The 911 Dogs by Isabel George

Author:Isabel George
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Comfort for the Dying

9.30a.m.:With thirty floors still to negotiate before they reached ground level, Salty’s reluctance to leave Omar’s side became an inspiration to Donna and the other hopefuls on the stairs. Omar cuddled his dog in his arms: ‘I stroked Salty and told him how happy I was that he was my dog. I felt Donna kneel down and spread her arms around him and I imagined his big golden head resting on her shoulder. He was always my hero, but now he was everyone’s hero, and I felt honoured to know this beautiful dog. I told him: “Salty, your calmness and reassurance is everything we need to help us the rest of the way. I know you will be the reason why we have every chance of survival.”’

With Salty leading the group, ahead of Omar and Donna, there was calmness in the ranks. But three flights down a bottleneck of people was beginning to form as fire fighters carrying emergency packs and breathing equipment were heading up to check for survivors on higher floors. Those who were determined to get out of the Tower quickly met the dying and the injured waiting for assistance on the stairs.

Salty made his way to the worst of the casualties and wandered between them, meeting their outstretched hands. Touching his head and body, the people smiled, spoke to him and reached for him, gaining some comfort before he moved on, making a pathway for Omar and guiding him safely through. The dim, intermittent lighting was not a problem for Salty or Omar, but others found it difficult to focus and negotiate the stairs. Letting Salty lead the way speeded up the descent, and within an hour and fifteen minutes Omar and his colleagues had made it down from the 71st floor, only to find the lobby awash with water from the sprinklers and littered with survivors unsure of where to go next. Fire fighters directed Omar and the rest of his group towards the street, where the confusion spread.

Hitting the street, Salty was back on familiar territory. With Omar safely at his side, Salty set a pace to get them to safety. The snowstorm of debris from the fall of the South Tower persisted between the buildings, enveloping the scene indiscriminately, spitting grey ash. Running along the sidewalks they met people scarred by the fire and the falling debris that had caught in their clothes and hair. Aviation fuel that had escaped from the planes as they crashed into the Twin Towers had dripped onto everything in its path, or raced in sheets of flame, causing horrific injuries to anyone it met. Some people were running, but others were too dazed to run anywhere.

Even twenty blocks away from Ground Zero, the dust crept over and into everything. The fallout from the collapse of the South Tower almost submerged man and dog. Like two ghostly apparitions, they ran on in search of safety and a pathway home.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.