from my facebook's 'notes'

unfinished. unedited.


i was rereading an old book when i saw a sheet of paper between the pages - a short story that i was trying to write just after the 9/11 attacks. it is unfinished and unedited.



**********


i was talking to my wife when it hit us.

if i remember it correctly, she was talking about alimony and how much money she wanted to support our two kids --- things that i thought were totally improper being discussed over the phone. besides, we have lawyers who are more than capable handling such matters. i imagined her in her upscale office, looking at her planner and holding her black parker looking at her bullet points while she was talking to me. she had everything on paper. The woman hates it when she does things unplanned. she was anal retentive. i seriously wished her dead.

i was in the process of calling her a ranting bitch when the line went dead. 

i heard a loud crashing sound. then i heard an explosion. but for someone who has lived in Manhattan for a very long time, noises like those are as natural as organic tomato. i didn't mind what i heard. i was angry at my wife. i looked out my bedroom window in frustration hoping to find something nice to see when i saw a burning chunk of metal fall from one of the famous office buildings. i looked closely and wondered if what i was seeing was the tail end of a plane sticking out of the tower. 

and then came the screaming. painful and fearful screams. i looked down from my apartment window and i saw all the people with their mouths open. they were in shock.

i looked back at where they were were looking and it finally sank in. and just like the rest of the people below me, i froze.







*****