"And by the way, a plane hit the World Trade Center."
"Whatever, mom, call me back in ten minutes. I was at work too late last night."
Her head plopped back to her pillow. The last sentence sticking in her sleepy brain, she pictured a cartoonish plane flying into one of her beloved buildings, kind of bouncing off, and then falling straight to the ground. Really, now, what could her mother possibly be talking abo....
Holy shit, a plane hit the World Trade Center! She bolted upright and called her mother back.
"Turn on the TV. NBC. See that?"
"Must be one of those small planes, I don't see anything but some smoke. What is that? Holy shit, anothe...."
The phone went dead. She raced outside to see it with her own eyes. One flight for each building.
Chaos.
Fear.
Smoke.
What?
What is that?
Oh. My. God.
You captured the horror and confusion of that day perfectly. Very nice piece of writing.
ReplyDeleteA horrendous day! We all know where we were (I was in Italy) and completely stunned. I could feel this again, here!
ReplyDeleteWell-written. Such a tragedy that day.
ReplyDeletebest,
MOV
Well done. Still so horrifying and sad.
ReplyDeletereaching out to you, cos I know what that home meant to you. :(
ReplyDeleteIt really is one of those statements that is completely meaningless when you first hear it. A plane hit the world trade center? what does that even mean? not... not what it sounds like, of course not!
ReplyDeletegreat piece
Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteWell done. I was in the car and heard it on the radio on my way to college and couldn't figure out what was going on at first - and I was awake!
ReplyDeleteThat was a horrible day. I heard the first of it during my commute to work. The DJs were goofballs and I thought it was one of their bad jokes. It didn't take long to figure out it was real. Couldn't imagine the horror of seeing it close up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with Trifecta this week. September 11th continues to fuel our stories and nightmares, doesn't it? There's no end to the places it takes us. Horrifying.
ReplyDeleteThat is a heck of a thing to introduce with "by the way"! So hard to believe, it's true.
ReplyDeleteAnnabelle, I was trying to convey that it was mid-coversation. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteThanks all, as usual, for your encouraging and lovely comments. As Barbara noted above, this was very hard to write!