The Day the Towers Fell - Where were YOU?

A day we'll never ever forget. September 11, 2001, though for me the memories grow dim. I was home that beautiful autumn morning and so was my grown son Daniel. He lived downstairs in the den with his 2 cats - Blank and Xena - with the door firmly shut so the cats wouldn't come upstairs and claw me to death.

His cellphone rang. It was Dan's friend A.J. I don't know what the initials stand for. AJ hailed from Afghanistan and had a huge long name. He'd graduated with Dan from Upper Moreland High School, a really smart kid who kept getting in trouble with the law until he finally got married and settled down.

Dan ran upstairs and told me the news that the World Trade Center had blown up. He snapped on the television in the living room and the 2 of us sat in stunned silence watching the scene over and over again with the hushed voice of the announcer.

And then of course those horrible plops that need no describing.

I arose from the couch in sheer terror. I had become transiently psychotic and believed that Nazi soldiers were marching up my street. Quickly I thought Where can I hide? Where can Dan and I go that we won't be found?

I said nothing to Dan except, "Dan, please give me a hug."

He did, a nice warm solid hug.

In the bright sunshine and blue skies, with my flowers still blooming out front, there came a knock on the front door.

Were they here already?

I slid thru the front door not letting whoever it was see the inside of the house, or that Dan was home.

Two Jehovahs Witnesses had chosen this very day to march down our quiet street in the name of the Lord. My job was to covertly question them to see if they were actually Nazi spies or if they were in fact who they claimed to be.

Since one of them was black, I doubted their ties with the Nazis but then caution was imperative and trust must be withheld until I was certain. Carefully I apprised them of the Twin Towers' demise and watched their shocked reaction.

They were in the clear. I wished them well and allowed them to give me a Watchtower brochure.