It's not a normal day for me. Tiny water droplets struck my blue umbrella as I walked towards Malinda's Cafe. People around me didn't mind me at all. As if I was like a speck of dust lying silently in a piece of antique. There I was standing alone waiting for the walk sign to turn green. At last it did. And everything around vanished.
I came at Malinda's around 9AM. I entered and sat at a nearby table. I didn't want to walk so, I just pull the nearest chair and waited until someone asked for my order. I can smell the sweet aroma of brewed coffee with a touch of fresh milk. I can hear the sound of the morning radio and it caressed my ears like soft hands of a new-born baby. I can only hear the radio, and soft murmurs of the customers. Yeah, I'm not the only one there.
"What will you have for this fine morning, Sir?", asked a tall, blonde, and sweet-voiced waitress standing at my side as I was scribbling along my journal.
"A nice cup of coffee would be fine with me." As she finished writing my order, she went directly to the cashier and serve for the other customers.
I always drop by at Malinda's just to get my morning ice to break and get ready for work. Coffee would be the best instrument of getting my soul to wake up. Malinda, the owner of the cafe, used to be my oh-so-sweet childhood friend. We met when I was like 4, when my mother and her father met at this gathering that I don't mind at all. A few years later, she moved out of town and I never saw her again. Until, I moved here at New York and found Malinda's Cafe. Unfortunately, for today, she's not here. She's sick for some reason.
"Your order, Sir.", then some waiter surprised me and almost got me to a heart attack. Kidding. He just appeared out of now. Surprisingly, when I got shocked, he had good reflexes and moved away, seconds from avoiding my coffee to spill over.
"There's a shock.", I spoked and laughed.
"Well, here you are.". He then put my coffee on the table and a napkin.
I always put the sugar before the cream. For some reason, when I always get my coffee at Malinda's, I always got the exact mug since I started drinking here. I know 'cause, there's a marking on the handle of a letter "C". Weird. I think it's the 358th time I got to drink here. I don't expect for a better place to have coffee than at my old friend's cafe.
It was already half past nine. I'm almost late for work. I have to walk around again a couple of blocks away from the cafe just to work as a typist of the morning newspaper. I forgot to tell you though that I work for the Morning Herald, a not-so-popular paper in my hometown. I walked fast but I didn't ran. The rain cooled off for a second. I turned in my umbrella and continued walking. I could see the office door from where I'm standing.
Time was fast. Then, a loud explosion came out of nowhere. Because of that loud noise, I could see everyone running towards the place where the explosion began. Curious, I went there too. Everyone was screaming. Loud sirens of the ambulance and fire trucks could be heard. Cries of family and friends could almost be heard from the moon. Everything was slow. I thought time was fast, but in a flick of a second, seconds from the explosion, everything can slow down like snails. The whole thing happened. My eyes were widely open as I look up high in the sky seeing a thick dark smoke coming out of the building.
I just realized that I witnessed an unforgettable event. I saw the World Trade Center collapsing into tiny bits. I ran as fast as I could. Then, everything was dark. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the hospital. Everyone was murmuring about the World Trade Center. Everyone was really shocked. Everyone in the hospital ran as more patients was brought there. Good thing is that, I was still holding my journal, to write this past events I witnessed.
Journal Entry # 911
(C) 2009 Jerboe
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