I could feel the wind rush against my face as I was falling. There was nothing to see for miles in every direction including down. I could not understand how or why I was here. I could not understand why I was falling. I waited to see if I could remember anything from the last day but I realized I couldn't.




I could remember everything but the last day. The last I remember I was arguing with my wife in our apartment in New York. We are behind in our payments and heading towards becoming homeless. I thought we should stay there but she thinks we should move to Vermont to live with her family. After hours of shouting and arguing she went to the bedroom and locked the door, forcing me to sleep in the living room.




Before I go to bed I remember my life before this recession. I grew up in a small town in Montana called Bull's Ranch. Bull's Ranch was a nice small ranching town which had a schoolhouse, a country store, other small stores, a church, and a town hall. My parents ran the country store so we knew everyone in town. Ever since I was born my family and I had been going to church every Sunday. We were very religious, we prayed at every meal and before we went to bed.




I didn't have many friends because I was considered the town nerd, everyone always picked on me just because I was ten times smarter than all of them. I did have one friend though. His name was Theo and he was the town jock. He ran every morning three times around his family's ranch. He was the quarterback on the next town over's high school football team.



Theo and I would hang out together. I would help him in school and he would teach me how to play football. We became very close. In my senior year of high school I tried out for the football team and made second string quarterback. In Theo’s senior year of high school he tried out for the math team and made it. We were very popular. But times change and after high school Theo got a scholarship to University of Montana to play football and after graduating top in my class I got a scholarship to University of Vermont and took it. I decided to major in engineering and interned at a local IBM. One night I was downtown with my roommates partying like crazy at a club. This was the night that was going to change my life forever. That night I met Suzie my future wife. She and I dated all through college and eventually got married. Suzie worked at a Burlington restaurant called Jack’s Irish Pub. She eventually got laid off and wanted to move to New York City where she thought she could get paid more and be happier so I asked my boss at IBM if I could see if I could find work in New York and if I couldn’t still have my job at IBM he agreed so Suzie and I took a vacation to New York to apply for jobs while we were there we witnessed the events of 9/11 and we did anything we could do to help we both helped hand out food, water, and blankets. I eventually met Mr. Williamson, the man in charge and we had a dinner together at a nice restaurant. I told him what I did and why I was here and we talked about the losses. We returned home with apparently no luck and after a few more years in Burlington we got a call from Mr. Williamson and he wanted me to help design a new World Trade Center. So we moved to New York, found an apartment, found a job for Suzie at a fancy restaurant, and I got straight to work. It was very good pay and a nice staff but after nine years they realized that they didn’t need as many people so I was laid off and Suzie lost her job at the restaurant. A week later here I am falling. I fall for what seems like hours and then I start to see the ground, it’s covered in metal spikes everywhere I can see. I get closer. I think how much I miss Suzie. I get even closer. I don’t want this to happen. I get very close. I think how much I want to stop falling, and I stop in midair about ten feet away from the spikes. I collapse from the fear of death. When I awake I am in my apartment’s living room sprawled out on the couch. I look over at the kitchen and I see Suzie making scrambled eggs. She then says, “Ah, there you are sleepy head. When I got home from the restaurant I found you asleep on the couch. Must have been a technical problem at the New World Trade Center eh? Well, you better eat up and head off to work or else the boss will be mad.” And then I stood up and cried.