story324.xml

story324.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-27

I arrived for work a little late - a couple of minutes past
nine. I had a feeling immediately that something was
strange around the office as two of my coworkers were
staring intently at a TV scree. They looked up and told me
that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center
buildings. For some reason it didn't completely sink in
immediately - I turned on my computer. As we were sitting
there, trying to figure out what was going on, the reality
began to dawn on all of us. My chief of staff and
legislative director disappeared into the Congressman's
office. Looking out our window, we have a perfect view of the
Capitol Building - about 400 yards away. I remember asking,
"Are we safe here right now." A friend from another office
called me, to see what we were doing. Our chief of staff
came out,looking visibly shaken. He said that we were closing
down and that we should all get go home. Avoid the metro, he
said - no one is sure what's going on. I tried to call my girlfriend
who also works in the city, but she wasn't answering because she
was in a staff meeting - she didn't find out for another half hour.

I called my friend back
and she offered her apartment as a place to go. I refused,
seeing how she lived on Capitol Hill and I wanted to get out of
the city. We decided to go to my apartment in Silver
Spring, MD. It was at that point that a news report came on that
there had been a car bomb explosion at the State Department.

We all left the office quickly, and I headed over to the Cannon
Building to meet my friend. I remember taking the stairs, rather
than the elevator out of a fear of being trapped if something
happened. Everyone was moving quickly, but not in a paniced
way. Capitol Police were moving tourists along - the evacuation
order hadn't come down yet, but it would in a matter of minutes.
I met my friend and we immediately got in her car. I turned on
National Public Radio to see what was happenign. It was almost
surreal - they were broadcasting a report on the budget and the
Social Security lock box! Flipping throught the dials, we found
Elliot in the Morning, a local shock jock who dumped his usual
schtic for real reporting. He was great and helped to keep us a
little calm.

We drove north, past the Senate Office Buildings. Traffic was
heavy, but moving. We were stopped at a light near the Hart Office
Building when we heard a "boom." Pedestrians immediately started
looking up toward the Capitol. Our first words were, "Shit,
they hit the Capitol."We couldn't see the dome because of
buildings in the way and I started to get out of the car to try
and see what happened. My friend yelled at me to get back in and we
drove off. I was so wrapped up in what was going on, I almost
didn't notice that she was crying. For a period, I was afraid that she
wouldn't be able to drive, but she held it together.

The drive thinned out after we got off the hill. At this point, we
still didn't know what the noise was, so when we got to North Capitol
Street, I looked back to see if the dome of the Capitol was still there.
It was, and we found out later that the noise was a jet flying
overhead. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Traffic was
about the same as a usual evening commute and we made it home in 40 minutes.
Coworkers who were going to Virginia were not so lucky and were
stuck for hours because 395 goes by the Pentagon.

Two thoughts kept occuring to me. 1. Since we didn't yet know
that the state department car bomb rumor was false, I was nervous
about the parked cars we were passing on the road. 2. It was
strange how so many of the people we passed at stores, gas
stations and other businesses seemed to be going on with their
lives as if nothing happened. I wanted to yell, "Don't you see
what's happeining?"

When we got to my apartment building at around 10:45, we
went upstairs to my girlfriend's apartmen - I don't have a land line, and my cell phone
was not working. We called our parents to let them know we were
safe. My girlfriend was still in the city. I was not happy about
that and told her that if she didn't get out soon, I was coming in
to get her. There were many calls trying to reach her father who was
understandibly upset. It was difficult to get though as he worked on
Long Island and all NY phones were jammed. I remember speaking
to my mother several times, at one point suggesting that she and
my father might want to pack up and head to my uncle's house
in Maine, my father's plan during the Cold War if missiles were
launched.

My girlfriend got home about an hour and a half later and we spent
the rest of the day fixated on the TV. At one point, we tried
to give blood, only to be turned away, because the center wasn't set
up for a drive.

That night, I needed to get out and went to the gym. At one
point, the President addressed the nation and I remember a good
number of people going over to watch. Some people kept working out.