Two women sat down behind me and were talking, but I didn’t listen. A truck backing into the construction area of the Ritz Carlton hits a steel structure. Big bang. Screams. One of the women behind me says, “You have two very nervous women sitting with you.” I said, “I’m nervous too.” But I didn’t want to be with them. Kept walking south, now on Battery Place, where it turns east, as the northern border of Battery Park. Saw a New York on Your Side, (or some other inane slogan) on the side of a news truck. But best view in town as you look at an unobstructed view up West Street to the Trade Center. They are on fire. A big crowd is forming. I am unable to get a circuit on my cell phone.
Heard someone say, “The parking lot is on fire.” What parking lot? Then I hear someone else say, “the Pentagon is on fire.” Jesus, the Pentagon. That morphs into the Pentagon and the White House are on fire. There was no information on how the Pentagon had caught fire. Others are saying all subways and ferries have stopped.
Kept walking to State Street then turned south. At the Bowling Green subway entrance of the Lexington (green) line I debated getting on the subway, part of the reason I had been walking this way. Only three subways go north from lower Manhattan, the red line, the green line and the yellow line. Only the green line avoids the trade center. Sign on the subway says train is running but not stopping at Fulton Street, near the Trade Center. Maybe this station hasn’t gotten word that they are not running. Maybe the rumor on the street is wrong. I decide not to get on the subway anyway since the Trade Center is on fire, the Pentagon is on fire and even if I get to Grand Central how do I know that won’t be the next building to be bombed. Went to the public restroom.
Stopped near Pearl Street and talked with a couple of men. We don’t know much. Subways closed, bridges closed, ferries closed, Pentagon on fire. Has anyone claimed responsibility? No one knows, but someone suggests it must have been Arafat, or some fanatical Muslim group. Walked further south on State.
Heard a big swoooom. Is that ANOTHER plane??? Screams, people running towards me. Only one thing to do. RUN. People trying to take cover under the awnings of the American Café. Saw a mother and father shouting the name of their child. They are standing next to their empty stroller. Obviously the kid is old enough to walk, but young enough to ride. They keep yelling his name. No response. There is a purse on the ground and people are yelling at each other to stay away from the purse. I stay away from the purse.
Stayed near the American Cafe. Didn’t want to get too close to the river since I was afraid if the people started running, pushing near the water, I might get pushed in. Stayed comfortably north of the river.
Turned east towards the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. All of a sudden another BANG and the crowd is now running away from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal towards me!! I turn and run. I jump over a low fence into an area that is surrounded by fences. Exit via a gate.
Talked to a couple of men back near the American Cafe, one who had parked his car at the Path parking lot (is that in the Trade center?) and the other from England. They seem to know each other. The English guy says the “swoon” sound I had heard was the sound of the trade center collapsing. You mean the top fell off? No, the whole building collapsed. If two airplanes crashing into the trade centers, the Pentagon, the White House on fire wasn’t strange enough, one of the Trade Center towers collapsed.