The Beige Horror
On September 11, 2001, I was leading a crew of Ratmo painters in the remodeling of the 6th floor of The Ridgeway Hotel, in Memphis Tn. It was Tuesday and we were in good shape, having until that Friday to finish the job. The powers that be were debating whether to remodel all six floors or tear it down and rebuild from scratch. I think it was heading up on breaktime when one of my guys told me to look at the TV because a plane had hit a building in New York City. I remember assuming that it was probably a small plane, likely tragic pilot error. How else could that happen? With televisions on in every room, we watched the drama unfold in real-time while we went about our work. We soon learned it was an airliner that hit the World Trade Center; The Twin Towers. How the fuck does that happen? Who makes a mistake like that? What a tragic accident! Then the second plane hit the second tower. This was no accident. We were watching a nightmare unfold. Soon the bosses came in ...