Where Were You When...? (9/11)

Everyone has those stories of where they were when something happened. JFK, Martin Luther King, the Challenger exploding. This isn’t about any of those. This is about where I was when 9/11 happened.

I was at a porn shop.

No, not as a customer. As an employee. I woke up and the TV was on as I tend to fall asleep with it on more often than not. I worked early. I opened the place at 6am every day. I saw that a big ass building was on fire. As it panned out I saw that it was the World Trade Center. I thought, “You have to be a terrible pilot to not miss that.” I finished getting dressed and went to work. I live above my job so that took less than a minute.

I get there and start the day like usual. A customer comes in that never talks and said, “You see that other plane hit the building?!” as he handed me his porno. I turned on the TV that only got reception by using a paperclip and sure enough another plane had hit the building. I knew this shit wasn’t right. I wondered if I would have an early day...

My co-workers ran to the counter giggling and handed me a business card. One of the companies we ordered from had a silhouette of New York and they drew a plane going into the building. Classy, huh? People who had given up smoking rushed into the store all morning buying smokes. This one freak came in and I wanted to smash his face in. He comes tweaking his way to the counter and looks at me.

“Are you Muslim?” he asks.

“No” I say. “Why?”

“You look Muslim” he replies.

What the fuck does that mean? And how did this space case know that the attacks were perpetrated by Muslims? This shit was still happening! They ended up shutting down Santa Monica Blvd. for a while because someone made a bomb threat to West Hollywood’s City Hall. I called my ex and told her to turn on the news. She started crying. She loved those buildings. The day went by with everyone asking if I knew what was happening.

“Do you?!” I wondered as they bought poppers, cock rings, and lube.

There are a lot of things that turn me on. Big thighs, red panties, cute laughs, women who read, and chicks that smoke. Attacks on the country has yet to make the list. The day went by pretty fast and it sucked because I was stuck at the counter all day. It was a pretty crazy ass day. I didn’t know anyone in New York so I don’t have any stories of people missing their flights or being in the buildings. There’s just me slangin’ porn while the world collapsed.

Rockets.