A week had past and the column of smoke kept rising... I had promised my friend Id help him paint and fix up his fathers old art-studio that he was converting to a luxury apartment. It was on the top 4th floor of a ware-house right below Canal street near the West river and covered half the size of the buildings lay-out. He had created a corner window that stretched both sides and offered a view towards the statue of liberty and.... where the WTC buildings once stood. Each day we brought ids and pieces of mail posted to that address to proof to the officers posted at security cordon the affiliation to that building. I wore a bandana tight around my face each day we went there and passerby asked me about it. Didnt you see the dust-clouds that came off of that, I said... That building was done 25 years ago and asbestos probably got blown around all over the place. I aint taking that risk, Thank you As we were working up there, we paused often just to stand there a moment viewing that continual pillar of smoke and dust continuing... It was hard to imagine that they still werent there somehow...behind that veil. There still have to be fires going on down there, deep underground I said to my friend...several times in one form or another... We snapped ourselves out of it repeatedly and continued finishing the renovation... Sometimes it got late...and as darkness set in, bright lights illuminated that pillar. It became a grey-white chimera reaching up into the dark,,, The fire-man, police and other volunteers kept clearing debris feverishly there, now more then anything just searching for remains and other pieces of evidence as well I guessed. After several days of this I proclaimed to my friend..., What the hell is it that keeps burning down there ? It was after a week being up there almost each day that you could discern traces of blue sky again through the still...rising...dust. I remained in N.Y.C. for about a week and a half longer or so... He had to take off to Mass. and I remained at his apartment by myself until I had to fly back to LAX. Not until we flew past the tip of lower Manhattan in full day-light, did it sink in they were gone...Really really gone..... G.S.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 19:58:38 +0000
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