Eyewitness

Category: Story

On Thomson Avenue, on the way to school, I had to walk over a train yard that must have been a dozen tracks wide. The bridge that took pedestrians and cars over the tracks had window-like frames, though which Lower Manhattan could be viewed in the distance.

On this day, September 11, 2001, people were straining to look through each window. Straining to see the smoke billowing out of one of the World Trade Center buildings.

"What happened?" I asked.
"A plane hit the Trade Center."
"Was it an accident?"
"Don't know."
"Wow, that looks serious. How big was the plane?" I asked, assuming that only a small plane could be flying that low.
"Don't know."
Everyone was stunned, quiet. Already.