Friday, September 11, 2009

my story about This Day






I was sleeping - that's what I used to do in the mornings when i didn't have to work before Finley. I remember waking to a strange sensation and then going back to sleep. Now I know it was the first plane passing right over the apartment. The phone rang - my friend Jana, who lived in the building "you gotta come outside." These pictures are taken by me with a disposable camera on my corner. There are only five.

Some things I remember...
- a car pulled over on 6th Avenue with the door open, radio blaring the news
- people running up 6th Avneue with ash all over them saying they had been on very high floors - I remember being relieved thinking that everyone must have gotten out (except for those on the planes and floors they hit)
- from the time it took me to walk a tiny skinny block (between the third and fourth picture) one whole tower was gone.
- Without knowing facts or details, I remember thinking that Bush would make War for this.
- I was suddenly chain smoking even though I had quit.
- we stayed huddled together in Jana's apartment trying to make phone calls and watching the news until we couldn't do that anymore
- I left by myself and went to get a slice of pizza around 2pm
- the bars were full - people were drunk like it was 2am - I glanced in the door of one on my way - a woman I knew was sitting on a stool with ash all over her shoes.
- I stayed in the apartment until dark but when Building 7 collapsed, I put my cat Murray in a bag and we headed for the train. The turnstiles in the subways were locked in the open position. There was a bunch of teenagers laughing loud on the train. Grand Central was dark - cops with dogs walking around. Almost interior lights on the train upstate and no ticket taker.
- Craig and I didn't speak much.
- I woke up Sept 12 incredulous - "that did not happen that did not happen that did not happen."

4 comments:

ma otter said...

cami I can't believe that behind that disposable camera is your eye and your head and YOU standing in that spot in those pictures.
what a day.
I was in a canoe in mammoth looking up at the purple mountains majesty, knowing this would mean war and that everything was different.
xox

Anonymous said...

Wow. Amazing story... those pictures ..so painful, terrible. And the war is more painful still. Yeh...still amazing...THERE WAS NO CONNECTION people.

ma otter said...

Deep post.
Mattmos

Chanda said...

hmmm. I remember one of the first things I thought about, after they closed all the roads in Buffalo so the FBI could set up "camp" and it sunk in just exactly what was going on, was "I sure hope Cami and Craig are okay". It was such a relief to hear your voice, even if it was many days later.