It’s
a normal, sunny Tuesday morning when a dark blue Chevy Tahoe SUV pulls into the
parking lot of John J. Jennings Elementary School at 8:45 a.m. Nine year old Alexa
Zygiel jumps out of the car from her place in the middle seat of the middle row,
a spot where she can see everything out the front window, just as she likes it.
She is tall for her age, with blue eyes and blonde hair that was almost white. Her
two younger sisters straggle out behind her from the back row seats.
The
three girls look back and wave to their mom, Christina Zygiel, as she drives
off they then hurry to their separate classrooms. It’s early September and the sisters
are still getting used to the routine of a new school year. Alexa heads off to
Miss Hernandez’s fourth grade classroom, seven year old Emily walks in the
direction of her second grade classroom, and five year old Elisa goes to her
Kindergarten classroom.
About
109 miles southwest of Bristol, Conn. in New York City, it was a very different
Tuesday morning. At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001 American Airlines Flight 11
had struck the first Twin Tower of the World Trade Center, the North Tower. This
crash blocked all three emergency exit stairwells in the North Tower, making
escape for those on the floors that were hit, floors 93 to 99, impossible.
It
is now 9:05 a.m. and Alexa is sitting at her desk after settling her backpack
and belongings. Her teacher takes attendance and announcements are read over
the intercom system.
Just
two minutes before, United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the second Twin Tower,
taking out floors 77 to 85 of the South Tower, going 587 mph. The sixty people
on the plane and hundreds of workers in the building were killed.
Alexa
falls into line with the rest of her classmates on the way to the first part of
their day, music class which is downstairs in the basement of her school. Today
they are practicing their recorders. It’s 9:15 a.m.
Ten
minutes earlier in Sarasota, Fla., President George W. Bush, the 43rd
president of the United States, learned about the second plane crash into the
World Trade Center. He was at Emma Booker Elementary School, visiting a second
grade classroom.
In
Alexa’s school, hands reach out to grab their recorders as a class full of
children gather at the door to leave from music class at 9:55 a.m. Alexa waits
at the door for Miss Hernandez to pick her class up. When she arrives, Alexa
and her classmates file out and follow like baby ducks up the stairs.
At
9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The 59 people aboard the plane and 125 military
and civilian personnel in the Pentagon are killed. At 9:42 a.m. the Federal
Aviation Authority (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop for all flights that
are bound for or are over mainland U.S.
Miss
Hernandez’s fourth grade class passes the dark, empty auditorium on their way
back to their classroom, but falter for a moment when they unexpectedly see the
outline of a person in the far corner of the auditorium. Squinting to see who
it is Alexa recognizes her second grade teacher, Ms. Hodlin, sitting in the
dark, enraptured by the television. The colors from the television screen bounce
and dance across Ms. Hodlin’s face, creating a flashing mirage of colors in the
dark which only seem to highlight her face warped in horror and shock.
Little
eyes go round and whispers filled with curiosity and bewilderment fill the
space around Alexa as her class passes by. Alexa, too, wonders what Ms. Hodlin is
doing all by herself in the dark auditorium and what she is watching that has
made her so afraid.
Alexa
shakes her head and hurries on to catch up with her class. It is 10 a.m. when
both students and teacher make it back to the classroom and settle in for the
next part of the day.
One
minute prior at 9:59 a.m., the South Tower, a massive structure standing at 110
stories or 1,362 feet collapses in 10 seconds. This collapse kills 600 workers
in the tower and first responders who were in the surrounding area.
At
10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Somerset County,
Penn. after the passengers aboard fight the al-Qaeda hijackers for control of
the aircraft. The 40 people aboard the plane are killed. The crash landing site
was a mere 20 minutes away from Washington D.C., the supposed intended target.
Suddenly,
the telephone in the classroom rings, interrupting Miss Hernandez from her
teaching. It’s the office calling for a student whose parent is waiting in the
office for her child to take home. No
one thinks anything of it until the phone rings a second, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, seventh time, with a corresponding child leaving after every call.
The
phone seems to ring continuously to Alexa and she watches, as one by one, her
classmates leave until only Alexa and a few other children are left.
“What’s
going on?” a voice hisses.
“Is
there a party in the office?” another voice whispers.
“Well,
why weren’t we invited?” another whispers back offended and a little hurt at
being left out.
Finally,
the phone rings for Alexa. Her mom has come very early, too early, to pick her
up. Alexa knows that they sometimes have half days and that her mom picks up
Elisa from Kindergarten every day at noon, but this is strange because it’s so
early. Alexa packs up her stuff, says goodbye to her friends, Gina and Kayla,
the last ones still left in her class, and makes her way downstairs to the
office at 10:30 a.m.
At
10:28 a.m. the North Tower, standing at an imposing 1,730 feet tall plus the
antenna, collapses after burning from the flames of the crash for 102 minutes.
When
she reaches the office, Alexa sees that her two sisters are already there
waiting with their mom.
“We’re
going home a little early today, okay girls?” Christina says to her three young
children.
Alexa
immediately asks her mom what’s happening, but her mom does not respond. So the
confused girls follow their mother to their blue SUV parked out front. Alexa
hops into the middle seat of the middle row, while her little sisters climb
into the back and they all settle in next to each other for the ride home.
Alexa,
ever the curious child begins questioning her mother, “Why did you take us out
of school so early Mom? What’s going on?”
Christina
bites her lip, wondering how to explain the severity of the situation in a way
that her three young girls can understand it.
“I
definitely remember saying something, I always felt like—being a teacher
myself—that they were going to find out at school anyways, so I wanted to tell
them something controlled and not be totally shocked when they found out,” she
later said.
“A
couple planes crashed in New York City, girls,” she finally decides to say to
the waiting trio.
“You’re
taking us out of school because planes crashed? Why is that important?” asks
Alexa disbelievingly.
Christina
is silent and continues to drive on, unsure herself of how to answer her oldest
daughter’s question.
Around
bedtime at 8:30 p.m. Alexa hears what sounds like the president coming from the
television her mom is watching down the hall.
“….Today
our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a
series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes
or in their offices: secretaries, business men and women, military and Federal
workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly
ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into
buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with
disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder
were intended to frighten our Nation into chaos and retreat, but they have
failed. Our country is strong,” said President George W. Bush in his address to
the nation that night.
A
decade and two years have passed, and this little girl has grown up to be an
adult of 21 years. Yet she still remembers that day.
“I
quickly learned that “9/11” will never be just a date or two numbers—it came to
mean so much more to the American people. It’s a symbol. It was a day of panic,
terror, sadness, and struggle that will probably be remembered forever….I’ll
probably tell my children about how I was only a little girl during it, but I remember
it, I remember everything about that day.”
Endnotes
1.
Bush,
George W. "Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks Read More at the
American Presidency Project: George W. Bush: Address to the Nation on the
Terrorist Attacks." Address. Oval Office of the White House, Washington
D.C. 11 Sept. 2001. The American Presidency Project. Web.
2.
Bush,
George W. "Remarks by the President George W. Bush After Two Planes Crash
Into World Trade Center." Speech. Florida, Sarasota. 11 Sept. 2001. Web.
3.
Interview
with Alexandra Zygiel on 10/6/13
4.
Interview
with Christina Zygiel (mother of Alexa Zygiel) on 10/6/13
5.
“John J. Jennings School, Bristol, Connecticut
to World Trade Center, New York City, New York.” Map. Google Maps. Web.
6.
"The
World Trade Center: Statistics and History.” The Skyscraper Museum. Web.
7.
Video footage from 9/11 accessed on
Youtube.com
8. "Weather
History for Central Park, NY." Weather Underground. Web.
8.
"Weather
History for Meriden, CT." Weather Underground. Web.
9.
"9/11
Memorial Timeline." 911memorial.org. Archetype for the National
September 11 Memorial & Museum. Web.
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