just worried.”
“I’m fine Mom.”
“You’re not going to work are you?”
“No no no no.”
As I was transfixed to the TV I saw the first tower collapse.
Rodneyrants 