Free United We Stand by Eric Walters Page B

storage room. Blaring out I could hear more reporting from a CNN announcer. James stopped walking and listened. I couldn’t make out all the words, but I knew what he’d be talking about. There was no escaping it.
    He turned to me. “How much money do you have on you?”
    “I don’t know. Thirty, maybe forty bucks.”
    “Can I have it?”
    “Sure, of course you can … Why do you want the money?” I suddenly had thoughts of him taking off, running away.
    “I know where I have to go.”
    “Where?”
    “You won’t understand.”
    “Where do you need to go?” I asked again.
    He shook his head.
    “I can go with you.”
    Again he shook his head.
    “Look, I need you to tell me.”
    “Are you going to give me the money or not?” he asked.
    I pulled out my wallet, and without even counting, took out what I had and handed it to him. It looked like about forty bucks.
    “I’m going down to the city.”
    “To New York?” I exclaimed.
    “Not just to New York. I’m going to Ground Zero.”
    “You can’t do that!”
    “I have to.”
    “Your mother won’t let you,” I said.
    “I’m not going to tell her.”
    “But the city is practically closed down. Trains and subways are hardly running and—”
    “I’ll walk if I have to.”
    “James, even if you did get down to Manhattan, the whole area around Ground Zero is barricaded and restricted. They won’t let you get near it.” That was part of what I’d heard on the news.
    “I’ll worry about that when I get there. I have to try.”
    He suddenly started crying. I wrapped my arms around him, and he sobbed into my chest.
    “I have to go … I have to go to where my father is … I have to.”
    “I know,” I said. “I understand. But I can’t let you go—”
    He struggled free of my grip. “You can’t stop me!” he said, a burst of anger driving away the tears.
    “I’m not going to stop you,” I said. “I was going to say I can’t let you go
alone
. I’m going with you.”

CHAPTER
SEVEN
    “Yeah, I thought I should just check in,” I said into my phone as I walked along the platform of the station.
    “You know how much I appreciate that,” my mother answered.
    “No problem. We just got a coffee, and we’re walking and talking.”
    “James probably has a lot of things he wants to talk about,” she said.
    “For sure. I think we’re just going to walk around, maybe go to somebody’s house. I’ll check in when I can. But if it’s a bad time—you know, if James is talking to me about something—then I might notbe able to call right then, or pick up if you call me.” I was giving myself a little wiggle room in case I couldn’t call because of where we were or what we were doing.
    “You know you can never call too often,” she said.
    “I know, I know, and you’ll hear from me.”
    “Thanks. That’s so important. Especially now.”
    “Sure. Of course. How’s Dad doing?”
    “He seems a little sad, but he’s—”
    “I meant about finding people. Has he found more people from his office?”
    “A few more. That helps a lot.”
    “And did they find an office?”
    “Yes. Suzie’s going out this afternoon to sign the lease. Your father would have gone with her, but he’s waiting for the CNN reporters … Oh, you don’t know about that, do you?”
    “No.”
    “Suzie thought that if your father went on CNN, then he could ask the people they haven’t been able to find to contact him. So she called CNN, and they wanted to talk to him anyway, so they’re sending out a team. They said that they’d really like you to be part of that interview, too.”
    “I think I’ll pass.” Actually, I was more than fine with not being a part of that. “I don’t know when I’ll be home … you know … because of James. But even if I was there I don’t really want to be interviewed.”
    “Your father really doesn’t want to either, but Suzie’s idea makes sense, and—”
    “I have to go.” I could now see the blazing white