THE BURNING MAN

10 Houses lined in a straight pattern with each house surrounded by a beautiful garden. Each house was similar in making, but Daniel’s house was much bigger.

 The front yard was extensive .Daniel father always mowed the lawn every Saturday morning. The children living in the neighborhood were usually found playing there. It was such a happy neighborhood. 

It was quite peaceful with my father and Daniel’s father as the neighborhood watch. Everything was serene during the weekend, the friendly games. The parties hosted with each family in turns.

It was such a perfect neighborhood. 

The children went to nearby district school. Life was fun and everything went by lovingly. It was thanksgiving again . It was Daniels family’s turn to host the thanksgiving for the neighborhood. There was so much preparation. 

The neighborhood was colorfully decorated. Daniels mum, Mrs. Clara bought the turkeys, the groceries. My father helped in wine shopping.

The neighborhood was quite expectant on Daniels mum surprise for this season. She was always up to something. She hosted the Halloween last year and it was spectacular.

The house wives in the neighborhood were to help in preparation of the thanksgiving turkey. Joy was in the air. Gratitude is the word for this season the priest in our local church reiterated.
We were so grateful that we could touch the heavens.

 On 23rd march 2001, a day before thanksgiving a plane headed from New York to Santo Domingo crashed into our neighborhood. It was disastrous!!! Our neighborhood was ablaze, the fire won't just stop.  The fire men came, they were trying to put off the fire. But it seemed to burn more angrily. 


Over 10,000 gallons of rocket fuel. Are we going to survive this? 

In that fire we lost Daniels mum and my father. My mum collapsed due to shock. She was rushed to the hospital. She didn’t even make it to the intensive care unit.

Gary (a loner in the neighborhood) had lost his leg in the fire but has refused to go to the hospital. He insisted on answers why his neighborhood was ablaze. An American flight 587,  three and a half hour flight  ended only two and a half minute  with a total of 236 airline passengers and  20 residents of the Queen Beilers neighborhood burnt in the rocket fuel.

How can we be so happy and all of a sudden, we are now in misery. Cries and wails filled the air. People swore and minds were shattered. I lost my faith in God, what was there to believe in anymore. Life is every man for himself.

My name is Sam cooker; I lost my mum and dad in the crash that destroyed my neighborhood. My life changed forever from that day hence forth. I lost my house, my parents and my joyful neighborhood.

Well, Daniel lost his mum.  Miss Wellington is dead too- we couldn’t find her, she has been severely burnt, Brian the neighborhood geek is dead too, Clara my first love dead, burnt beyond recognition. 

Even the wedding planner with the lovely smile that lives at the end of street is dead too and many others.
A neighborhood of 10 families and 30 person. There are only 10 survivors.

Well I didn’t see us as survivors, why didn’t we all died in that blazing rocket fuel fire. Most of the people that didn’t die immediately, Died of shock of how their joy was cut so abruptly by the cold hand of death.

I don’t have any reasons to live. As I stood there looking at the firemen as they dragged my dad’s burnt pieces out of the house, tears flowed freely. We were supposed to go fishing next summer. 

What is left for someone like me in this world? I will rather die with my parents than live in this world alone, and probably end up in a foster home. As I ran towards the fire, images of my mum flashing through my mind, my dad shouting for help. A strong hand held me back.

I struggled to free myself, wailing! What other misery could be more than this. No parents, no relatives, no friends. Slowly my disgust of life was distant. I turned to see who was holding me. It was Daniels father.

I won’t let you go unless you promise me you will stay alive. I can’t promise you that. I replied, why should I live?  I asked him
He was speechless, at that moment he knew. A 10 year old boy, who lost his parent in fire and his house, has nothing to live for. He broke down in tears. i have never seen a grown man cry so much, suddenly I felt his pain was more than mine. I felt that he was suffering  more than me, that I could console him. In that instant I asked him. Where is Daniel?

He weeped more profusely, what!  I can’t hear you, is he with the paramedics or at the hospital?i asked. 

He screamed on top of his voice, his voice pierced my ears, I could feel arteries has erupted in my ear drums. 

What, David was dead too?

I didn’t tell you about David . He was my best friend, we were born on the same day,same month, same year. We went to the same school, we were in same class, we like the same flakes (rice flakes with chocolate), we both liked the same girl(Janet) . I saw her first was what I argued  with Daniel often.

Now I lost my parents, my house, my best friend and my first love. 

I bent down looked at Daniels dad and whispered, I rather die!

He grabbed my hand tightly, I could see for a second he approved my decision. We both lost everything. 

we both held hands walking towards that blazing rocket fuel. 

But at that moment we found each other.  As we sought death, the overwhelming urge to live on held us back. Whats the saying, in the face of death, a man seeks to live. How we lived from that day onward was a miracle. 

I am an aerodynamics engineer at Vanquo Airline Los Angeles, its thanksgiving again and I am going home to celebrate my friends, family, loved ones and neighbors who died in the 23rd march 2001 fire. 

We celebrate at Mercy nursing home. Daniels dad, my dad is there. The fire didn’t kill him, but cancer found him. He is a fighter.

For 15 years Daniels dad took me as his own son, he became my father since then, we have charged through life, daring death to take us if he dares. But we are grateful, we are survivors.

On a recent visit to Queen Beilers neighborhood, the place was quiet just like that night before thanksgiving, the air dense filled with a stench of ash. A lone man in sweat suit was jogging in the dark.

A statue was erupted of the man burning in blazing glory. The names of the 20 neighbors listed underneath. As a plane veered off in the direction  of the neighborhood it was a reminder of what happened on that night before thanksgiving. 

Mr. Gary never left the neighborhood after the mayor rebuilt the houses.

(written in remembrance of the victims of flight 587 the second deadliest plane in America history which took place 2 months after the 9/11 crash)