Later, much later, when the shock wore off, people always asked, “Where were you?” That Tuesday, the one morning of the week I didn’t have to rush out to lecture the undergrad minions or schlep glassware for lab, found me in the kitchen with coffee and The Globe, relaxed, happy even. “One of the ten best days of the year,” the weatherman promised me earlier when my willing feet swept me along the Charles River, the dawn cracking into a shocking blue canvas. But the adrenalin rush soon eroded, it always does, and aloneness and self-doubt rippled through my cramped apartment, pricking at me to flip on the dusty ten-inch tube, a relic from the latest in a string of relationship disasters dating back to my birth. Chirpy babble filled the empty space, assuaging my weariness, but then a voice, urgent, erupted past my anesthesia and when I swiveled around, flames coiled around the tower; white billowing smoke obscured the building’s twin, a negative background to black specks flailing from gaping floors, even the ninetieth, his office. As the building telescoped into itself, smudging the faultless sky with its smoldering detritus, I vaguely wondered if my father was in Japan.##
Thursday's flawless blue sky reminded me of That Day, which turned out to be a pivotal one for my character Ben. An earlier version of this appeared in Six Sentences on February 3, 2008. Excerpted in part from PURE.
##
PLEASE, leave a comment HERE and win BEG, BORROW, STEAL, a wonderful memoir by Michael Greenberg, author of HURRY DOWN, SUNSHINE.
Peace, Linda
Posts
I remember so many of us being asked that very question days after.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote this wonderfully.
And I hope that her dad was in Japan...
Very nice descriptive prose. You captured the change in priorities very well.
ReplyDelete~chris
Beautiful writing as always. Amazing how one event in an otherwise ho hum day will change so many lives forever. Like others have said above, you capture this well.
ReplyDeleteShocking blue skies indeed. What a dreadful day. Well remembered. Some beautiful imagery in this short piece.
ReplyDeletelovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, fellow flashers! You could not tell from this excerpt, but Ben was hoping his father was NOT traveling. Peace, Linda
ReplyDeleteNOT traveling ?!?! Dastardly son....Looking forward to bigger chunks of Pure.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant phrasing in this and some fantastic imagery. I especially enjoyed the last sentence.
ReplyDeleteOh, Ben. Tsk, tsk.
Powerful stuff.
ReplyDeleteI used to love that particular shade of early autumn blue.
ReplyDeleteVivid and haunting. I think I got it. When I read this line, "I vaguely wondered if my father was in Japan." I knew he was not particularly concerned about his father's well being. It worked well.
ReplyDelete~jon
I'm looking forward to reading more of PURE. That day will haunt us all. You captured it well.
ReplyDeleteI remember this from Six Sentences. The prose is poetic, the character revelation profound. Thanks for sharing a little more of Pure with us.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful telling of a difficult memory. I find it strange how challenges in life seep into the most unexpected places of tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautifully written but heartwrenching. I especially loved the addition of the photo.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for reading.
ReplyDeleteOh Trev, it is the father who's dastardly... heh-heh-heh... Peace, Linda
My favourite phrase in this was "a relic from the latest in a string of relationship disasters dating back to my birth" ~ saying so much with so few words.
ReplyDeleteVery well written. So he was hoping daddy dearest was in the towers, eh? Interesting indeed.
ReplyDelete