DAY THIRTY THREE:Oct. 13:
There was more anthrax news today. As I write those words and think of the implication it seems as bizarre as a moment in Maputo some 20 years ago. It was a couple of years after Frelimo took power in Mozambique, and the country was heading into fiscal disaster. I sat in a café, sipping beer with new friends when the waiter called out, "This is the very last Coca-Cola in all of Mozambique." And it was. Back then the thought of witnessing a nation run out of Coke was as jarring as is the notion of writing, "more anthrax news today."
After writing the aforesaid "anthrax news" I attended a Japanese morning tea ceremony in Seattle. My friend, Amy, has studied the art of serving tea for more than two decades, and she hosted this ceremony in a traditional tea house. I told myself, "This is your last day away from Ground Zero, you must savor every minute, clear your mind and brace for tomorrowÕs return." I tried to concentrate on AmyÕs elegant movements, on the stillness, the proprieties, the smells, each absorbed in quiet, slow bites. But New York would not leave my mind. Nor would anthrax. Or deadlines.
Over dinner with dear friends tonight I heard myself laughing and felt tears running down my face. "Thank you," I said. "This is the first time I have really laughed since September 11." It felt fabulous. My body savored it, I laughed too hard at now forgotten jokes an it was grand.
I saw Tino Martinez hit a home run in the playoffs against the Oakland As and it, too, felt grand. As sick as the nation is of Yankee victories, surely the populace would not begrudge New York another sweet pennant in this, her very dark Autumn season. After all, in just four weeks time Gotham has been hit by two jet airplanes causing the collapse of five buildings, by two anthrax attacks, by the loss of thousands of human lives, by the additional losses of jobs and employers.
This afternoon I watched as Amy hugged her youngest son, Noam, and realized with a start that just four weeks ago they were with us in Brooklyn, celebrating my birthday. It seemed so long ago, as if in another lifetime.
Time.
Be well. Be safe. Stand defiant.
Laurie Garrett
