Free The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim Defede

bus.”
    There was an entire fleet of yellow school buses waiting for passengers. Once one was filled, the next one pulled up. It wasn’t until they were boarding the bus that Roxanne and Clark learned that the passengers from her flight were being evacuated to the Lions Club. Once everyone from her flight was aboard buses, the caravan moved out. Driving down the dark road from the airport into Gander, Roxanne stared out the window, trying to get her bearings. Along the main road through town, she spotted a number of familiar landmarks that made her feel welcome. McDonald’s. Kentucky Fried Chicken. And perhaps most reassuring of all, a giant Wal-Mart.
     
     
    T he Gander Lions Club has forty-seven members and a building it shares with the local senior citizens’ group. It has its own bar for special events and a complete kitchen with a double-size commercial stove, large griddle, and twin ovens.
    Pulling up to the Lions Club, the buses were greeted by a dozen people all waving and smiling and calling out, “How she goin’, buddy?” Roxanne and Clark soon learned that when Newfies don’t know a person’s name, they just call that person “buddy.”
    Inside the Lions Club, most passengers spilled into the hall’s main room. Bruce MacLeod intercepted Roxanne and Clark as they walked in. A tall gregarious fellow with graying hair and a broad smile, MacLeod was the vice-president of the club. At 8 A.M. he had finished his shift monitoring radar at the air-traffic control center and was getting ready to go to sleep when he learned about the attack in the United States and the diverted flights. He called in to the ATC to see if he was needed, but they already had enough volunteers. Instead, along with most of the other members of the club, he worked all afternoon readying the place for passengers.
    “We need to put you in a separate room since you have a child,” MacLeod told Roxanne and Clark. He showed them to smaller room where a half-dozen families with children would stay. Beth and Billy Wakefield—the other couple who’d adopted a baby in Kazakhstan—were already inside with Diana. There were air mattresses and sleeping bags piled high in the room, and before long nearly every inch of the floor would be covered by them.
    Roxanne and Clark lay down on one mattress, with Alexandria between them. The child fell asleep almost immediately. While Clark stayed on the air mattress with Alexandria, Roxanne decided to clean up and explore the Lions Club. In the bathroom she found a bucket filled with packages of new toothbrushes. In another bucket, she found every imaginable brand of toothpaste. Also inside the bathroom was a mountain of neatly folded towels. There were hand towels and bath towels in a variety of colors and patterns, which made Roxanne realize every member of the club must have emptied his home closet to meet the need.
    After washing up, she walked into the hall’s main room, which was surprisingly quiet, except for the sound coming from the television. The TV set was to Roxanne’s immediate right, mounted on the wall, and pointing away from her, so she couldn’t tell what was on the screen. But she could see the faces of the people watching it. Their expressions made her stop. Mouths slightly agape. Eyes wide. And although nobody was crying outright, a few seemed teary. The stillness chilled her. No one talked. No one whispered. And no one looked away. Some people had their arms folded, like they were trying to hold themselves for comfort. Others held their heads in their hands.
    Instantly Roxanne realized the scenes from New York were worse than she imagined. Perhaps even worse than she was capable of imagining. She thought about turning around and walking out of the room. Did she really need to see this tonight? Besides, maybe people were reacting as they were because they were tired. Maybe the images wouldn’t seem so bad after a good night’s rest. But how could she possibly sleep now? She