New York, September 2001
David woke at 6 a.m. as he did every morning. He took a bath, brushed his teeth, put on his school clothes, grabbed his satchel.
As he left his room he could see through the half-open door of his parents´ bedroom that they were still asleep, as usual. He tip-toed down the stairs, so as not to wake them. He made breakfast for all the family. on the table he put jam, toast, honey, cheese, fruit, juice, milk and coffee. David loved breakfast time: it was the only time of the day he could be with his parents, who worked all day long and had little time to spare for their only child. Only ten years old, he did everything, every morning. When his parents woke and came down, the breakfast table was ready and there was that special smell of coffee in the air. The family took breakfast together, chatting about the matters of the day - school, friends, politics, science, computers and other adult stuff, but David adored it. He seemed to understand a lot about these things, more than most adults. It was that special time in the morning when they ate, talked, laughed, made plans.
23
LEo MARK
Round about half seven David picked up his satchel and set off to work with his parents. For the last two years, every day, he had been “working” with them. Sarah didn´t like leaving their only son alone in the big, dangerous city of New York.
The three of them set off walking to where sarah and richard worked - in the same company, in adjoining buildings. David spent part of the time in his fatherś building, part of the time in his motherś. Sarah was the financial director of the company and Richard the manager of the department of technology. Both of them were paid very well, having been hired at about the same time and for salaries well above the average. Whatś more, there was a special area reserved for the children of the staff. however this was the last year but one that David would be going to where his parents worked, because when he was eleven he would no longer be able to stay there. But until that age, the children could study various courses, learn languages, and surf the internet, all under the eye of their parents by means of strategically located cameras. Both the buildings possessed one of these areas, on the same floor. As David had made friends in both buildings he took turns to spend time in each one. At midday everyone had lunch.
At one p.m. David went to school, which was a few blocks away.
The mother of one of the children, the wife of one of the staff, took him and her son to the school. But that morning, long before it was time for lunch or for them to go to school, something very unusual happened. While David was chatting with his friends, at 8.46 a.m., they heard, they saw, they felt a huge explosion. The noise was deafening. The heat that overtook them was unbearable.
The ceiling began to cave in, and they heard shouts and screams 24
JESuS THE ExTRATERRESTRIAL – oRIGINS
from all directions. The lights had simply gone out. everything turned dark, hot and noisy. The explosion had been felt in the upper floors, but the heat was very close. Bits of the ceiling began to collapse.
In the confusion, Sarah ran towards where David was. The corridor was only about 30 yards long; but, through the window, David could see his mother desperately trying to push her way through the throng, running along the wing of the building to get to him. Suddenly, because of the thick smoke that was filling the building, David could no longer see his mother. The ceiling started falling on to the people below, many of them were sheltering under tables, many were running, and the flames from the upper floors started to invade their floor of the building. David was paralyzed at the sight, unable to move, simply watching the scene of terror. He began to worry about his mother, gathered his courage and began to run towards where he had last seen her. People were pushing each other, climbing over each other to try and get through the door that led to the fire escape. Crawling between the legs of panic-stricken people, David managed to get to the office where he could find his mother. In the darkness, crying in desperation, he started to scratch through the rubble, looking for her. He began to shout her name, but without success.
‘Muuummyyyy!!! Where are you???’
his cries were unheard among so many other desperate cries.
When his strength ran out he fell to his knees on the floor, in tears and in despair.
‘Mummy, help!! Please, don´t leave me here alone,’ he called out in a weak voice.
25
LEo MARK
When he was almost giving up, he caught sight of his motherś red hair under a beam which could easily have weighed a ton or more. he got closer and saw that her face was covered with blood.
it looked as if she was dead.
‘Mummy, please, don´t die,’ the boy repeated despairingly, trying to awaken her.
David got up and looked around him. He began to see several bodies on the floor and a lot of blood everywhere (what he was seeing there was something that even the bloodiest films didn´t show). he couldn´t believe what he was seeing. At the sight he began to go into shock. smoke was everywhere. he could hardly breathe. The fire was beginning to spread from the upper floors.
People were jumping from the upper floors and smashing into the ground. David, now lying down and practically unconscious from the smoke he had inhaled, decided to make one more effort and tried to drag his mother from under the debris.
‘Come on, Mummy, try! Try! Please don´t leave me now.’
Hardly had David stopped speaking when a huge piece of flaming concrete fell on to his back, crushing his ribs and his legs. David went out like a light. Darkness and silence reigned.
26
2