Henry Reagan

Henry sat back in his favorite chair as Sean set up the video equipment. "How's it been going?" he asked.

"Not bad," Sean replied. "I've been getting some interesting stories."

"Isn't that what the assignment is?"

Sean finished and looked up at his great-grandfather. "Yeah," the young man replied.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you winning that contest?"

Sean shrugged. "Once or twice," he replied. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Henry told him and Sean hit the record button.

"First tell me your name and what you do then start about where you were on September 11th 2001?"

"My name is Henry Reagan. I am retired from the police department and a former police commissioner. I'm afraid my story isn't as interesting as others might be," Henry began. "That summer Betty had been catching every cold that came along until in early September she got bronchitis. The Sunday before, she got really sick and, with Lynda's help, we finally talked her into going to the hospital where they told us she had pneumonia."

"Did you sit with her the whole week?"

"I came home for a change of clothes and to make her dinner," he answered. "That was on Monday. On Tuesday morning I had given her some breakfast and had just cleared the dishes away when I was looking out over Manhattan. The room she was in had a great view of the towers but that morning, I saw smoke coming from the North Tower so I turned on the TV to find out what was going on." He fell silent.

"What did you see on the TV?"

"They described the crash," Henry said. "They thought it was just some freak accident for awhile and then…" he trailed off.

"Then what?"

"Then the second plane hit the South Tower. Betty and I were horrified," Henry said. "They thought it might be a terrorist attack, but didn't want to say for sure until the news came through about the Pentagon." He took off his glasses. "I knew some people who worked in the Pentagon." He ran a hand through his hair and put his glasses back on. "They were grounding all air traffic but one plane…" He trailed off to shake his head. "One plane was still missing." He paused. "It wasn't until after the south tower came down that we heard about the crash of Flight 93."

"Did you try to call anyone?"

"The minute the second plane crashed, I called home," Henry replied. "Mary had been trying to get somebody at any precinct near the towers with no luck but Erin and the kids were safe and there." He stopped to look at Sean. "Your mom headed to St Benjamin's to see if they needed her help." He smiled. "Of course that was before she knew you were coming."

"Aunt Erin and Dad both said that mom was heading to an appointment," Sean interjected.

Henry looked thoughtful. "I don't know about that, but she was at the hospital almost all day and before she went to leave, she fainted. They did some tests and she was pregnant."

"With me," Sean said.

"With you," Henry replied. "That was the best thing that happened all week."

"Is there anything else?"

"Just that Mary and the girls took meals to the church all week," Henry said. "But they stopped by the hospital and brought us meals, too."

"That's cool," Sean said.

"Then your great-grandma died in December," Henry told him. "They let her out of the hospital, but she was in and out until she finally passed in December." He looked thoughtful. "I don't know if it was the smoke and crud in the air or just the stress of it all, but I do know that Betty was the only casualty of that day in this family."

Sean was silent. "I wish I could have known her," he said finally.

"I wish you could have, too," Henry replied.

Sean shut off the camera.