Rock Her(15)

They rose past larger buildings and Annie could spy into windows if she looked quickly enough. She could get quick glimpses of people living out their lives over the greatest city on the world. She was amused at how normal it all looked in the inside when outside was absolute chaos. She turned back and gave a quick smile at Kip, who was watching her rather than the world outside the helicopter.

“This is amazing!” she said, still too loudly into her mic.

Kip nodded. “Isn’t it though?” He reached across and put his hand over hers while it rested on her knee, just below the hem of her skirt. She put her other hand atop his, then turned her gaze back out of the window.

They were now high above the highest buildings, and the view of the entire city was before her. At least as far as she could see in the light rain that still fell in scattered areas across the horizon. The sun was setting and the sky was turning a light pink to the west. The entire Manhattan skyline was looming before her under that glowing sky. The buildings were almost a perfect backdrop to the amazing view.

Kip pointed out of the window. “That is where the World Trade Centers used to stand,” He said.

Annie had seen the view in pictures taken before the terror attacks a million times before, so it was still hard for her to accept that something as stalwart and permanent as those two towers could just not be there. But the lights were lit around ground zero, giving her the apparition of the towers that she had seen before from the ground, but never from the air. She was haunted by the surreal image of ghost buildings in the middle of Manhattan.

Kip could see the look on her face when she scanned the missing towers. He knew the look and the feeling she was experiencing because he had had the same emotion when he first saw it from the air. He squeezed her hand and gave her another tight lipped smile.

Just as he did the helicopter twisted and banked and the captain’s voice broke in over the Sennheiser’s. “I think you’ll like this,” the voice said, and Annie saw the pilot turn his head around ahead of them and smile at them both from behind his microphone. “Port side view,” he added.

Kip and Annie both shifted in their seats and looked out of the opposite window. They were approaching the stature of liberty. The patina of the resolute lady was darker than the flame and so was half obscured by the weather, but the flame was outstandingly brilliant, lit by the hundreds of lights that flanked it. The gleaming twenty four karat gold looked as if it was really burning, guiding ships into the bay of Manhattan. Annie had only seen her from Manhattan. She’d never even made the trip to Ellis Island, although it was on her list of things to do. Now here she was looping around eyeball to eyeball with the great lady.

“I’ve never, I mean, I’ve never been so close…” Annie started to say.

“I know,” Kip smiled. “It really takes your breath away. I remember the first time I saw it like this. It…”

“When was that?” Annie interrupted.

“Oh, I guess I was what, nine I think.” Kip answered. “I fell in love with this country at that moment. There are a lot of great places on earth, and I have seen most of them in person. But nothing like this. Only in America can we build cities like this.”

Annie smiled at him, shrugged. “Mexico city is bigger,” she said.

“Yeah, but not as grand,” Kip replied quickly. “Nobody can build like we do, because we have it all here. We’re a melting pot. The best craftsman, engineers and thinkers from all over the world are here in America. And why? Because they want to come here. Because they think this is the best place on earth. And they are right.”

Kip looked out across the water again toward the ghost buildings of light shining straight up from ground zero. “And I hate to see it threatened, or under attack from within.”

“So, is that why you became a Marine?” Annie asked him.

“Damn right. Two days after the attacks on September eleven, I went down and enlisted.”

Annie examined Kips face, looking for bullshit. But there was none. Kip was a genuine as they come, she could see that in him.

“Kip, were you wealthy before that? Before you enlisted?” She asked.

Kip shrugged. “My father was.” He looked down at his feet on the carpeted floor boards. Annie could tell this was a topic best left for later, but a topic to be explored just the same. There was clearly an issue between Kip and his father. And it would have to be an important part of the book. Annie was now in work mode, despite the amazing view and the great time she was having with this remarkable man. She could not help it. It’s just how she was. She decided to try another approach.