18 years later.

9/11/2001. Hard to believe that 18 years have passed. 
A tragedy of that magnitude impacts everyone, and lends to nearly everyone having a story. This is mine. 

I had recently started working at Ameritech (which became SBC, then AT&T) in downtown Chicago.
At the time, I was working the 3pm-11pm shift. This had
the advantage of my not having to deal with an alarm to wake me. I woke
about 7.45 that morning, had my coffee, etc. Around the time the first
plane hit, I was still not really awake (at the time, I didn't bother
to watch the news). My Mom calls and asks if I had been watching the
news (see previous note). I turn to the news and we start talking about
"what could have happened to cause such an accident" and possible
lawsuits, damages, etc. While all this conversing was ongoing, we
watched as the other plane hit. I stared for about 5 seconds before
saying "Oh....shit!" I thought to myself that this was not an accident,
and started thinking about where my workplace was in relation to the
Sears Tower. Then everything just went to hell (duh). I start calling
into work to see if I was even gonna need to show up. The boss tells me
that no order was given from corporate...yet. (I work for the phone
company) So I kept watching as the horror unfolded, hearing that the
Pentagon was hit, another plane crashed in Pennsylvania, then rumors
started to fly. I'm calling into work every 5 minutes, it seems.



About 5 minutes before 2 pm, I call one more time. I don't work in a
"vital" department. We really had no reason to be there that day, yet
corporate just didn't want to have us leave. So, I drive into the Loop.
This is where it got really fuckin' surreal.



The outbound lanes of the Dan Ryan expressway were packed. EVERYONE was
getting out of Chicago, except me (it seemed) . I make my way to the
LSD and head to the Randolph Street exit. Again, the lanes out were
packed, the lanes in were near empty. I turn onto Randolph to find that
other that one police car and a taxi, the street is empty.



Randolph is NEVER empty. Not at 2:50 pm on a Tuesday.



The drive to my building was like a Twilight Zone episode. I kept
hearing the Nine Inch Nails song "Where Is Everybody?" in my head. The
radio was mixed with either DJ's talking about the attack, or just
playing music. 
I kept looking for anyone, because this was just far too strange a sight, 
but no-one was there. Not on the street, not on the sidewalk, no where.



I had a break at a bit after 5. This is rush hour normally...but not
today. I still smoked at the time, so I was outside in the plaza
counting the cars. That disturbed me...I could actually COUNT how many
cars passed in the 20 minutes I was there. I think I counted most of
them 2 or 3 times. The same police car, fire truck, or taxi. I did not
see a single person walking by. THAT hit me...not the attack itself,
but the effect it was having on Chicago itself.



I found out later that corporate (who are not even near Chicago) said
that they did not think that we were in any danger, even if the Sears
Tower had been attacked. We were some 3 or 4 blocks away. Think on
this: the Towers messed up...what...a 6 block area? And we were in NO
 DANGER???? They tried to penalize anyone who either didn't go in that day, 
 or left early. The union
(bless them) fought back, and the company backed off.



I also found out that the trains were on one-way emergency orders: Go
to the stations in Chicago, load up as many passengers as you can, and
go.

There was another aspect of that day which I will not forget: the silence. 
In any metropolitan area, you become used to the constant of background noise. For a city like Chicago, it was far beyond eerie to be on a sidewalk, alone, and hearing how quiet it was. This was just like a Twilight Zone episode.

18 years, and it still feels like yesterday. Never forget.