9/11 Short Stories
It’s being outside past midnight on a winter night. It’s a secret - it’s something we’re not supposed to see. The sky is purple but it’s also white. And why is it so bright out? The streetlamps mix the colors into a dynamic palate, with a hint of bronze. And the snowflakes the snowflakes the snowflakes. They’re frozen. Yes they are literally frozen water but that’s not what I mean. It’s chaos but if you look closer it’s not chaos. Look up. Look closer - they’re suspended in thin air, but every time you exhale they start falling again. It’s hushed. It’s a secret. You’re not supposed to look. You’re supposed to wake up the next morning and look outside while you’re making coffee and think, “Huh. Maybe they’ll cancel classes today”.
It’s leaving your sunroof open during the biggest rain storm of the summer. …show more content…
And calling your dad with lots of “what do I do’s” and “it was an accident’s”.
And trying to explain what happened without laughing so he won’t think you’re irresponsible.
It’s waking up in the middle of the night from a dream. But not just any dream. The dream. The sky was the ground and the ground was…..and your best friend Kati was in it and she was climbing trees with your cousin. But they’ve never met. And the trees glowed in the dark. You’ve got to tell Kati. But it’s 3am now and you’ll remember in the morning. But now it’s 7am and you’re late for work. And what was that dream again…..you remember the feeling of it but you can’t catch it long enough to attach words to it.
What was it….
It doesn’t matter
now.
You’re late for work.
It’s hitting rock bottom - with a lightning storm for dramatic effect.
It’s the dog eating the Thanksgiving turkey while you’re all sitting in the living room watching it happen. The dog feasting is not the view - the reactions are. It’s the screams and runs toward the table. It’s dad’s miserable attempt not to laugh and little Benny thinking it’s a free-for-all and joining the dog on the floor...when is someone going to teach him some manners? It’s mom. Mom worked so hard on that turkey. But who would’ve enjoyed it more anyway? Probably the dog. He had been stalking his prey all day. Plus, it’s a better story to tell. “And mom’s pumpkin pie is much better than her turkey, so at least the dog didn’t get to that”, you say as you go in for your third helping.
It’s you. It’s the 31 nerves in your spinal cord and the 9 toenails because you lost one last week. It’s the 1.5 gallons of blood that circulate through your body and it’s waking up one day and feeling like 1.5 gallons is way too much blood and there’s way too much blood flowing through your body and your veins are going to explode. So your heart beat beat beats to try to handle that colossal amount of blood and the 2 billion heart beats that you’ve got to call your lifetime start passing by so quickly it seems like you’ve got 2 more days left.
So you start saying your goodbyes and paying all your IOUs and making sure your cat will go to a good home and that’s when it all clicks in. The snow the sunroof the dream the lightning storm the turkey and you. It’s all crazy none of it makes sense there’s no way it can all work - but it does. That’s the beauty of it. It all works, but it’ll never work the same way twice. So you sigh with relief and before you go to bed that night you write this in your journal with a little note at the bottom that reads:
“You probably have no idea what I’m talking about. But don’t worry, you will someday.”
It’s leaving your sunroof open during the biggest rain storm of the summer. …show more content…
And calling your dad with lots of “what do I do’s” and “it was an accident’s”.
And trying to explain what happened without laughing so he won’t think you’re irresponsible.
It’s waking up in the middle of the night from a dream. But not just any dream. The dream. The sky was the ground and the ground was…..and your best friend Kati was in it and she was climbing trees with your cousin. But they’ve never met. And the trees glowed in the dark. You’ve got to tell Kati. But it’s 3am now and you’ll remember in the morning. But now it’s 7am and you’re late for work. And what was that dream again…..you remember the feeling of it but you can’t catch it long enough to attach words to it.
What was it….
It doesn’t matter
now.
You’re late for work.
It’s hitting rock bottom - with a lightning storm for dramatic effect.
It’s the dog eating the Thanksgiving turkey while you’re all sitting in the living room watching it happen. The dog feasting is not the view - the reactions are. It’s the screams and runs toward the table. It’s dad’s miserable attempt not to laugh and little Benny thinking it’s a free-for-all and joining the dog on the floor...when is someone going to teach him some manners? It’s mom. Mom worked so hard on that turkey. But who would’ve enjoyed it more anyway? Probably the dog. He had been stalking his prey all day. Plus, it’s a better story to tell. “And mom’s pumpkin pie is much better than her turkey, so at least the dog didn’t get to that”, you say as you go in for your third helping.
It’s you. It’s the 31 nerves in your spinal cord and the 9 toenails because you lost one last week. It’s the 1.5 gallons of blood that circulate through your body and it’s waking up one day and feeling like 1.5 gallons is way too much blood and there’s way too much blood flowing through your body and your veins are going to explode. So your heart beat beat beats to try to handle that colossal amount of blood and the 2 billion heart beats that you’ve got to call your lifetime start passing by so quickly it seems like you’ve got 2 more days left.
So you start saying your goodbyes and paying all your IOUs and making sure your cat will go to a good home and that’s when it all clicks in. The snow the sunroof the dream the lightning storm the turkey and you. It’s all crazy none of it makes sense there’s no way it can all work - but it does. That’s the beauty of it. It all works, but it’ll never work the same way twice. So you sigh with relief and before you go to bed that night you write this in your journal with a little note at the bottom that reads:
“You probably have no idea what I’m talking about. But don’t worry, you will someday.”