Chapter 36: Epilogue

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Working the early shift at the Spee-D-Mart was one of those things Emily had gotten used to in the almost fifteen years she'd been working there. At one time it had been a pain in the butt to have to get the kids around for school, especially when Kevin was at work as well. But, Kayla and J.J. were old enough now that they could get themselves put together and off to school, although like a good mom Emily usually gave them a call from the store to make sure they were up and running. They were good kids, and always were up and getting ready when she called, but she called anyway, just on general principles, and to let the kids know she was thinking about them. Recently it had started to boggle her mind a little: she'd started work in this place as a teenager, and in only a few more months she'd have a teenager of her own.

But this morning was special; just as Janine had been cashing out, Mignon had called with the happy news that in a few hours Vicky would be joining her in the realm of motherhood. Jason had taken her to the hospital about four in the morning, so it wouldn't be long, now. Mignon had, with great difficulty, managed to avoid going to the hospital to await word, but Jason had promised to let her know as soon as he knew anything.

So, as Emily was doing the morning chores and riding herd on the doughnuts the store prided on making on the premises, she was thinking back over the last few months, especially to the day in February when Vicky had called her up to announce that she was pregnant! It had been her dream for many years, and now was finally becoming reality. How excited she had been -- and for that matter, Jason was right along with her! Emily knew more than a little of the story of Jason and Jody those many years before, and he told her right up front that he was happy that this time the kid had been wanted and hoped for. Jason was going to make a great father, Emily could feel it; after all, he'd done it once before, had done a great job, and knew the ropes.

Not to anyone's surprise, Vicky had been laid off from Macy Controls in May, which suited her just fine. She didn't really want to work when she was heavily pregnant anyway, and the job was starting to cut into her knife finishing, which she'd been putting a lot more time into.

Though they still hadn't incorporated the knife business, Emily and Kevin, and most of the minimum staff at Macy, figured the latter place was going to be closed by this time next year, so they were targeting getting the formal business going in another few months. Just the other day, the four of them had taken a long look at the long-closed old Gulf station across Taney from the Chicago Inn; it seemed to be about the size they needed, and had more parking than they could ever need. Although the tanks had been removed from the ground, the building was sadly deteriorated. But, Mike Austin said he thought it could be rebuilt and modified into their combination factory and showroom without it costing too much, especially if he did most of the work over the winter when his construction business was otherwise slow.

They'd worked hard selling knives at renfaires and gun and knife shows for over a year, and most of the money had gone into a war chest needed for setting up the business. They were still going to have to carry a mortgage, but it shouldn't be too bad. Kevin was already looking forward to doing a job he liked rather than the one he'd come to hate. Emily was a little sorry that she wasn't going to be working out there too, but they'd agreed that it probably would be a good idea to keep her income from a separate business in case their projections didn't work out quite as well as they hoped. Jason could retire early next spring, and they pretty well hoped he could go right into the new building and a new job.

Things were really going to change, she thought, as JoAnne Patterson came in the door. She worked out at General, and usually got a doughnut and a large cup of coffee to get her through the morning. She normally went on at nine, so she was cutting it a little tight. "So, what's happening today, Emily?" she smiled.

"Well, it's not quite the same old same old," Emily told her, and explained Vicky was having her baby as they spoke.

Just then Mike Daugherty came rushing in. "Emily, you got a TV?" he asked excitedly. "Turn it on!"

There was a small color TV under the counter. It was rarely turned on during the day -- it was bad business practice, and Sharon didn't like the clerks watching it anyway, but in the long, slow hours of the early morning it sometimes helped to keep the clerks awake. "What channel?" she asked.

"Probably any channel," Daugherty said quickly. "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center in New York."

"Oh, my God!" JoAnne cried. "Julie works there!"

Emily had never met Julie Patterson, JoAnne's daughter-in-law; in fact, she'd only seen Dave three or four times since high school, never for very long, a few sentences exchanged while he got gas when visiting town. He'd taken the on-ramp pretty seriously and for practical purposes was a New Yorker now. JoAnne, a long-time widow, had once told Emily that Julie didn't like Bradford, thought it was a Hicksville, came there only when she had to, and stayed the shortest time possible. Still, at least according to JoAnne, she was supposed to be a pretty neat person, if almost a stereotype young urban professional. Those facts didn't need review as Emily pulled the little portable color TV from beneath the counter and turned it on.

There on the screen was a live picture from another skyscraper, looking at the twin towers of the World Trade Center, with smoke pouring from the side of one of them. "Oh, my God," JoAnne said, her face white. "I can't tell if that's the tower Julie works in, but she's up toward the top."

Any thought of JoAnne's going on to work was washed away in seconds; there was no tearing her away from the unbelievable scene. "Jeez," Daugherty commented to no one in particular as a small crowd gathered around the TV over the next few minutes, "A pilot would have to be pretty damn blind to miss seeing something like that."

"Probably looking at the gauges rather than out the window," someone in the back snorted.

"I've seen planes flying low there," JoAnne said vacantly, "But never that low."

"You've been there?" Emily asked.

"Julie took me up to the observation deck one time," she said. "They don't live far away, in an apartment complex called Battery Park Village. It's pretty nice, but you wouldn't believe the rent they... Oh, My God!" she blurted as a second airplane appeared out of the corner of the picture and crashed into the side of the other tower.

Silence reigned for several seconds. "Something tells me he was looking out the window," Daugherty finally said softly.

"Dave wouldn't be there, would he?" Emily asked.

"Probably not," JoAnne said hopefully. "He stays late to get the boys to kindergarten, and then walks to work. It's not in the WTC complex, but it isn't far away." She stared at the screen for a moment, and then asked, "Emily, can I use your phone?"

"Here," Emily said, handing JoAnne her cell phone.

Very little was done in the Spee-D-Mart for the next hour. A few people got gas or bought doughnuts, but there was little said; Emily just took the money, kept her attention on the TV screen, and several times went to stand next to JoAnne, one arm around her. Mike also spent a good deal of time trying to give her some support and courage. Time after time JoAnne hit "redial" on the cell phone, but each time got a "not available" reply. "Not surprising," Daugherty said. "Probably everyone in the world is trying to dial someone there right now."

"Or vice versa," Emily agreed.

Then, without warning, the already unbelievable sight became even more unbelievable: one of the towers just sighed and gave up; the top falling majestically until it was lost in a cloud of dust and smoke. "I don't think that was the building Julie works in," JoAnne said hopefully in a small voice.

"They said they were evacuating the buildings," Emily offered. "Maybe she's out of there."

"She would have been above the fire," JoAnne said, obviously hoping against hope. "She'd have had to get down past it somehow." Once again she took Emily's cell phone and hit "redial," getting the same response as before.

Emily took another look at the screen, and at the ashen-faced JoAnne, who she knew lived alone -- and she also knew JoAnne's close friend Hazel was out of town. Quickly she made up her mind; she picked up the store phone and called Janine. "Get down here, right now," she said in a flat order and hung up the phone. Then, she turned to the TV again, the thought on her mind as she was sure it was on the mind of everyone else: if one tower could go down, what was to keep the other from following?

Nothing. Just as Janine walked in the door twenty minutes later, the top of the second tower leaned a little bit, then started to fall. For the second time in half an hour, the top of one of the tallest buildings in the world collapsed into a cloud of smoke and dust of its own making. "Come on, JoAnne," Emily said softly. "I better take you home. If Dave calls, he'll probably try to call you there."

JoAnne said nothing, just gave a weak nod.

Emily had, as always, ridden the Sportster to work, but took JoAnne's keys and drove her to her home only a block or so from Jason and Vicky's house. She helped JoAnne to a living room chair, and together they sat and watched the TV silently, hoping it would give them some hint of good news but expecting nothing but bad.

It was a little before noon when JoAnne was finally able to get Dave on his cell phone. "She must be dead," he reported in a dull monotone. "I was talking to her when the building went down."