I rolled over to an empty bed about 8:40 that morning. I knew that Rachelle had to get up and leave for her 10 o’clock class. I had a class that started at 10:40, so I had to get up to leave. I could smell that she had taken a shower as she filled the bedroom with her sweet scent. Rachelle’s mixture of soap and scented body lotions was in the air. Starting my morning routine after Rachelle was refreshing, especially after sleeping in after 8:30 in the morning. Just a few months prior, I was getting up every morning to be at high school by 8:00 AM.
After rolling out of bed and visiting the bathroom, I entered the living room where I saw Rachelle sitting on the couch still in her bathrobe and eating a bowl of cereal. Her hair was pulled back, and I could tell that she was trying to relax. Her clothes she had planned to wear for the day were lying on the couch next to her. She looked like she was in a good place. “Good morning, Sweetheart,” Rachelle greeted me. “How did you sleep last night?”
I sat down on an adjacent loveseat next to my wonderful wife and told her, “I slept great! Knowing that I made and an A on both my tests yesterday makes me feel great, too.”
“Well, I’m glad. I hope I can maintain my sanity today in my classes,” she replied as she tossed me the remote control for the TV. She had been watching the weather channel to check out the weather for the weekend. “How long were you up last night writing for the meeting today?”
“Not too long at all. In fact, I’ve been writing things down since Tuesday when Kimberly and I went down to city hall to get a business license,” I replied while flipping channels on the TV. “Are you going with us to the meeting today?”
“I definitely want to make it. My last class today lets out at three,” Rachelle started. “So, that gives me an hour to run back home and pick up the car and just barely make the meeting on time.”
“Or I can pick you up at three, and we can make the meeting on time,” I told her. “I mean, I only have my music appreciation class today.”
“Yeah, I know, but I also know that you need to be there to help set up things,” Rachelle said.
“Sweetie, there aren’t that many people who are going to be there,” I stated. “It will only be you and me, Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Trace, and Ron. It’s not like we’ve got a whole crew waiting for an impressive show. It’s a meeting to announce our earning potential and what my plans are to expand our workforce.” Right after my last statement, I stopped turning the TV until I saw one of the World Trade Center buildings with smoke coming from it.
“What’s going on there?” Rachelle asked. On the bottom of the television screen, there were writings that reading that an airplane hit the World Trade Center’s north tower.
“It looks like an airplane hit it the World Trade Center! How stupid was that pilot?” I asked.
“Oh no, I wonder why type of plane it was! I hope everyone makes it out of that building because if it was a big plane, it could compromise the integrity of the building,” Rachelle stated. “I hope everyone who survived is okay.”
“Look at the engineering eye of my wonderful wife. But seriously, I’m just disappointed at the pilot. All that water around Manhattan. This is ridiculous,” I rebutted.
“Maybe he lost control of the plane or the entire crew could have been dead,” Rachelle said. “You remember the Payne Stewart plane, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but I’m sure it’s not anything like that. If the report is true, how would that airplane dive directly into the Twin Towers?” I asked. Then we started watching a report on that same channel to figure out what exactly was going on with that situation. The news channel continued talking about how the plane had just flown right into the building.
After a few more minutes of watching the reports and during a live shot, a second plane flew into the other tower in a comparable manner that the first plane had hit the first tower. “Oh shit! We’re at war!”
Excerpt from unpublished Be A Man sequel
Be A Man Universe 