When we arrived, the tail end of Hurricane Erin, was blowing through New York City, making for a soggy afternoon. No problem! We were in NYC and having fun together in the city that never sleeps. We tromped the streets for hours trying to keep our umbrellas right-side-in, not caring that we were soaking wet. In the evening we took in "Chicago" and then had a late Italian dinner at Orso, still a favourite of ours. We made plans for the morning....either the Empire State Building or Windows on the World to take some black and white photographs....a new hobby of mine. We decided to do the Empire State Building first as it was near our hotel and then save the World Trade Centre for lunch...we could then head for the airport directly from there.
Tuesday morning was brilliant! The unsettled weather of the day before had disappeared and the sun was sparkling. We didn't turn on our television in our hotel room. We got ready for the day and headed down to Starbuck's across the street. Our hotel was kitty corner from Pennysylvania Station. The streets outside our hotel were teeming with people. I remarked to Lety how crowded it was at that time of the morning. We were about to find out why. We went into Starbuck's and bit by awful bit, it became clear that all was not normal. We overheard two men talking about "a plane, maybe commuter, crashing into Tower One".... then we overheard "airport is closed"...I excused my interruption and said "we are supposed to fly out this afternoon"....he shook his head and told me to check with our airline.
We hurried back to our hotel and by the time we got back to our room, it was becoming obvious that something was terribly, terribly wrong. We switched on the television and there on the screen was a horror unfolding that was unimaginable. No sooner had we sat down on the bed, than the second plane crashed into the second tower. This was certainly no "commuter plane" accident....this was evil incarnate. Lety said "it's that goddamn bin Laden".... I had no idea who she was talking about....
Then both Towers fell and almost 3,000 were murdered...in the Towers, at The Pentagon in Washington, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania...
The airports were shut down...so why were there aircraft buzzing overhead. We were panicked. It turned out to be U.S. fighter jets patrolling for more attackers. We sat in our tiny room, transfixed by the history we were witnessing. We held on to each other and cried. We were scared. Telephone lines were jammed so we couldn't get through to loved ones for a few hours. My mother was the first to get through to us. Our only comfort was each other and speaking with Myron, Marika and Lety's husband, Trevor and my parents. Getting out of New York was impossible. We stayed glued to that television set, afraid of what was going to happen next.
For the next three days, we went through the motions, except that these were no ordinary days. New York was deserted. The first day, around 6, we ventured out in search of some food. We found an Au Bon Pain. As we waited for our order I turned and watched a ghost walk by the shop...except this was no ghost...this was a man, covered in soot and ash...walking up from Ground Zero. Too much to bear, too much to bear. For 24 hours a day, all we heard were sirens heading down to Ground Zero. Instead of the usual smell of pretzels on New York City street corners, the acrid smell of smoke filled the air.
We finally secured train tickets back to Toronto on Friday, but not before the anxiety of another bomb threat at Pennsylvania Station. Sniffer dogs searched us once we crossed the border into Canada. Our new way of life. Innocence is gone.
Trevor, Myron and Marika met us at Union Station in Toronto, all of us weeping with joy. How lucky we were to be back in the arms of our families. Not so, all those souls who perished on 9/11. They were now in the arms of Another.
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