Chapter 1:

"No. I need to get in touch with my Mom and my brother and I..." I stared at my cell phone. 'Weird,' I thought. It had suddenly lost its connection.

From some nightmare out of Hell another airplane roared into sight overhead. Horror and disbelief filled me as I watched it smash into Tower 2. The tower burst into flames. The street side erupted into full scale bedlam. Humans turned into maniacs, thrashing through the streets in mass hysteria. I was thrown into a steel barricade and as Andrew helped me up a scene that is still embedded in my mind began to unfold.

As flames shot from Tower 2 it began to rain. Shattered glass, burning steel, cement, fiberglass, pulverized sheet rock, useless papers, office equipment and … people; fellow humans leaping to their deaths in the only act they could think of to escape.

Not strangers, but friends and co-workers, young and old. One by one they came.

My body, mind and soul shut down. I was dead but alive, seeing but blinded.
My voice sounded as if it was coming from outside of me when I asked Andrew, "Where do we go?"

He glanced toward the water, "South Street Seaport. It's the only place that is safe for now."

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Chapter 6:

"'Babe!' Randy burst through the door and rushed toward me, a bottle of wine in his hands with the corkscrew dangling from the top.

"What?" I looked at him, startled.

"Listen to what you are saying!"   He continued across the room toward me, set the wine bottle down and started ticking off the facts on his fingers.   "The cab was brand new, when does that ever happen in New York?   The date of his tag was Sept. 11, 2001.   That is just too uncanny.   There were no other passengers, not a chance on earth.   He was singing, right!   You were his first fare and yet he was headed home...in Queens?   Not!   I have a feeling he was headed home all right, but his home wasn't in Queens."

The implications of what Randy was saying slowly dawned on me.   My cab driver was in good spirits.   In fact it seems he was a good spirit!"

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Chapter 7:

"On September 17, 2002 we closed on the purchase of our new home. This was very special to us because we had done it together from start to finish. I'll never forget moving our furniture in on the evening of the closing. The previous owners were still removing their items as we were coming in. We were so anxious and could not wait. Hey, we owned the house now, so why not? Anyway, Judy was there to greet us. She was inside the main entrance conversing with another gentleman, who looked to be at least ten years older than Michelle and I. We were introduced and learned that he was the son of the previous owners. At first he was not aware that we were the buyers, and when Judy introduced us to someone else referring to us as such, he almost fell down.

He pointed at us and exclaimed , "they are the new owners?"

Obviously, this man was in complete shock .   I guess he thought we were just there helping people move in. Getting that reaction kind of felt good, despite being a little insulted. Regardless, we were very proud of how far we had come in such a short time. Isn't the human a strange animal?   We can be insulted and proud all in the same breath."

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