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Concord Academy - 9/11/01

Chas Andres

Two somber, stone-faced students entered the cafeteria, and proceeded to walk slowly over to the counter where they could get their food. Lunch was just beginning, and there were piles of food on all the serving platters, and behind the counter. Sliced tomatoes, Shaved Lettuce, a big cake cut into serving-sized pieces, pieces of steak, all different kinds of lunchmeat and cheeses, not to mention loaves of every kind of bread known to the world. But Steve and Kim, the two somber students, didn't seem all that interested in the cornicopia of choices in front of them. Like zombies in some low-budget horror flick, they moved slowly through the room, picking up only what food they really needed to get through the day. In the back of Steve's mind, he knew he had a soccer practice that afternoon he needed to eat well for, but that didn't matter to him ­ not now, not after what had happened.

Do you think there'll be any survivors? I mean, there's a lot of rubble that fell, but there's also a lot of people, and some of them might be okay

I honestly don't knowgod, how could anyone do such a thing? I didn't think it humanly possible

I still can't fathom it. I lived in New York. I saw those buildings every single day. I can't imagine that they're justgone.just like that.

Come on, let's sit down. No sense clogging up the line

Steve and Kim continued their slow, surreal walk through the dining room, and sat down at a table with a few other students, who are also physically changed by the day's events. They were paler, and their faces were more sullen, both in the realizations of the horror that was happening in New York, and in the feeling that they were shaken out of that protective womb of childhood and into the fear of the real world.

Hey...sit down! We're just talking about New York

Is there really anything else to talk about today?

You know?, said another boy at the table, I really hope we catch Bin Laden and kill him. I know it was him. It had to be. I hope George Bush executes him. And we should bomb Afghanistan too. They've been hiding the son of a bitch for years, and it's high time we nuke them off the map

You know what? Just shut the hell up! Some of us are really sad right now, and are more worried about innocent people's deaths than more killing.

I know...I still haven't heard from my dad...Oh god, what If he was on that airplane?

I didn't know anyone personally, but I heard that one of my Friends parents was on it.

I still can't believe those towers are gonejust, vanished

On and on, the students talked. Some were scared for the lives of people they knew. Some were in denial that a place they knew so well was destroyed by madmen. They all knew that they wouldn't forget this day, for it touched all of us, young and old, in every lunchroom and boardroom across the country, and we all have to get through it in our own way.

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