Cousin Brian
I want to preface this with an important fact about my dad's Cousin Brian (*name changed). Although the flair says "non-fiction," Brian was a storyteller who never let a little thing called the truth get in the way of a good story. So, please take that with a grain of salt.
Not everyone in the family was a fan of Brian's. He was loud and boisterous, larger than life in every sense of the word. Most importantly, he was a decidedly questionable influence on my brother and I. He was stubborn as sin, having once caused a ten year rift in the family while arguing about the Komodo dragon's tongue of all things. So, tales may have been told differently to different family members.
What is a known fact is that Brian was an employee of the Port Authority for many years. September 11th hit Brian very hard. He had been with the Port Authority so long he had honestly been with the World Trade Center since the beginning. Not only that, a new hire who'd been begging Brian for a job for months was onsite for his second day but never made it out. Brian never really talked about the World Trade Center the same after that day.
Brian passed away a couple of years ago. With today being what it is, I wanted to share a story he told me that would be a shame to be forgotten.
During the construction of the Twin Towers, Brian was a much younger man than when I knew him. He partied, drank, and chased all the ladies. He threw his fancy job title around like a pick-up line, because everyone knew about the Twin Towers being built.
One night, Brian and his good friend were out at a bar and met two girls. He bragged all about working for the Port Authority and how he could get the ladies up to the top. At this point, the Towers were nowhere near ready for visitors, but these two ladies called Brian's offer. I'm sure considering the progress they thought he was lying through his teeth.
Nope.
They went up in a construction elevator. Not anything like the safe, enclosed express elevators that would eventually be installed. This thing was basically a cage.
Up to the top of accessible space they went. The ladies were apparently quite impressed. A successful venture!
Until it came time to go down.
Between the speed of the elevator and the wind from the exposed sides, it felt like freefall. The ladies clung to Brian and his friend, screaming out. At first, it felt like a rollercoaster, a thrilling game..... until Brian and his friend realized they had to stop the elevator before arriving at a permanent stop. By that point, the shrieks of exhilaration turned to screams of terror.
They hit the emergency stop.
The elevator did not stop.
They hit it again and again, cursing and praying until, finally, the elevator came to a stop.
The four of them fell out of the elevator back to solid ground. There was much celebrating, hugging, and crying. At least until Brian asked if they'd like to go again. Needless to say, Brian got a hearty slap, and those ladies never dated with him again.
Years later, Brian told me he'd been a conspirator in Philippe Petit's famous tightrope walk. He claimed he'd been aware of the plot and conveniently neglected to inform management. By this point, I was starting to doubt him for all these tall tales of the WTC. They just seemed too ridiculous to ten year old me between the elevator incident and Petit.
He went down to his basement bar, took a framed photo off the wall, and brought it to me with an apology. "I allowed Philippe Petit to walk, but I didn't get a picture. I GOT a photo this time."
In the photo was a man decked out in parachuting gear tipping off the corner of one of the Towers. He'd helped smuggle friends to the top to base jump sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. Of course, to the public and his bosses, Brian knew nothing.
When people think of the Twin Towers, they think about 9/11. When I think of them, I often think of Brian's weird mythical tales of the WTC basically his playground and the strangely surreal events that happened there under Brian's watch.
I don't know how much truth there was to any of it, but the spirit of adventure and excitement Brian held for the Twin Towers kind of lightens the load on a day like this.