Immunity

Hi Mommy,

After 9/11, we got a lot of attention. A lot of kids lost parents, and even more lost relatives or knew someone who'd died. But not that many kids had more than one relative die, or were left parentless. There were reporters at school every day. I don't know how it got out that we were parentless. But it did, and it only took until the 13th for them to figure out there were no grownups at home and to get Nana to come.

Don't worry retroactively (SAT word, impressive, right?), okay? I did a really good job by myself. When Nana came she asked if I wanted to talk to reporters and be in the newspapers and on tv, but I didn't. She couldn't stop them. Reporters waited for me after school and would walk home with me, talking about you, asking me questions they didn't really want honest answers to. I said nothing. I kept my headphones on and refused to meet their eyes and just walked. Ma, reporters are relentless. Even when I took Dani and Alex out for ices or to the park, they would try to talk with us.

I couldn't take it after a while. At the end of the week, after this one woman had been standing so close that I could have stuck my tongue out and touched her with it, when she asked what I wanted if I could have anything, I answered her. She expected me to say "I want my family back" or "I want everything to go back to how it was on September 10th." No.

"I want Chelsea Clinton style immunity." When the Clintons moved into the White House they asked the press to not write about Chelsea, and they almost never did. That's what I wanted.

I looked straight into the camera and kept going. "I want to be able to take my sisters out to the playground, to go to school, my friends houses, everything. Without you talking to me. I want Chelsea immunity." It worked Ma. The cameraman took his camera off his shoulder and started crying in that man-way where they try to pretend they're not. The reporter got angry and told him to keep filming. They argued about it and I waited. I wanted to see what they'd decide. If it worked, I planned to use the same line on all the other reporters.

The reporter walked away without saying goodbye, without giving me her card and telling me to call if I felt like talking, like all the others had. The cameraman started to follow her. Then he turned back to me and said he was very sorry and would put the word out. I didn't know what he meant so I just said thank you. There must be some cameraman network because it all stopped.

Not the out-of-state people, but the local reporters? They backed off. It was amazing. I wish I'd known that camera guy's name so I could thank him now. At the time, I didn't realize he'd been behind it, but it's so clear he was.

Going to sleep,
Sam