"To See Your Face Again"

Doris Schwartz stands rooted to the spot in the lobby at the School of the Arts. She could feel her heart pounding and thought it was about to burst out of her chest. Mrs Berg seemed to be approaching in slow motion.

Doris heard Mr Shorofsky's voice call out as he passed by her:

"Hello Mrs Berg, how are you today?"

Mrs Berg turns her head to look at Mr Shorofsky and in that moment Doris felt like the spell was broken and she was able to move again. She rushes towards the exit too afraid to look back.

Mrs Berg turns back just in time to see Doris go down the steps towards the exit.

Mr Shorofsky looks at Mrs Berg and is concerned:

"Are you okay Mrs Berg, you look like you've seen a ghost?"

Mrs Berg shakes her head:

"No Mr Shorofsky, I’m not okay, something is very very wrong".

Without any further explanation Mrs Berg walks away leaving Mr Shorofsky confused, but that was nothing new with Mrs is Berg so he shrugs it off and continues to his classroom.

Doris steps through the big entrance doors onto the Street and at first is totally confused at what she sees. Music is pounding out and lots of the kids are dancing. She sees Holly and Chris and Cleo and realises it's no longer 1982. Some how just passing through a door she seemed to have moved forward in time by a couple of years, but how was that possible?

As Doris is trying to get her bearings she is knocked off balance by Cleo crashing into her. Cleo blushes and apologises:

"Oh I'm really sorry I didn't see you there"

Doris feeling uneasy and disorientated after the events with Mrs Berg and the sudden change in her circumstances so is feeling less than cordial and snaps at Cleo.

Doris: "Maybe you should pay attention and look where you are going!”

Cleo is taken a back by the sharp tone to Doris’ voice and the look of anger on Doris’ face.

Doris continues: “You really should be more careful Cleo; next time it could be a teacher you

go crashing into, knocking them to the floor and putting them in traction,

which could have all kinds on consequences for all of us!”

Cleo has no idea what she has done to deserve this outburst and is confused how this stranger knows her name. However, she isn’t about to ask any questions for fear of making things worse, so she apologises again and rushes off to join the rest of the kids dancing to “Hot Times In The City Streets”.

Doris looks back at the school entrance and much to her relief there is no sign of Mrs Berg. Doris wonders how the older woman recognised her so quickly and easily. She remembers that Mrs Berg once told her she was a medium and wonders if that can have anything to do with it.

As the kids move off in different directions and disperse into the city, things become a little quieter outside the school and Doris decides it’s time to leave and get as far away from the School as possible. She turns to walk along the sidewalk feeling the heat from the sun as she goes. She remembers how all the kids end up in the fountain to cool off after their dance around the city and smiles to herself, thinking how nice it would be right now to be able to cool off too.

As Doris walks she looks out at the buildings on the skyline. Suddenly Doris goes icy cold and goose bumps break out all over her body. For a moment she feels like she will be physically sick and then she starts to sob uncontrollably. Passers by look at her as they go wondering why this woman is acting so strangely but no one stops or speaks to her, they just continue on their way.

Doris takes out a tissue, wipes away some of her tears and blows her nose. She takes a deep breath to try to regain control of her emotions. However, her eyes can’t help looking, through her tears, into the distance at the blurred image of the two huge twin towers of the World Trade Center that dominate the city landscape.

Back in 1984 she wouldn’t have rarely given them a second look, they were just part of the city landscape and no one really paid too much attention to them but today after all those years of them not being there, they stood out like a sore thumb.

Doris recalls the tragic events of September 11^th 2001 that shocked the World and the terrible loss of life that occurred that day. The world hadn’t been the same since but for Doris the events took on an even more personal involvement.

Doris recalls that day had started like most others. She’d had yet another row with her husband and was running late to take her daughter, Jenny, to an appointment. Just as they were about to leave the apartment, the phone rang. There was no time to answer so Doris let it ring so the answer machine could pick up any messages. A few seconds later her cell phone started to ring, she pulled it out of her pocket and looking at the screen she saw it was her Mother calling.

Her Mother had been away for a week visiting family in Boston and was scheduled to travel from Boston to Los Angeles to spend a few days with Doris’ brother Marty. Before she’d left for the trip Doris and her Mother had a row. They fought all the time but this was different. Angela Schwartz had finally had enough of how Stephen, Doris’ husband, was treating her daughter. Doris had never admitted it but Angela suspected that he’d been hitting Doris and wanted her to leave him and move back with the children to the family home. Doris had not wanted to discuss the situation and had told herMother to keep her nose out of her business. They had parted on bad terms and Doris had no time now to recommence the argument so she rejected the call.

Doris had planned to call her Mother back later when she had more time but as the tragic events unfolded that day Doris’ mind was elsewhere. Watching the news, worrying about friends and family who may have been in the area of the Twin Towers, trying to contact people to check if they were okay and just trying to digest how something so terrible, like this could happen in America.

Knowing her Mother wasn’t in New York at the time Doris didn’t even think she needed to be concerned about her. Later that day she noticed she had a voice mail on her cell phone and sitting down with a cup of coffee she played the message. Her Mother’s voice was shaking with fear and emotion as she spoke and Doris had never heard her like this before and she could tell her Mother was crying:

Angela: "My dearest Doris’ something terrible is happening…. and I’ve never been so scared

in my life… Some men have taken over the plane and … well, I don’t know what is

going to happen but it looks really bad, baby. I’m not sure how long my phone will

last… but, I wanted to tell you I’m so very sorry about the argument, I shouldn’t try

and interfere in your life, you’d think I’d have learnt that by now…. I’m so proud of

you Doris and always have been. You, your Father and your brother and my

grandchildren are my whole life and I just want you all to be happy. I’m praying right

now that we get out of this alive and I get a chance to hold you all once again… I

want you to know how very much I …….."

At that moment there had been screams and the line cut off and there was no more, just deadly silence. Shocked and crying Doris had frantically replayed the message over and over again, each time hoping there would be something more but of course there wasn’t and it always ended in exactly the same way.

Doris had never forgiven herself for not answering the phone that morning. Thinking about things now those same feelings of guilt boiled up inside of her. She regretted that she’d not taken the opportunity to speak to her Mother one last time, to say she loved her and to say goodbye…

Tears roll down Doris’ face as she continues watching the towers, oblivious to the passers by and how long she had been standing there. She closes her eyes tightly hoping the thoughts and the guilt would disappear. Just like she'd done so many times before where she'd always hoped that when she opened her eyes she's wake up and it find it had all been a terrible nightmare and her Mother would be there, happy and laughing, to make everything seem okay again.

Doris had never really come to terms with her Mother's death and knew she would carry the pain, the guilt and the feelings of emptiness with her for the rest of her life.

In the couple of years after her Mother’s death, Doris had fallen into a deep depression. Her marriage had ended and Doris had had a breakdown, spending a short time in a hospital. It had taken her a long time to finally get the will back to carry on and move forward with her own life again. For the most part she tried to keep her feelings about her Mother and the events of September 11^th locked inside but there were times like today when that was impossible and they came spilling out all over again. The emotions felt as raw 9 years later as they did at the time.

Still with her eyes shut and standing in the middle of the sidewalk Doris suddenly felt something cold on the bare skin on her arm. Opening her eyes she sees that the sky had turned dark and the sun that had been beating down so hard on the city streets, what felt like just a short time before, had completely disappeared. Instead, all around her were deep piles of snow and more snow was falling from the sky. Doris shivers as she really isn't dressed for the winter weather. She turns, looks around and sees the street is virtually empty apart from 2 solitary figures back near the School entrance.

Doris hears their voices and recognises one as Leroy. The other person has her back to Doris so she can’t quite make out who it is until she hears her speak:

Leroy: “Hi, Miss Schwartz”

Angela: “Hey Leroy why don’t you have on a muffler or hat?”

Leroy shrugs and turns to go.

Angela: “Oh Leroy!”

Doris watches in disbelief, shivering she feels even colder but it has nothing to do with the weather. Suddenly she realises her wish has come true and after all these years her Mother is standing just a few metres away from her, alive and well. As Angela goes through the school doors, Doris urgently calls out after her:

“Mom!”

To be Continued....