9/11

I remember it was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining in a bright blue sky and the air was slightly crisp. I went to work early to discuss a project for the assistant editors. We walked across the street to the hotel to get a coffee and sit around in comfortable chairs. People were in the lobby of the hotel watching the TV. They were pointing at the screen. A plane had hit one of the towers. I remember thinking it was a movie, but couldn't figure out why they were staying on one shot for so long. Black smoke was pouring out of the building.

'What happened,' I asked.

'A plane hit one of the twin towers.'

I assumed it was a small plane, that some dumbass had got too close. But it was a lot of smoke for a small plane.

I don't remember if I saw the second plane hit as it happened, or I saw it on replay, but I remember feeling dumb. I felt dumb because after the first plane hit, I heard people speak of it as terrorism. Until the second plane hit, I thought it was an accident.