My class was supposed to go on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo that morning.
asserted
class → suppose → Zoo
When my humanities teacher, Mrs. Garvey, asked everyone to bring their signed permission slips to the front of the classroom, my stomach sank.
asserted
stomach → ask → classroom
I had forgotten to get my mother’s signature.
asserted
I → forget → signature
I asked to be excused and went downstairs to the school office to call her.
asserted
I → ask → her
My mother, a single parent, worked for American Express at 3 World Financial Center, directly across from the World Trade Center.
asserted
mother → work → Center
I asked her to come over and sign my permission slip.
asserted
I → ask → slip
She said she would.
asserted
she → say → ?
What I didn’t know was that my mother had been heading toward the underground shopping complex beneath the World Trade Center to run an errand before work.
asserted
mother → know → work
My call brought her back toward my school.
asserted
call → bring → school
By the time she left, she decided to skip the errand and head directly to her office at American Express.
asserted
she → leave → Express
On the way, she noticed an airplane flying alarmingly low over Lower Manhattan.
asserted
airplane → notice → Manhattan
She wondered whether a movie was being filmed.
asserted
movie → wonder → ?
Then she watched it strike one of the Twin Towers.
asserted
it → watch → Towers
She initially thought she had witnessed some kind of movie stunt or a horrific accident.
asserted
she → think → stunt
Then she saw a second plane strike the other tower and realized it wasn’t an accident.
asserted
it → see → tower
Inside my classroom, we didn’t know what had happened.
asserted
what → know → classroom
I remember the room shaking and pencils falling from desks.
asserted
pencils → remember → desks
I thought perhaps one of the custodians had dropped a heavy cleaning cart on the floor above us.
asserted
one → think → us
Then we felt another violent shake.
asserted
we → feel → shake
Our classroom windows faced Stuyvesant High School, so we couldn’t see the World Trade Center.
asserted
we → face → Center
Eventually an announcement came over the PA system.
asserted
announcement → come → system
As I remember it, we were told there had been a “minor accident” at the World Trade Center.
asserted
we → remember → Center
Teachers were instructed to take us downstairs to the cafeteria to be picked up by our parents.
asserted
Teachers → instruct → parents
I didn’t go directly to the cafeteria.
asserted
I → go → cafeteria
I was a curious 12-year-old who needed to know what was happening.
asserted
what → need → ?
I slipped away and took another staircase toward the schoolyard.
asserted
I → slip → schoolyard
What I saw outside has remained with me for 25 years.
asserted
saw → see → years
Manhattan had stopped moving.
asserted
Manhattan → stop → ?
Growing up in New York, I had never seen anything like it.
asserted
I → grow → it
People were standing motionless on the sidewalk, staring upward.
asserted
People → stand → sidewalk
For a moment, my 12-year-old mind couldn’t make sense of what could cause an entire street of New Yorkers to stop at once.
uncertain
street → make → Yorkers
I remember wondering if there had been some kind of alien landing.
asserted
I → remember → landing
Then I followed their eyes.
asserted
I → follow → eyes
I saw the World Trade Center burning.
asserted
Center → see → ?
Smoke poured from the tower.
asserted
Smoke → pour → tower
Tiny objects appeared to be falling from high above.
asserted
objects → appear → ?
At that age, I assumed I was watching debris.
asserted
I → assume → debris
Only later did I understand that some of what I saw may not have been debris at all.
uncertain
I → understand → what
I returned to the cafeteria.
asserted
I → return → cafeteria
One of my classmates was crying because she, too, had someone close to her who worked at the World Trade Center.
asserted
who → cry → Center
…and 46 more, not listed.
The Aporia
