Towers Falling

Ben finds Dèja at her locker, having told Mr. Schmidt he’d find her. The bell rings, and they go out for recess. They sit on a table outside even though they’re not supposed to. Ben describes how Arizona had trees everywhere. They see Sabeen across the playground, and Ben waves, as she goes to help the younger students make sandcastles in the sandbox.

Dèja tells Ben she must go see where the towers were. Ben says that there’s nothing to see, but Dèja responds that the new building, the Freedom Tower, is there. She decides to skip school the next day. Ben says he’ll come with her, and they’ll take the subway. He has money his dad sent because he didn’t come to New York for Ben’s birthday. Ben tells Dèja that his dad might remarry, and Dèja comforts him.

They agree to meet at nine o’ clock and go play for the rest of recess. Dèja thinks, “All I know is, I’m more grown than my parents and teachers think I am” (168). She wants to know about 9/11 so that she can help her siblings and Pop.

The next morning, Dèja tells her parents that she’s “off to school” and doesn’t feel like she’s lying because she walks across the school steps on her way to the subway (169).

It’s October and chilly, but Dèja doesn’t have a coat. Her mom hasn’t gone to Goodwill to get her one because Pop is worse. She told Dèja that Pop is depressed. He seemed better after talking to Miss Garcia but then got worse again. Dèja realizes that Pop always feels worst in September, and she just never made the connection between his depression and the anniversary of the attacks.

She considers not going through with her plans since she likes her school and things could be worse. She sees a mourning dove and remembers Ma telling her, “Doves fly, straight and powerful” (172). Dèja decides to go to the Freedom Tower because right now, “Ma and Pop are stuck. Maybe seeing where the towers stood, I might help Pop, Ma, all of us, get unstuck? Get out of Avalon and move on to a better life” (173). Dèja spots Ben and wonders if he has his own reasons for going with her. 

Ben hands Dèja an extra set of cloves. They ride the train, and no one notices them. Dèja starts to feel nervous again.

She distracts herself by asking Ben about coming to New York. He says that he hated the plane ride and that this is his first time on the subway. After finding them seats, he pulls out a map and explains that they can get anywhere from the subway. In Arizona, he says, you had to have a car. Dèja asks about his horse.

The horse is named Blaze, but Ben didn’t ride him much. He and his mom moved into an apartment, and he thought eventually they’d move back home, but they came to New York instead. He knows New York is better and doesn’t think he’ll go back to visit Arizona until he’s older. Dèja is surprised that he wouldn’t go back to visit, but Ben says that his dad hardly gives him any attention and that his mom explained that “some people try to forget the past” before hinting that his dad may have been in Afghanistan as a soldier (178). Ben isn’t sure his dad will ever change and want to remember that he has a son.

Ben is excited that he can ride the subway in New York. He says that New York City is the greatest city in the world. He points out that this is part of why the terrorists attacked it.

Dèja looks around at the other passengers. Ben sketches out an image of the people he sees, then adds “Americans” below.

She then asks Ben why it was the World Trade Center that was bombed, and Ben explains that it represented capitalism and American wealth. He keeps drawing, and Dèja knows he sees everyone as equal. She says, “Money might be part of the American Dream, but it isn’t all of it. Like a building doesn’t make a home” (185). Even though she is poor, she is an American, and so are her mother, who came from Jamaica, and Sabeen’s family.

She remembers the white men on the cover of their history book as they sign the Declaration of Independence and points out how different America is from how it was when they signed it. Ben sketches a cloud above his drawing of the people on the subway and draws his grandmother, a Mexican immigrant who passed away, and Benjamin Franklin. They arrive at their stop, and Dèja and Ben both admit to being scared.

Dèja and Ben exit the subway station, and they find the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Dèja is surprised to see so many people there.

They find the edge of the dark square hole that makes up the memorial where they watch water fall further and further down. Dèja notices that there are two holes, saying, “Footprints. These are the tower footprints. I mean, what’s left. The foundations” (192). She imagines the buildings rising into the sky and sees others looking up and then down into the darkness of the footprints.

The man next to them is crying, and Dèja thinks, “These are graves, too. Holes where the towers collapsed, where people died” (192). She wonders if bones and pieces of the buildings are still buried there.

Ben reads the brochure, and he explains that the void is meant to represent nothingness. This part of the memorial is called “Reflecting Absence.” Ben draws the water into his picture of the memorial, and Dèja thinks about what the water symbolizes. Nothing can live without water. Ben adds that it makes him think of tears. The man next to them, who has stopped crying, comments that it “[f]eels better after you cry,” like it’s healing (194). He then asks for Ben’s drawing and explains that his daughter died in the attacks. He points to her name. Dèja hadn’t noticed the thousands of names engraved around the waterfalls. Then, the man shows them a picture of his daughter, and Ben gives him his drawing.

They move to the footprint for the South Tower and notice white roses sticking out near some of the names. A policeman tells them that the roses are for those who would’ve had their birthday today. Ben pulls Dèja back to the North Tower footprint and reminds her that they could be in trouble since they’re supposed to be in school. The police officer is still watching them. Eventually, he catches up and asks if they’re with an adult. They say that they’re going to the museum, but he responds that they should have a parent or teacher with them.

They run, and as they do, Dèja realizes that Ben is her best friend. She also thinks that she still doesn’t understand Pop.