“Alex?”, she lurched out of her crying, “Alex? I need to go. I need to answer the other line. Come over to our house. Walk here. We’re all home. Don’t stay home alone. Leave a note for your mom. Come here now. I have to hang up. Come here now.”
Alex went back into her rambling but Jordan knew she had to answer the line waiting.
“Hello?”
“Jordan it’s me. I’m fine. Let me talk to mom.”
“DAAAD?!?!”
At the sound of Jordan’s exclamation, Sally nearly knocked her daughter over as she tore around the kitchen corner to take the phone away at which point she scurried off into the bedroom where yelling and scolding commenced. Jordan heard verbalized some of the lines of thought that had just gone through her own head.
“You should’ve been here!! …. I don’t care….we are terrified, come home right now….You don’t know; there might be more Ted!!!..… JUST COME HOME….I’ll come get you then………FINE………FINE!!!…IF THAT’S HOW YOU WANT IT TO BE!!!..…FINE…!!!”
Jordan heard a large smashing sound and then more crying, this time Jen’s added to the symphony. Now wasn’t the time to try to get out of helping mom out. Still crying herself and slightly trembling, she walked to the baby’s room to care of business. And it was from Jen & Mindi’s room as she changed the baby’s diaper that Jordan heard her mom shriek in terror…
The south tower had fallen.
The day was full of anxiety and stress; the family of 4 stayed at home all day glued to the television and the events unfolding in the East. Sally, completely terrified, eventually succumbed to carrying it around externally. She insisted on keeping the windows closed, shades pulled, and lights off all day. She let out screams and shrieks at the slightest sounds like cars going by or dogs barking. She yelled angrily at her younger daughters when either became noisy or needy or irritable or unpredictable or…anything.
Each of the girls fed off Sally’s fear and reflected it in their cooped-up household all day long making an already tense situation even tenser. Being small children, the two younger girls processed their fear by acting out, teasing one another, pining for attention, fighting, and clinging to security objects.