Laura Johnson
ENG112 Final Draft
5-1-10
“Peter what is going on?” That line was repeated so many times on the morning of September 11, 2001. I woke up to my mom watching ‘Good Morning America’, as usual. The show bored me so much, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer just annoyed me. They were the type of newscasters that made everything seem so perfect, and laughed at times when the joke was just not funny. But they didn’t laugh that day.
I was itching to know what was going on. My mom was my best friend and I felt like she was keeping a secret from me, like the kinds in Nancy Drew mystery books, my favorite. My dad just kept calling. He works down in the city of Chicago, doing something with the stock market, something like that. It was 7:00 in the morning, super early for her to be making all these phone calls, which really had me wondering. I woke up to watch “Two of a Kind” on ABC family, and I was going to change the channel and my mom yelled, “Laura turn channel 5 back on!” That’s when I knew something was wrong. I flicked through the channels until I saw this. . At the time I just thought maybe a pilot of a plane was a little tired and the plane accidently ran into a building, but I was so wrong.
My mom didn’t want to tell us what was going on, even though clearly I am the oldest and I could have understood whatever this was that was going on. I finished a S’mores Pop Tart, my favorite thing to eat for breakfast and my mom silently loaded Mark, Megan and I into the car to go off to Greenbriar. She didn’t talk at all in the car, and usually we can’t get her to shut her mouth. “Love you mom” she didn’t say anything back, and then I slammed the door of the Suburban and watched her drive away, she had no expression on her face. I went to go swing on the swings. Everyday we had Mom drop us off early so we would have just enough time to play on the playground before school, but not too much because otherwise it gets boring. I could hear kids around me gossiping about what had happened on the TV. My friend Ellie and I were talking about it too, making our own assumptions. Then the bell rang and I had to get into Ms. Shea’s classroom, I knew she would tell me what this was all about.
I was wrong. When we walked into class it was super awkward. I am the queen of awkwardness, so when I say something was awkward, it must be bad because I am that girl who creates awkward moments and thinks nothing of it. Ms. Shea was silent. She is an older women from the south who didn’t take anyone’s crap. She was known as the mean teacher for the fifth grade, and of course with my luck I got her for my last year at Greenbriar. For some reason though she seemed to really like me which was why I thought she would give us some kind of explanation as to why the adults were acting so strange this morning.
Everyone just sat in their desks silently, no one knew what to say. Then the announcements came on and we had a moment of silence. This is when I discovered a pilot had not just fallen asleep flying his plane, it was something much more serious than that. Right after the announcements, Ms. Shea told us to all sit down, and this morning she didn’t have to tell the rude boys in the back of the class to be quiet because everyone was scared to make a peep. She said, “students this morning there were terrorists that had plotted and succeeded to fly planes into major buildings in the United States, The World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the last one hit in a field.” This is when the tears came. Some of the girls in my class were so immediately scared about the idea of terrorists and planes crashing that they started hysterically crying. I just sat there. I didn’t know what to do or what to think. I was obviously so scared and sad about what just happened, but at that moment, tears didn’t come rushing out of my eyes like they did to some other girls. Once everyone got calmed down, we started our regular school day. Obviously it was awkward because no one knew how to act. Ms. Shea was so quiet the whole day I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
When I got home, my mom was the same way as when I left for school, quiet and sad. I asked her exactly what this all meant. She said, “Laura, many people lost their moms, dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives and friends because of what happened this morning.” Then it struck me, and that’s when the tears came out. I thought of my dad, going to work in the city just like he does every morning at 5:30 A.M. I thought of how many other kids had been just as confused as me that day, and instead of coming home to their mom, the mom is just sat there crying because the dad was in one of those buildings.
My mom calmed me down and explained that our country and president were going to try very hard to keep things like this from happening again. I just kept thinking about how unfair this all was. How unfair it was that some people got on a plane, maybe to go see their friends or family, and never got to arrive at the airport to see the loved one with a big smile on their face awaiting their arrival. I thought about how unfair it was that some moms and dads went to work that day and didn’t come back. Then I started asking my mom why this was happening. “Why did people hate us so much to do this to people in our country?” “You’re too young to understand Laura.” “No I’m not Mom, you always tell me everything this is not fair you hate me.” “Laura I don’t hate you, you know that I just don’t think you will understand this, I barely understand it!” This upset me a lot, my mom had never treated me like a baby, I was the oldest in the family and by far the most mature. Then she got up, and left the room and I just sat there. I went to watch “Even Stevens” on Disney Channel, that always made me laugh, I loved watching the stupid things that Louis did. But because of everything I just found out, today I could not even laugh. To be honest, I really didn’t understand that kind of stuff anyways, so I shut off the TV to the slamming of the door.
I had never been happier to see my dad in my life! “Dad!” I ran up to him and jumped in his arms like I was his only baby girl again, which I was until Megan came into the picture. He was happy to see me too, and I wouldn’t let go of him until he said, “Ok Laur Laur I have to go talk to Mom.” Oh boy. He obviously wanted to talk about what had been happening all morning. Of course because I am a snoop I went next to the wall of the kitchen where they were talking. Our TV room lined right up to the kitchen so I was in the perfect spot to listen. He mentioned some names of people that I hadn’t heard of, I would’ve had to be an address book to remember all the names he was saying of people who had been working in the Twin Towers that morning. I heard him say that everyone he knew personally were safe though, so I let out a sigh of relief, and that’s when I was caught. My parents came out of the kitchen and my mom of course let out the same words she says EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE, “Laura go set the table.” Of course, stupid me I blew my cover. For the rest of the night the planes had not been discussed. After dinner I did homework, showered and went to bed, just my normal routine. I laid with my eyes open in bed for a while, and I just thought about how sad it was that some girls like me wouldn’t be able to have both of their parents come turn out the light before bedtime.
