REPURPOSED

 Prologue

Brad was just beginning his gap year after graduating from high school in June.  He was planning on doing an extended road trip using his graduation money, but hadn’t left yet.  His pattern was to sleep in, rise around 8:00 AM, and come down for breakfast with his mom. 

She enjoyed cooking each morning for Brad and his younger sister, who had already left for school.  Connie was fifteen and glad that her big brother was no longer attending school.  He was overprotective and crimped her lifestyle.  But she loved him just the same and missed riding to and from school with him.  She hated riding the bus and couldn’t wait to get her own driver’s license.

The Shanksville-Stoneybrook School District was one of the smallest in Pennsylvania.  Its residents numbered around 2,500 and the school had less than four hundred students K-12.  It’s nestled along the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains about eight miles northeast of Somerset, Pennsylvania and 30 miles northwest of Cumberland, Maryland.  The three main occupations in this rural area are farming, lumbering and strip mining. 

Brad’s mom had the kitchen television on, as she did every morning, watching Fox and Friends.  As she plopped Brad’s plate before him there was a special report on about a plane that had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.  This first report was sketchy with little detail.  However, within the next fifteen minutes, more information became available indicating that it could be an act of terrorism.  They watched with rapt attention as live video reports emanated from the city.  Then, to their shock, another plane crashed into the other twin tower and flames burst from the building.  The realization that they had just witnessed hundreds of deaths in an instant brought tears and fear upon Brad and his mom.  They moved to the living room to watch the family television. 

Forty minutes later, a report came on that the Pentagon had also been hit.  Gradually, it became apparent that the United States was under a carefully manufactured attack – probably masterminded by Osama Bin Laden.  Most Americans were glued to their television sets consuming real-time news via live-feed cameras.  It was a momentous hour!

It wasn’t long before a report was given indicating that another airplane may have been hijacked and was possibly heading toward Washington D.C. with either the White House or the U.S. Capital as its target.  Both buildings were being evacuated to brace for the potential assault. 

Brad and his mom had barely been aware of how much time had passed when their entire house shook!  They looked at one another in fear!  What could possibly cause such an enormous tremor? 

Brad leaped to the window and spotted a massive plume of smoke and dust about a half-mile west of their home.  He told his mom to keep the doors locked as he ran to the barn to mount one of the four-wheelers.  He flew down the country road and was one of the first to arrive on the horrendous scene. 

A huge gash in the ground and mounds of dirt were the only evidence of a downed airliner – later identified as United Flight 95, out of Newark, New Jersey.  Brad and a few other men stood in shock at the brink of the gap, covering their faces to protect themselves from the thick, black, acrid smoke.  Brad had never felt so helpless.  He didn’t know what to do or where to begin.  He circled the area and saw no sign of life and heard no cries for help.  Sirens blared as first responders began to arrive.

Brad stayed on the scene for several hours until a perimeter was set and he was cleared away from the crash site.  He remained until the sun set and watched as great spotlights were set up to illuminate the area for rescue workers who worked to no avail. 

When he arrived home, his family was still gathered in the living room watching the day’s unbelievable events unfold on Fox News.  Gradually, painfully, he sorted through what he had witnessed.  He had no appetite.  Inside, he was angry!  He couldn’t believe that we’d been assaulted on our own turf!  Almost as many lives had been taken today as at Pearl Harbor nearly sixty years earlier! 

Brad’s hiatus year ended two days later when he visited the local recruiter’s office and joined the Marines.