It was a fine morning A tribute to the heroes of 9/11/2001 It
was a fine morning, the kind you wish there were more of. I
leaned over and tickled Jane, just where she really hates it…like I always
did, and she pushed me away and mumbled something slightly obscene into the
pillow…like she always did. She
still kissed me when I left. I
had a meeting that morning so I put on my good suit and made sure my socks
matched. Of course I spilt coffee
on my cuffs and the Danish wouldn’t come off my tie. The
elevators were quick, I didn’t have to wait, and it was a fine morning. Sally
greeted me with a smile, the real one, the one that makes you feel good and
important and like a special friend. The
phone was ringing as I walked in my office, the voicemail light was blinking and
the email was waiting, but I took a minute to finish my coffee and talk about
the game with Tom – and collect the 5 bucks he owed me. We
headed for the conference room, we were the first there, and it was a fine
morning. While
the boss talked about shrinking margins and thinking out of the box, I looked
out the window and thought of apple orchards and changing leaves and spending
the weekend with Jane at that farm in Maine. Maybe
she’d kiss me again. I knew she
would. The
coffee was hot, the view was wonderful, and it was a fine morning. The
lights went off and the sirens wailed as the plane hit the building. We
were all knocked to the floor as smoke filled the room and I saw Tom crushed by
a pillar. I
ran to the front, and grabbed Sally, who was running around screaming, and
pushed her toward the fire exit. On
the way we gathered up several other people who seemed to be lost, and I started
them down the stairs. The
smoke got thicker, the noise was frightful, and outside it was a fine morning. I
went down the hall and helped the grey lady from the office across the way get
to the stairs, and the fat guy who always had doughnuts grabbed the kid from
food service and we pushed them into the hall and toward the stairs. I
just went to work today. The
fat guy who always had doughnuts and me, we helped clear all the offices on our
floor, and we kept going back to check. We
were both scared, but it seemed like the others were even more scared. I
couldn’t stop coughing and the fat guy looked like he was going to pass out,
but we heard someone screaming from the restroom. We had to hold her and yell at her and the fat guy slapped
her before we could get her going down the stairs. I
told him to go, he said he wasn’t, and was going up the stairs to make sure
the other offices were clear. I
just went to work today. So
we went up the stairs and checked the offices and eventually got to the floor
where the plane hit, and I don’t want to talk about that. I
kissed Jane goodby as I went off to work this morning. We
met a couple of fireman there, and they said we should head down, that there was
nothing left to do. So we headed
for the exit. It
was a fine morning, outside. We
hadn’t gone very far when the floor fell away and the smoke came in and the
fat guy and I grabbed each other and fell with the others. They
never found our bodies, and Jane still cries at night. But
one of the women we helped find the stairs, she just had a baby boy, and she
named it after the fat guy – John was his name, she always ate one of his
doughnuts. And
the kid from food service, his mother just bought him a car for his sixteenth
birthday…and told him to drive carefully. And
Sally still wakes up screaming at night, and she can’t seem to smile at those
times. But she’s learning, again,
to share that wonderful smile, if only during the day, for now. And
they call us heroes, but all we did was go to work that day. And
I still look over Jane’s shoulder, and I still watch Sally as she learns to
smile again, and the boss, well, he made sure the company and the insurance took
care of them both, and Tom’s widow and child got everything they needed. And
it is still a fine morning, today. And
the heroes I know, are the ones who don’t hate, and the ones who go on, and
the ones who make everyone’s life a little better, today, and tomorrow. And
the heroes give love, and the heroes give hope, and the heroes forgive, as hard
as it seems, because that’s what heroes do. And
I learned that day, and I learned since then, what heroes are, and they are
Jane, and Sally, and the boss, and the doughnut guy, and they are never me…all
I did was go to work that day.
by Bill Gary Thank you. ã Bill Gary 2001
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