story1362.xml

story1362.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-21

I was at work on the Help Desk at a K St. law firm. I come in at 8, the guy who sat next to me comes in at 8:30. The first thing he always does is check CNN. The story of the first plane was on. We went to one of the attoney's offices on our floor because he had a TV. He turned it on & we watched for a couple of minutes, then he swung his chair around so his back was to the TV & said we would have to leave because he had a brief to write. Just then the second plane hit the second tower. He spun around to see it too & there was no more talk of writing a brief. I had to set up offices for new associates who were starting the next week, & I thought doing that would take my mind off it, so I went off to do that. When I was on another floor I heard a commotion from down the hall, I ran down to see & everyone was watching another TV & the tower had just fallen down. I left the attorney's office incomplete & went down the block to Radio Shack to buy a transistor radio so I could keep up with the news if I had to hike out of town. I was expecting the Metro to shut down. On the way to Radio Shack I ran into a guy who used to be in a vanpool with me, who worked at EEOC. They had just been evacuated. I told him what I was doing & he thought that was a good idea so he came too. Building management tried to evacuate Radio Shack while we were in there but we made them sell us the radios & batteries first. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn't put the batteries in, so Bob did it for me. Then we left, he was going to walk across the bridge to Virginia & try to get home from there. I went back to the office, there were voicemails from my family & friends - was I ok? I called everyone & told them I was safe. The firm had sent out an email that we were closing but that people were welcome to stay if they thought they would feel safer. TV's had been set up with projectors in the conference rooms. I found a ride home with some people who live near me, but they weren't going to leave till 2, because the roads would be better then. They were all blocked. One of the engineers was crying because she was a single mother & couldn't get home to her daughter. I went to the noon Mass at the cathedral. The cantor started crying during the commnunion hymn. It was "He who believes in Me, shall never die. And I will raise him up, I will raise him up, I will raise him up, on the last day." I still can't hear that without crying. When I got back to the office after Mass, another employee was stading out front, & she said "We lost one." I asked who, & she said she couldn't tell me, there was going to be an official announcement to the firm tomorrow. I went back in & checked the list of who was on travel. When we finally left, one of the police directing traffic was screaming "We're going to get them - we're going to kill the m-f'ers who did this" He just kept screaming it over & over as he waved people along. When we drove past the Pentagon, you could see the smoke & flames still. I could feel a neck in my hands. I wanted to tear the throat out of whoever did this, with my bare hands. I imagined the veins & muscles ripping under my nails. I've never been so angry in my life.