Posted on 09/11/2026 6:02:58 AM PDT by Ciaphas Cain
Yesterday I shared an excerpt from my memoir Keeping the Tryst, from the end of chapter 37. That excerpt dealt with my life on September 10th, 2001. And the last thing that I did before falling asleep late that night was to thank God for all of the good that He had brought into my life. If the previous several months could have been that good, I had no doubt that the rest of my life could be just as amazing. I was 27 years old, with everything ahead of him. I was in love, I had a good job, I was writing for publication on a daily basis. And on the night of September 10th I had started writing the script for my very first movie.
My eyes closed, and I was looking forward to another day of being grateful.
Here is another excerpt. The final part of chapter 37 and all of chapter 38.
The phone rang sometime later during the morning.
I picked it up, and it was Mom.
“Are you watching the TV?”
I told her I was just waking up. I asked her what was going on.
“A plane hit the World Trade Center!”
The first thought that went through my bleary head was that a plane had once crashed into the Empire State Building. Maybe this was pilot error, like that had been.
“Yeah and a few minutes later another plane hit the other tower!”
Within minutes of turning on the television to see the World Trade Center, I called Lisa and made sure she was okay. Then I went online and went to the news forum I frequented. There was the shock and terror, giving rise to rawest anger, now being immortalized in real time as an online monument to the evil that men do and their victims.
I cranked up AOL Instant Messenger and found Ed was on. Everyone in his office was watching the live coverage.
I was in the middle of replying to his previous message when the first tower fell.
What was supposed to have been a wonderful day for TheForce.net turned into a real-time reflection of the horror. Josh posted a prayer. The site’s forums within hours became a clearinghouse of information for those in the New York and D.C. areas, as users reported that they were okay while others were looking for fellow fans who had been in the vicinity of the towers and Washington.
We couldn’t locate some members of our staff who had been in New York. Lisa and I had dinner with one of them the first night of Dragon Con, a week and a half before. When we finally located Alena she told us that she had been on the street in front of the north tower, directly below where the first plane hit. Alena saw it all happen. She had then run for cover into a subway entrance and heard the debris crashing onto the street above her.
Maggi and Helen were enraged. Maggi said things that one dares not share in polite company. In her words were well reflected the wrath inflaming all good people of conscience.
I watched the coverage all day, up to being time to go to work. I arrived at 4. Only five potential customers came into the Best Buy that evening. They shuffled in, looked around, and walked out. Each of them had that “thousand-yard stare” in his eyes. They appeared dazed and confused. Like they had only come in to keep their minds off the wretchedness of the outside world.
Not a single item was sold in our store all night.
I returned home a little after 9. Lisa and I talked for a long time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been so thankful to hear the voice of a loved one.
Chad was at his desk in the CNN Building. There was nothing to post to the Sports Illustrated site that night. Up until almost 1 A.M., it was Chad and I over Instant Messenger talking about what had happened. We shared a lot of images we had found. Like the San Francisco Examiner special edition headline that screamed out “BASTARDS!"
"I love you, brother," Chad said as he signed out for the night.
"I love you too, man."
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