Steve posted this on Facebook on September 11, 2009. I've written about what 9/11 was like for me. The following account is told from a good friend of his that, sweetly enough, still e-mails me football quips. Since I no longer have to my Stevie to keep me informed, it's an important thread that has kept me tethered. I believe those who've seen some of the worse that life has to offer understand the importance of all these little threads that lift us up. Thank you, St. Ides, for staying.
September 11, 2009
I've saved this email, from a good friend of mine, who witnessed
the events of 9-11 first hand. He sent this out that evening. I've
taken his name out, because I have not asked his permission to post
this. Someday I'll write about how I felt that day... talking to Karen
in Virgina, and talking to my Mom who watched it on TV and could smell
the smoke for days in our house in Queens. But for now I leave you with
words I could not have written any better or more poignantly.
This is a graphic account of what my friend saw, and is not for the timid...
>>
It was fuct up.... here's an attempt to recount it, just because it
was so fuct up and maybe it will make me feel a little better if I get
this shit out... warning, this shit is not for the squeamish, but it's
exactly how things happened for me.
I came out of the subway at about 9:05, with a rush of people
coming towards the subway, which was totally unusual.. however, I just
thought "oh, some other subway line is probably fuct up"... until someone
said the Trade Center was on fire.. then someone said a plane hit it... I
looked up,and there was insane amounts of smoke, but it was blowing
towards the east(away from me... more towards the Seaport actually)... I
walked around City Hall Park, get a better view, and saw a fucking hole in
the side of one of the towers with flames spewing out. All I could think
was "wow, that's pretty fucked up, but no big deal, they'll put it
out..." Then I heard that a second plane had hit the other tower, and
that it was most likely a terrorist attack... you've got to keep in mind
this is only talk among people in the midst of it, at this point even
the radios had no clue.
I stood outside City Hall Park for about half an hour while I tried
to decide if I should go in to my actual office building. It was at this
time that I saw my first "victim" who was a middle-aged overweight
woman, whose face was covered in blood. She walked alone, seemed totally
fucking dazed, and didn't even look at anybody, just walked straight
ahead. After being there for about 45 minutes, I noticed that NOBODY was
going in that direction except for emergency vehicles, cops, and dudes
with black windbreakers with the yellow letters "FBI" in the back,
I headed north on Broadway, following the herd. About 8 blocks
later, there is this other rumbling sound, and people start talking
about a 3rd plane hitting... Then someone with a radio says one of the
towers collapses... No fucking way I figure, not collapse totally,maybe
just the burnt floors tipped over... And I keep walking.. Eventually, I
pass Canal Street, and Spring Street, the two next stops on my train,
and the people there say ALL train activity is suspended. So I'm pretty
much stuck..I turn around, find a good place to watch, and look up... It
was so fucking unbelievably odd to look up and see only ONE of the twin
towers. And you knew it wasn't because of the angle, because the
grey-smoke-covered blue sky filled the space where the second tower
belonged. I watched. And wondered why there wasn't any sort of water
trying to put it out. Helicopter hoses,plane drops, super-duper-powered
hoses from the ground. Fuck, you would think some technology today would
be able to reach a fire at that height.But they couldn't.... Debris
fell from the building... Paper bits flickered out like snow.Pieces of
what I could only imagine as chunks of floor and ceiling fell away from
the building as it burned.. heavy, but fluttering once it fell.. and
then there was the debris that didn't flutter... the debris that as it
was falling, you saw it had arms and legs... the kind of debris that
when it fell, the whole crowd that was looking upward screamed and gasped
and said"Oh my God!"... I saw at least 3 people jump/fall from the
burning building...
Minutes later, the antenna at the top of the tower started to shake
a bit, and the top part crumbled. And the bottom part fell
beneath it.I'm sure you saw this on the TV many times over, but seeing it
really happen, hearing the loud boom, and watching people break down
and cry is just beyond words... At that point, it was a question of "How
do we get home?" and "Will there be more attacks?" and the rumors in the
streets were ridiculous. Some people said a third plane was on its way,
some said the Pentagon was hit too(that one turned out to be true), some
said the White House was hit, some said the Sears Tower in Chicago was
hit... Some said that some Palestinian group took blame for the hit... I
took everything with a grain of salt, but there was no doubt two planes
going into both Towers was a terrorist act. And who knew what else
could potentially be next...
Subways were still shut down. I walked several miles to 34th
street,where I could potentially get an express bus back home. After
waiting for an hour,it was obvious those shits weren't coming. I made my
way over to the Abbey Tavern, had a bacon burger, watched the latest
news, and waited for subway service to be restored. Oh yeah, I had a few
pints of Guinness too. Took the 4 train from 42nd (that's another
several blocks of walking) to125th, where I got the 6 and made it home
by about 6:45pm. At this point, I have no fucking clue what kind of
shape my office building is in, if and when I have work again. I imagine
there won't be work tomorrow. And from some of the shit I have seen on
TV, it looks like my building might be out of business for some time.
(Hard to tell exactly where they are in some camera shots, but I think I
saw my building and its windows blown out.) So I don't think I'll be
making it to lunch the rest of this week...
How are people at AmFar? I'm sure they saw a lot of this too....
Anyways, thanks for the concern, and pass along the "I'm okay"
message to any peeps at DL that care. Feel free to pass along the whole
message, but it might not appeal to some people.
laters yo
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