Photo

I had hurt my back the day before and had had a sleepless night. In the morning I decided I needed to go to the emergency room, so I had called a taxi as it was too painful to drive myself.

As I was waiting, my boyfriend called from New York, shrieking to turn on the TV. I couldn't really understand him, but I turned on the TV and saw that whatever it was was on all the channels.

"What is this?" I didn't for a moment think it was real, I thought maybe it was a movie or something. As I was watching, the second plane hit and my boyfriend just started wailing. Then the taxi guy was knocking on my door.

On the way, the driver told me all about what was happening. Then I walked into the Emergency Department at Kaiser -- into an alternate reality with Muzak and magazines in the waiting room with no TV, no newspapers and a small group of people oblivious to the world that had just changed so much just outside those automatic sliding doors.

After a few minutes I couldn't stand it and burst out: "Do you all know what happened?" They all looked up surprised that I was talking to them, and after I told them what I knew, they didn't look like they really believed me. How could anyone believe it?

Megan Hulce
First Street
Los Altos

Return to Sept. 11 remembered

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.