I was working at a dental office in a Chicago suburb in 2001 and decided to take the Friday before the weekend off to see my boyfriend who was working in Staten Island and to hang out in New York. I wanted to go to Times Square but I really wanted to go to New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park that weekend. I flew into Philly and rented a car to drive to see him. When I got there he said we should take the car back since he had a car and we didnt need two cars. I convinced him that two cars would be good just in case we had to go in separate directions. We stayed at Le Meridien which at that time was $99 a night. I took the Friday off from my job to be with him. And then called in on Monday. Little did I know that I would be calling in on Tuesday as well. I was watching SportsCenter and saw the ticker at the bottom stating something had happened at the World Trade Center New York. I woke my BF up and said, Oh my God! something happened and its really bad! We looked at the ticker a little bit longer and then turned the channel to CNN and saw the building was smoking. The only thing he was thinking about was that he needed to get to work and if we didnt get on the turnpike we probably would be stuck. And how correct he was. SWAT teams were directing everyone off of the turnpike right before exit 10. Mind you, we needed to get off at exit 12. We argued on the phone as I was in my rental following him in his car. We found another way to get to where he had to go. We pulled over. I was scared and said what am I supposed to do? He opened my hand plopped a fistful of money and said, I dont know. You figure it out. I was crying when I drove off. I drove back to Le Meridian in Philly and do you know that at this time the room rate went up to $399 a night?? I knew I had to take this rental back. Because I had to figure out away to get back to Illinois. But people were running around crying and acting crazy at the airport. And this time I already knew what had happened because I had watched the news and I have to tell you, it was the most surreal situation I have ever been in. Now I was worried that I would never get back to Illinois. I return the car. And sat somewhere crying. I noticed there was a man that was sitting next to me and he was crying too. I asked him what was wrong. He said he had to get back to the Midwest because he was starting a new job. I asked him where he needed to go. He said, I need to get back to Racine, Wisconsin. My breath stopped. Because where I had to go was 15 minutes away from Racine, Wisconsin. The rest of the conversation was a blur. All I remember was we were going to different rental places and there were long lines, people crying, just sheer madness everywhere. We finally got to a Budget lot. And there was one car left…a 2001 Lincoln Towncar. We got to the counter, he pulled out his debit card and said, I will rent the car. You will get the gas. Deal! it took us 11 hours to get back to Illinois. He dropped me off at my parents house and said I will take the car back to the Budget Rent-A-Car in Kenosha. I never saw him again. And the saddest thing is, I dont remember his name.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:43:12 +0000
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