story2182.xml

story2182.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

On September 10, I was enjoying a late dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Chicago's China Town with my two best friends. Every now and then our days off coincide and well have dinner and a stimulating discussion. That night I was not participating in our discussion. The A/C duct over my head was roaring and I was being distracted. Anyways, I remember that as I was paying more attention to the roar of the A/C, the noise became more familiar to that of a plane. I soon began imagining a a very morbid image of a plane crash and the screams of people in pain. I saw a building in flames and I quickly looked out the restaurant window to look at the skyline. The building in my image was not the Sears Tower, nor any of the other visible sky scrapers. My friends called my attention and I apologized for being distracted and not contributing to the conversation at hand. They asked me why I was so distracted and I told them of what I had imagined. I added that it was one of those things one ussully thinks up after seeing an action flick.
The next morning I was up early. While I was shaving I left the TV on the morning news to find put what the ady would be like when I heard of the first plane's impact. I came out from the washroom and sat down in disbeleif. I felt useless as the images from the night before where playing on the TV. When the the second plane hit, I began to tear. I knew then who those screams belonged to, to the thousands of people who would become entombed under the towers and the people on the planes.
I called one of my friends who was still unaware of the attacks. He could not beleive what he saw especially after what he knew about the night before. My other friend called me later that night to tell me that I should write down a description of anything I may see again. I told him I rather not want to see anything else again. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.