story10793.xml
Title
story10793.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-09-08
911DA Story: Story
The day hadn't started out well for me at all. First, I was wearing a new pair of shoes that had already chafed the skin off of my heels. Painful. I underestimated the time it would take to get to work, and ended up being fifteen minutes late. I was exasperatingly shy, so it took me another five minutes to get up the courage to actually ask for my boss. Luckily for me she wasn't too mad. So I hit the grindstone, feeling the day might actually be of some use.
At 9:15, we were called to a staff meeting. Typical, happened every day, I was assured. But it also meant walking the entire length of the mall to get to the other half of the store. (Long story). So we walk past the guy who runs the newspaper stand. He looks up and says almost casually, "Hey, didja hear the news?" We hadn't, so he lowers his voice dramatically. "Planes hit the Twin Towers. They're gone, destroyed."
It took me a moment to remember what the Twin Towers were, before my mind treated me to a flash of just about every picture I'd seen of the World Trade Center. Hard to believe anything could put a dent in those things. This was a joke, and a rather nasty one, it had to be.
But the entire staff of the store was talking about it when we arrived for the meeting. Low, urgent voices. "Have they found survivors?"..."Who did it?"..."They hit the Pentagon, too?" The staff rooms were always crowded when I took my morning break and my lunch break, with the radios tuned to news channels. As far away as British Columbia, Canada, the shock of Sept. 11 was being felt. I remember working all day in a haze, eager to get home and see what this was about. For the next week, I stared transfixed at any TV screen that featured the Towers - which was all of them - as they burned. It just seemed impossible to knock down those buildings. And to try and think of how many people died...no, that was just too much.
Now, September 11, 2004 approaches. The TV is laden with documentaries about the attacks. I've watched the towers fall too many times already, yet it's impossible to look away. This year, hopefully, the people who died on 9/11 will not be forgotten.
At 9:15, we were called to a staff meeting. Typical, happened every day, I was assured. But it also meant walking the entire length of the mall to get to the other half of the store. (Long story). So we walk past the guy who runs the newspaper stand. He looks up and says almost casually, "Hey, didja hear the news?" We hadn't, so he lowers his voice dramatically. "Planes hit the Twin Towers. They're gone, destroyed."
It took me a moment to remember what the Twin Towers were, before my mind treated me to a flash of just about every picture I'd seen of the World Trade Center. Hard to believe anything could put a dent in those things. This was a joke, and a rather nasty one, it had to be.
But the entire staff of the store was talking about it when we arrived for the meeting. Low, urgent voices. "Have they found survivors?"..."Who did it?"..."They hit the Pentagon, too?" The staff rooms were always crowded when I took my morning break and my lunch break, with the radios tuned to news channels. As far away as British Columbia, Canada, the shock of Sept. 11 was being felt. I remember working all day in a haze, eager to get home and see what this was about. For the next week, I stared transfixed at any TV screen that featured the Towers - which was all of them - as they burned. It just seemed impossible to knock down those buildings. And to try and think of how many people died...no, that was just too much.
Now, September 11, 2004 approaches. The TV is laden with documentaries about the attacks. I've watched the towers fall too many times already, yet it's impossible to look away. This year, hopefully, the people who died on 9/11 will not be forgotten.
Collection
Citation
“story10793.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 21, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10327.