9/12/01: THE DAY AFTER

Cary was still stuck in Texas, there were no planes flying.  He said I could stay in his apartment, though, and arranged for me to meet his housekeeper to get the apartment keys from her.  Are you alright, I asked when I saw her.  It was odd to me that she was working that day, but I do remember working hourly and needing money badly enough to work through anything.

After picking up the keys, I went to the 770 office to send emails and make phone calls.  My mobile phone was only working intermittently.

I went to Kmart.  I bought jeans, three shirts, a pack of socks, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.  I also bought coffee, cereal, milk, pop tarts.  I ate lunch at the “K-Café.”  While waiting in line for my cheeseburger, a guy standing next to me said, I can’t believe we’re eating lunch at Kmart.  I replied, the fact that Kmart is open means there is hope for us.  Starbucks isn’t open, nothing else is open.  Thank God for Kmart.  He said, you’re right.  Thank God we’re even eating lunch!

After a couple of hours in Kmart, I went back to Cary’s apartment.  His housekeeper was gone, so I got some time alone.  I turned on the TV.  They played footage of the second plane hitting the South Tower over and over and over again.  It made me sick to watch.  But I couldn’t stop watching.  No commercials, no shows, nothing on any channels except footage of the plane hitting and the massive pile of smoking wreckage that once was the financial center of the world and my beautiful neighborhood.

There was no air traffic in the sky.  No planes were flying over Manhattan, or anywhere for that matter, except F-16s.  There were no cars on the road.  Sirens went by occasionally.  It was disturbingly quiet outside.

There were 60 bomb threats in Manhattan on September 12.  People evacuated buildings, Grand Central Station, the Empire State Building, all day.  An arrest was reported of four suspicious men in a truck filled with explosives on a bridge.  [Later, this story was revealed as bogus.  On that day, however, it simply added to the fear of “What’s next?!”]

I wanted to go to my apartment, but I was not up to making the trek. I watched CNN and New York One for hours.  Endless speculation about how many thousands of people were dead, who did it, what’s in store for us next.

I still hadn’t cried.