United We Stand Read Online Free Page B

where it had happened. And when they told me, I just prayed that you two had made it below the floor where it hit in time.”
    “I wish we had,” my father said. “So, you didn’t see anybody else from the office at any time?”
    “I ran into Jenna in the concourse. We talked for a while and she left. I wanted to stay there to wait for you two, but the police wouldn’t let me—they just sort of whisked me away.”
    “So, where were you when the building collapsed?” my father asked.
    “I was on Broadway, four or five blocks north. From where I was I didn’t even see the building go down. I heard the sound, but my view was blocked by another building, and then I saw the smoke, the cloud … people started running and screaming … I started running, but it stopped. It never got as far as me.” She paused. “And then I heard what had happened. I couldn’t believe it. How could that tower fall? And once I knew it was true, all I could think of was that you two were still up there.” She turned to my mother. “When you called me last night to tell me they were okay … you have no idea how incredible that call was. That was one of the best telephone calls I ever received in my whole life.”
    “I think I have some idea,” my mother said.
    “Oh, of course. What am I thinking?” Suzie apologized.
    “That’s okay. I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. I was just glad I could let you know. I made a lot of happy phone calls between the time the boys called me and the time they arrived home.”
    “So, what about your story?” Suzie asked.
    “It’s like yours. We went down the stairs,” my father said, and shrugged.
    “What floor were you on when the plane hit?” Suzie asked.
    “We were still—”
    “In all the confusion it’s hard to say exactly,” my father said, cutting me off.
    My mother and Suzie exchanged a look. I didn’t think either of them believed him.
    “I know you’re just trying to protect me,” my mother said. “But it’s important that I know what you went through … the whole thing.”
    “Okay, all right … I know you’re right. We were … we were still on our floor.”
    “You were still on eighty- five?” Suzie sounded amazed, shocked.
    “But that’s
above
the floors where the plane hit!” My mother was definitely alarmed.
    My father slowly nodded his head.
    “But … but … why didn’t you tell me?”
    “It just … didn’t come up,” my father said.
    My father and I had made an agreement not to tell her everything right away—not that we were going to lie to her, but we were going to sort of “withhold” some of the information. Now thecat was pretty much out of the bag.
    “I wish I’d known,” she said. “Is there anything else you haven’t mentioned?”
    “No, nothing.”
    I nodded my head in agreement, and she looked a little bit relieved.
    “It’s better that I know.”
    “I want to know too. How did you get down?” Suzie asked.
    “Like I said, we went down the stairs,” my father answered.
    “It couldn’t have been that easy,” Suzie said.
    Before my father could downplay it again I jumped in. “It wasn’t that easy. There was smoke, and people said the stairwells were all blocked. A man said there was no way down and we should go up, but Dad said we had to try to get down.”
    “I knew we could always go up later, but we had to at least try going down first,” my father said.
    “And you got past those floors where the fire was?”
    “Yes.”
    “How? What was it like?” Suzie asked.
    I didn’t know what to say. How could any of it be put into words? It looked like my father was having the same problem because he didn’t answer either.
    “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” my mother said.
    “No,” my father said, shaking his head, “it’s just that I’m looking for the words.” I wasn’t sure if he didn’t know what to say, or if he
knew
but wassearching for the right way to put it so my mother