September 11th Memories

[Innkeeper]

We spent the night of the 10th in the Navy Inn on Staten Island. We had nothing to do the next day except to drive up to Bristol, RI to visit friends, about a four hour drive. Something got me up earlier than we needed to, and I got Bev up, and said let's go. As we approached the Gothels Bridge over to the Jersey Turnpike, we heard the news on the radio. Bev turned her head and saw the second plane hit.

As we drove up the NJ Pike, most people had pulled over the side to look. We just kept on going. When we got to I-80 we went west to the Garden State Pky and took it up to I-87 and we limped accross the Tappen Zee Bridge, the only bridge open at that point; with all kinds of wild reports on the radio, most of which were false. We got over to I-95 north and stopped at the first rest stop to call our friends. Our kids had already called them about us (this was before we had a cell phone). If we had not left when we did, we would have been on Staten Island for a week!

It is a shame that the unity we all felt that day has evaporated over the past ten years. We believe in evil spirits, and the strongest of that bunch is the Spirit of Division. You don't have to look far to see him at work.