My mom was home when I got there that afternoon. Most of the next hour is a blur, but I do remember some things. When I got there, she was sitting in the big easy chair in front of the TV, wearing one of my dad's flannel shirts and chain smoking. Mom's always been a really artistic type and she dresses like it. Blink's mom is a country girl, and her city-shy ways have always amused me. My mom is a city girl and you can tell it. She's usually very composed and blasé, and tried hard not to get upset. She walks around the city like she owns it, and nothing can ever scare her. But today, she was curled up in the chair, smoking one cigarette after another and staring at the TV.
I looked at it and the first thing I saw was the Twin Towers – Dad's office, to me- crumbling as a plane hit the side.
"Mom?" I said, the question hanging in the air, unasked but unavoidable.
"Gone," she replied, sobbing, and in that moment, cliché as it sounds, my childhood ended.
See, I believe that every person has a moment, at some point in their lives, when they realize that they can no longer afford to be a child. Some people have this early on in life, and I think that's sad, cause then they never get a childhood. Some people have that moment in their teens or twenties, and that's pretty normal. Some people never have it and grow up to be the kind of person everyone hates. For most people, it's just a little moment of realization, quick and not too earth shattering. For me, something ended that day. Something died with my father, and I will never have that back.
In a daze, I walked to my room. I didn't know what else to do, so I sat down on the bed and began to cry. I don't know how long I was there, but after the second box of tissues it occurred to me to go to Blink's apartment. I didn't realize until later that his mom might also have died. His dad left them years ago, and hasn't spoken to Blink since, so that would pretty much have left Blink totally on his own.
Anyway, I couldn't very well stay in there after getting that kind of news, and Blink's place was my first thought. Like I said, I don't remember much, but I must have let my mom know I was leaving before I got into the elevator and pushed the button. In New York City, you just don't go wandering off. I showed up at Blink's front door a moment later.
"Blink, My dad…" was all I could get out.
Blink looked shocked, but stuttered, "Come on in," before shutting the door behind me.
The rest of the afternoon passed so slowly that I thought it would never end. Blink's mom took one look at me, gave me a huge hug and rushed upstairs to our apartment. She didn't return for hours. Blink microwaved a pizza that evening, but ended up eating most of it himself. I just wasn't hungry.
When we finally got tired, Blink's mom still hadn't returned. Nearly asleep on his feet, Blink handed me a blanket and turned out the light before going to bed and leaving me to cry myself to sleep on his couch. Or at least I thought he left.
When I awoke, he was sleeping in a chair across the room, still dressed.