story7097.xml
Title
story7097.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-13
911DA Story: Story
I live in the Pacific Northwest now, but I?m from New York?upstate. I?ve got a sister in Brooklyn and a brother in New Jersey. The day of September 11, once I had taken in the initial horror, I began to call back East. I didn?t get them right away?they?d been going to work that day, of course?but these are the stories I pieced together later, in talks with them and with my mom.
My sister normally takes an express bus that lets out at the World Trade Center. She works at Cabrini Hospital, as a hospice counselor. That day, reason unbeknownst, she took the subway. Whenever she tells this, she emphasizes, ?I took the subway after the first plane hit. I thought it was an accident, and I had a big day ahead of me. Then we were under the WTC when the second plane hit. The lights flickered on and off; we were at a standstill for almost two hours. There were no crashes, no structures collapsing underground, but instead the expected panic, screaming, moaning, wrenching of hands. Finally at one point a woman cleared the air. She yelled, ?Wait a minute. We all heard about the first plane and we took the subway anyway! What?s wrong with us? It?s sick, being such workaholics!? To emphatic laughs, grunts, and howls of consent, that set things into perspective. In due time, we all took a stairway up to ground level, and made our way through white dust back to Brooklyn, walking until some kind stranger picked me up. It was a war zone.? In my sister?s line of work, she has never stopped dealing with this event.
My brother wasn?t anywhere near the WTC, but some of his wife?s family was. Her sister Regina, in her late 50s, works in 2 WTC. From the first crash, she maintained sporadic cell-phone contact with her husband Jack, who works in midtown. She was able to get away and was ferried to Staten Island; but Jack, having lost contact with her, didn?t know this. He began walking down to the Trade Center to find her. The devastation grew steadily worse the closer he got. By the time he reached Ground Zero, they were turning away all offers of help except from welders. Jack?s brother was a welder, and Jack had picked up some skills, so they let him onsite. Presently he was removed to a hospital for dust inhalation, then released. He died within three days.
My sister normally takes an express bus that lets out at the World Trade Center. She works at Cabrini Hospital, as a hospice counselor. That day, reason unbeknownst, she took the subway. Whenever she tells this, she emphasizes, ?I took the subway after the first plane hit. I thought it was an accident, and I had a big day ahead of me. Then we were under the WTC when the second plane hit. The lights flickered on and off; we were at a standstill for almost two hours. There were no crashes, no structures collapsing underground, but instead the expected panic, screaming, moaning, wrenching of hands. Finally at one point a woman cleared the air. She yelled, ?Wait a minute. We all heard about the first plane and we took the subway anyway! What?s wrong with us? It?s sick, being such workaholics!? To emphatic laughs, grunts, and howls of consent, that set things into perspective. In due time, we all took a stairway up to ground level, and made our way through white dust back to Brooklyn, walking until some kind stranger picked me up. It was a war zone.? In my sister?s line of work, she has never stopped dealing with this event.
My brother wasn?t anywhere near the WTC, but some of his wife?s family was. Her sister Regina, in her late 50s, works in 2 WTC. From the first crash, she maintained sporadic cell-phone contact with her husband Jack, who works in midtown. She was able to get away and was ferried to Staten Island; but Jack, having lost contact with her, didn?t know this. He began walking down to the Trade Center to find her. The devastation grew steadily worse the closer he got. By the time he reached Ground Zero, they were turning away all offers of help except from welders. Jack?s brother was a welder, and Jack had picked up some skills, so they let him onsite. Presently he was removed to a hospital for dust inhalation, then released. He died within three days.
Collection
Citation
“story7097.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5165.