Sept. 25, 2001: We flew into New York City on an American Airlines flight from Little Rock. I felt better about my flight when I noticed an iron bar secured the cockpit door from the inside. American Airlines had added that protection to all of its aircraft. We landed at Newark International, a New Jersey airport very convenient to metropolitan New York City. Our cab ride crossed into Manhattan at the lower end of the island, which gave us a clear view of ground zero. The gap in the skyline, with the debris still smoldering, caused me to shiver.

We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel, and as we checked in, the manager told us that if we would take a room above the 11th floor, it would be greatly discounted. That was our first revelation as to how the attack on New York had affected things.

While we were in New York, we talked with several friends and heard stories of a sea of people who, after the attack, when public transportation was halted, walked from the financial district on Wall Street. Some of them walked for over seven hours to leave Manhattan. One friend walked from 52nd Street to a bridge on 125th Street. When he reached the bridge, he found that it was closed to foot traffic. He then managed to talk a security officer into letting him and a group of about 30 other individuals who lived across the bridge ride a city bus across, driven by a policeman. When they reached the other side of the bridge, they were just let out on the street to continue walking another two hours. Five and a half hours after leaving his office, he walked into his living room. Usually, it was a 25-minute commute.

Early Sunday morning, we went to........

© El Dorado News Times