story8920.xml

story8920.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-01-04

I was staying over my girlfriend's apartment in Hoboken, NJ. It's a town right across the river from NYC. We both worked at MSNBC at the time. I had a precious day off so she left for work as she usually did, late. I went back to sleep. The phone rang around 8:45am. I figured it was Maria telling me she arrived at work - as she did from time to time. Too lazy to get out of bed
to answer the phone I let it ring. Then, less than ten seconds later the phone started to ring again. Again, I let it go into voicemail. I was
wondering why she would try again so quickly. I figured I would call her back shortly. I buried my head in my pillow when the phone started ringing again right away. I thought, what in the world is this girl ringing the phone off the hook for? Doesn't she realize I might be in the shower or something? I rolled out of bed and picked up the phone. Hello? Maria's distraught voice echoed, "Turn on the TV, a plane just hit the World Trade Center." I asked her to repeat. I assumed a small plane had hit the side of the building. I wondered if anyone below on the street had been killed by falling wreckage. Then, when I saw the image we all know so well of the hole in the tower I realized it wasn't a small plane. Once she got my attention she had to get back to work - being that she works in cable news. I immediately knew I had to call my mother in Florida to tell her that I was okay because as with all mother's she would fear the worst.

I dialed her at work while keeping an eye on the television. As soon as she answered I told her I was okay. "What are you talking about?" she asked. I realized she did not know what was going on. Once I told her she didn't believe me because I have a habit of joking around a lot. But I soon convinced her I was serious and that she should get to a TV. Suddenly I saw an explosion in the other tower on TV. I couldn't believe it was happening right across the river from where I was, less than a mile away. "Oh my God, mom, there's been an explosion! I have to go!" I assured her I would be okay then hung up.

I then frantically got dressed. I propped the door open because I didn't have keys and ran outside. In front of the building is a bus stop. When I ran down the stairs I saw people just reading papers and waiting for the bus. I couldn't believe they didn't know. The first person I came up to was a blond woman. "Do you know what happened?" I asked frantically. She looked at me with a strange expression - I'm sure I looked a little crazy - and she shook her head no. I told her then took off around the corner to the waterfront.

When I arrived there was a large group gathered watching the towers burn. Two large black plumes of smoke reached up and out into the sky. It was truly a surreal scene - one I still have trouble contemplating more than a year later. People were on cell phones talking about what was going on with people at home that had access to the news. I overheard different reports. "It was two planes, another plane, the Pentagon has been hit, terrorism." The magnitude of the moment was beyond me.

Being a journalist the next thing I thought of was getting a camera. I went back to Washington Street, the main road in Hoboken, and went into a drug store owned by Asians to buy an instant camera. I was surprised they were still open and even more surprised how calm they were. One woman was sweeping. "Can you believe this?" I asked. "Terrible," the man said with an accent. "That'll be nine dollars please."

I ran back across the street to a park to get a vantage point but the fence kept it out of view so I ran out of the park and down to the water. I remember an officer was stopping traffic going down towards the main part of Hoboken where the towers were best seen.

As I walked I realized what a beautiful day it was. It was warm and sunny. I started walking along the water taking pictures every few minutes. It was such a strange feeling. I was alone as I walked along the water, it was a beautiful day, and I was taking pictures of death and destruction in the distance.

As I approached the main park in Hoboken which is right across the water from the WTC I continued to snap pictures. One man yelled at me as I took another picture. "You're sick!" I felt bad. I wasn't taking pictures because I thought it was neat. I was talking them as if my mind was unable to compute what it was seeing and I knew I would need some sort of reference at a later time.

As I walked into the park I ended up behind a group of trees and the WTC was out of view. Then I heard it. A rumble followed by screams. Men who were up in a high rise being built at the time roared in agony as if their screams would somehow be able to stop what was happening. The first tower was falling down. Me and some others under the trees ran to get to the other side to see what was happening. When we emerged all we saw was a large cloud of smoke rolling through lower Manhattan. One tower was gone.

People all around me were crying out, sobbing, swearing at nameless people. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

A woman started calling out. "Does anybody want to pray for the families?" She started a prayer circle and I joined about 20 others. She prayed for about two minutes but at the time it seemed so useless although being a Christian I know it wasn't.

While standing there I tried to dial my phone to reach more family and friends but it was dead. I asked a woman if I could borrow her phone but she said hers didn't work either. She had an accent that sounded German. Having lived in Germany I asked if she was but she said she was from Israel.
"We see this in Israel every day," she said.

Soon an officer was chasing us out of the park. We all slowly retreated back out of the park. I stopped for a few moments as the other building burned. I think I was in shock as after a few minutes I simply turned and walked away. Once around the corner and out of sight of the WTC I heard another rumble and more screams. "The other tower just fell," I said to myself.

I found a payphone where I decided to call my sister in Florida collect. An opperator put me right through. "Hey Jen! It's Steve! Calling from wonderful New York!" I said trying to be funny. I then started sobbing. I told her I was okay, that I loved her, and that I wanted her to get right with God. I told her to call friends of mine as getting through was so difficult.

I trudged back to Maria's apartment where I called her at work and told her I was coming in. I practically lived at MSNBC for the rest of the time I worked there.