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July 22, 2007
Inbox
From: Mikey Macs
To: briggles, defender13
Date: Jul 19, 2007 12:30 PM
Subject: Yesterday
What you are both missing in NYC.
Sitting in my office when all of a sudden the building started shaking like the world was ending. There was an incredible Bang! and several more bangs, and then a rushing sound like you would hear if you had your ear pressed against an industrial air conditioner turned on high. It filled your head, you couldn't hear. We ran to the windows and looked down at the street for some kind of explanation, but all you could see was smoke and Third Avenue and streams of people running south. Traffic had stopped and everyone was leaving their vehicles and running. Away from our building. You could see people in the other office buildings and they were pressed up against the windows and some were running.
My cell network was busy, so I called Kristi from the land line. She could hear the sirens over the phone, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in her office, which was on 53rd street, so I felt better, it wasn't near her. I told her to get out of the building and to meet at our emergency spot.
We headed to the stairway but it was packed solid with people. Twenty four floors to go. People were orderly and text messages worked and it became apparent that it was not Grand Central and instead came out of the street. A lot of the younger women were crying. It was very quiet, just the shaking of the building and the sound of feet going down stairs. The catching of rubber soles on the painted concrete. I saw one of my friends who was in an office right above and he said it cracked the windows and there was a geyser of dirt, steam and smoke going up at least forty stories into the air. Getting down took about fifteen minutes.
When we got into the lobby everyone split up. Several people were discussing going to look around the corner and seeing what it was. I took one of my co-workers who lives in Brooklyn and headed straight east to the river. Figured we could swim if necessary. It would be faster than walking. The streets were thick with people. There is a construction site next to the FDR. I was thinking very clearly about what kind of wood would float the best. Not pressure treated. I was thinking about taking the inflatable tires off of the wheel barrows and where I would find a wrench.
Kristi met us outside the UN and we walked down First avenue. There were hundreds of floating islands of people, milling about, some walking with purpose, some in a daze. Traffic still moved at a rush hour pace, the M15 bus was picking people up, there was not a real sense of panic, just more of a kinetic confusion, people shocked awake by their regular schedules being upturned. The farther away we got, for a while, the more normal things became. Then it was a little weird. In the East Village there were no cars on the streets. Everyone was walking. We heard the subways were running, so we grabbed the Brooklyn-bound F at Houston. We got off at Prospect Park West and walked my co-worker across the park to the Q line. It was a different city. People were just going about their business. It was as if nothing had happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SImhkapRuIs&NR=1
My building is the black on on the left.
Look forward to seeing you both soon.
Posted by Bree at July 22, 2007 10:56 AM