story884.xml

story884.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-07-11

The day started off like all other school-days do. I went to weightlifting at 6 then did some speed exercise drills. Football being the sport in mind while completing these exercises. Around 7 I took a shower. At half past, I was in the cafeteria reading a book. By quarter to 8 my friends were at the table chatting away. The bell finally rang and I went to my first class, chorus. Now, I'm very musically inclined and sometimes stare into space during rehersal. I wasn't chalanged at all, hence, I let my mind wonder. The bell rang again and it was time to hit my second class, jazz band. During the passing period I overheard an upperclassmen say something about something going on in New York. I, assuming he was full of nonesense, merrily walked to jazz band. I arrived at 9:20 in class. The radio was on. I didn't think much of it because we often listened to jazz during class. I walked over to my trumpet and got it out. It looked nice. Silver. Made by Bach. The best trumpet in the whole district I had no doubt. I took out my mouthpiece, stuck it in my mouth (to warm it up and get my lips ready) and started to remove my percious instrument. A voice rang out. "Joe, you don't need that." "What?" I replied.
"Yeah, I don't think you'll need it today." It was my band teacher. She turned up the radio. By the time the rest of the students filtered in we were all around the radio. It was about 9:30 now. We sat and listened for almost the whole class. We came to the conclusion that we did not want to wallow in sadness anymore. For the last 20 minutes or so of class we played our music. The next class was Spanish 2. By that time the main office had sent memos to every teacher to have them read during the 3rd class of the day. My teacher read the memo to the class. Some students were shocked that such a thing had happened. Others expressed that they had already known the of the ongoings.
I felt horrible. Though I had no connections to New York at all, a strange uneasiness brewed in my stomach. Questions were buzzing around my head. Who did it? Why? Were more planes going to crash into all the major cities around the United States? It came time for lunch. I decided that my stomach might feel better with some food in it. I brought a turkey sandwhich from home. I sat at a large circluar table with my friends. There were about 8 of us there. Suddenly, the lights in school went out. After a breif moment of silence outbursts rang wild. "Ahhh! Terrorists!" Some said. "It's the end!" Others said. Lound vulgar language could also be heard. After school ended football was afoot. After football I went home. The media was full of people jumping to conclusions. My fathers asked me what my thoughts were. I told him that I was not going to conjure an opinion until more actual facts were known. I fell asleep that night knowning my life would not return to normal for a long time.