"What's happened, Carli? You're trembling!" Still standing just inside Shari's door, Carli tried to say what she'd seen, but the words would not come out. She made one more attempt and then darted into Shari's living room, grabbed up her remote from the coffee table and pushed the power button. By this time Shari was completely unnerved. What could have set Carli off like this? Even Goldie looked troubled and began to whine. Shari followed Carli into the living room. "What is it, Carli? Please tell me!"

The TV came on, shaking violently, Carli groped for the news channel numbers. Pressing them just in time for Shari to see a huge building crumbling amidst a cloud of dust, smoke and debris, that began rising in the air. She felt as if her blood was draining out as she stared in wide eyed horror at the scene. With one hand over her mouth and the other pointing, she exclaimed "it's the World Trade Center! But it can't be! That's where Tim and Jesse work!" A white-faced Carli, standing behind her could only nod and whisper:

"I know." Feeling light-headed, Shari collapsed onto the sage green sofa staring at the picture. Carli, also collapsed on the sofa, tears spilling from her frightened big brown eyes.

"Then it is true," Carli moaned. "I was hoping I was wrong." Wringing her hands, she said in a high-pitched voice, “our husbands might be hurt.” She looked over at Shari, her eyes, imploring. “We need to get down there!" She jumped up, still twisting her hands and looked over, expecting Shari to jump up, too. But, she didn't even hear her. Her attention was riveted to what the news people were saying. Carli rushed for the phone. "I'm going to report off work. We need to go see what's going on." She picked up the light green princess phone from the coffee table and dialed Macy's Department Store, where she worked as a secretary. She did her best to explain why she wouldn't be in. But saying it out loud brought on a new wave of emotion and she became incoherent. Finally, the girl at the other end assured her that she had been understood. She was shaking so violently, she could barely replace the receiver.