story1426.xml

story1426.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-23

I was home in bed when a friend of mine called and told me what was happening. I watched the news while talking on the phone to among others my cousin who was working at the world trade center and fortunatley was running late for work and my brother who is a police officer in NYC and said he was heading in early just in case he was needed. After watching the towers fall on television i headed up to the roof of my apartment building where i used to be able to see the towers on a clear day. As i watched the thick smoke rising across the city I heard a loud roaring coming across the sky from behind me and looked up to see a pair of fighter jets heading south into the city. At the time, the first thought that came to me was all the action movies i had seen in my life, that i thought were so ridiculous, did not measure up to what was unfolding right in front of me, a silly thing to be thinking of i suppose but it was the first thing i thought of. Unfortunatley as it turned out i knew two people from the police department and one fireman who were killed that day as well as my parents next door neighbor who never made it off his office floor.