story1370.xml

story1370.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-21

We were working at 55 Broadway on the 7th Floor, about 3 blocks away from the WTC. I'm sure several stories start out this way. I was doing my usual routine of answering phone calls from IT people and traders from the Wall St. world. I don't recall the exact time, but I know it was about 10 minutes before the first plane hit. I was on the phone with Mike from Cantor Fitzgerald. I even saved my book, which I used to take notes in, that shows that he was the last person I spoke to that day.

I had spoken with Mike previously. He knew my name as I answered the phone and we started off with our usual conversation. If I recall correctly, Mike was one of the lead traders at Cantor Fitzgerald. The "hello's", and "how are you?s" made it seem like it was going to be just another day at my firm. I recall, he was having a problem with his trading software which he used to trade stocks. He was trying to sweep the market on a stock, but the sweeping function wasn't working for him. I told him to try doing this, and try doing that until suddenly he said that he had to go. Our phone conversation was cut short and didn't last long. He said he would give me a call back because ?something was going on?. I wasn't sure what he was referring to.

After hanging up the telephone, I looked up. I saw a couple of people with hands over their mouths. Some other people were still on the phone with clients not knowing what had happened. When I looked at the television, my initial thoughts told me "everything is going to fine, just stay calm." It was very hard to keep those thoughts in my head considering the situation. As we watched the television, people made phone calls to family and friends informing those that we were alright. I called my mother and father separately, just to let them know that I was fine and we were assessing the situation.

Then the second plane was coming in. You could see it on the television. You knew the people who were in the tower were not going to make it out. You knew the people on the plane were not going to survive. It had to be a mistake. Everything about this day is just a nightmare. It was complete shock and disbelief that someone was flying a plane in to a building on purpose. Then it hit. The explosion was so powerful that I remember hearing it and feeling the vibrations.

At that moment, the loud-speaker over our heads came on as someone was announcing the evacuation of our building. I put down my pen, grabbed my personal belongings and started out the door. I left my book in place which still had Mike from Cantor Fitzgerald written in it. But strangely, it didn't occur to me that Mike was in the WTC until our office was downstairs where people were talking about who they knew in the WTC. Someone said Canto Fitzgerald was there on the 80th floor. That's when I realized, I was not going to hear from Mike again.

I don't know if any emotions hit me at this realization aside from shock. I don't think there was room in my mind for anything else as I was trying to pay attention to the activity going on around me. I just can?t imagine what is must?ve been like for Mike or anyone else at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Thank you,
David Shavelson