TheMacJedi

My wife had just dropped me off at work and it was about 8:45. She was on her way to Feeder’s Supply to pick up Toby’s cat Augie, later renamed Freddy.

It was about 8:53 in the morning and I was at work sitting at my desk when Christian Urton and Rankin Mapother leaned into my office and asked me if I knew how to turn on the television in the conference room. I said yes and proceeded to the conference room. The TV was already on so when I turned on the VCR a station tuned in almost immediately. I stood there for moment as I saw building that I did not recognize standing at least twice as tall as any building around it with a huge hole in it smoke and fire like nothing I have ever seen. As I moved to find a seat I asked Rankin and Christian what was I looking at. Rankin said that the World Trade Center was on fire. A news announcer was describing what he was seeing from a helicopter camera saying that this may be a terrorist bombing on the World Trade Center North. My eyes still fixed on the TV looking at the smoke and fire rolling unrelentlessly. The news announcer said that someone just reported that it was a plane that hit the World Trade Center.

Christian asked if it could be a terrorist making reference to the earlier bomb at the trade center. Rankin and I said it had to be an accident due to the size of the plane, based on the hole we were looking at. As we stared dumbfounded at the burning building I saw a commercial air liner in the right hand side of the screen but did not focus on it as it disappeared behind the huge towers.

A moment later (9:02am) the World Trade Center South exploded into flames and smoke from impact of plane that I saw just a moment earlier. I said loudly “Oh My God”. Rankin immediately said it had to be terrorist while Christian and I stared in terror. Within a minute of the south tower being hit the conference room currently occupied with just Christian, Rankin and myself filled with a dozen employees.

All of the new people in the room asking what happened and did the news say if it was terrorist or who did this. I still had not moved from my seat wondering what was going on and why. The news reporter said that there had been a car bomb go off near the UN building, later reported as false. Now about twenty minutes later not moved from my seat I realized that while focusing on the burning building I had not heard anything that the news announcer or anyone in the conference room had said. Then the news announcer said that they had a report that these planes may have been hijacked. Everyone staring in amazement wondering if these were passenger planes.

Overwhelmed by everything I decide to step into my office to call my wife and tell her what had just happened (9:37). As I said the WTC towers were hit by planes and were on fire Nick said from his office that they just mentioned the pentagon (9:38) on the radio. I told my wife I had to go and hung up the phone. I rushed into the same conference room once again empty a news reporter said that a bomb had gone off in the Pentagon and that it was on fire.

Taking the same seat that I was in earlier I sat in amazement wondering what was going on and when it would end.