My day started out normal like any other. I went down to Robyn and Brooke’s lockers to talk, and then all three of us went into Mr. Walker’s class.

After I had settled in, I glanced at the journal topic on the board. It was one I didn’t understand so I dismissed it and decided to wait for Mr. Walker to explain.

The bell rang, but Mr. Walker hadn’t come in, and he had taken his chair away from the door. That was sort of odd, but I dismissed it also and talked to Brooke and Robyn.

Two or three minutes had passed, and still no teacher. I looked out the window and saw the sky was gray but no rain was predicted. Another dreary day.

Finally, Mr. Walker came in. Channel One had just turned off, so the class got silent, waiting to hear about the journal topic. Instead, he said:

“I just received word from the office that the radio has announced that Saddam Hussein has launched seven nuclear war heads at the U.S. He targeted many of the major cities, and one of them is Nashville. It is going to get Columbia also.”

I began to panic. At first I had taken it as a joke, but his face remained steady, and he was not smiling. He was serious.

“All counter attacks have failed. There’s no way we can stop them. They’re going to hit in midday, but I don’t want you all to panic. Just collect your thoughts and write them out in your journal.

My heart was pounding. I had never been so scared in my life. Collect my thoughts? Ha! Very funny, Mr. Walker. My mind was racing and I could barely make sense out of it myself.

Who would I spend my last moments with? And I needed to call and say goodbye to everyone in Michigan…but what if they were trying to call me at the same time and we never got through to each other? I would need to talk to Tim, but his phone would be busy because he’d be calling his family. I probably wouldn’t get to call anyone because they’d all be busy calling other people, and maybe not even my mom! I would die and no one would know I was thinking about them!

I couldn’t understand why there were keeping us at school…that stupid Dr. Rose. We needed to be home, with our families; none of us wanted to die at school. And how could Mr. Walker act so calm up there, checking roll and everything? There was no sense in going through such formalities when the school was about to be obliterated.

I didn’t see how ANYONE could be acting so calm. But then I realized it was because they didn’t know or didn’t believe. The teachers had to act calm so as to keep the students from panicking.

I could already imagine it. In 2nd or 3rd period there would be an explosion and everyone would be buried under bricks and plaster and blast. I’d never see my friends or family again, and I was too young to die!

A deep dread and panic set into my mind as I attempted, but family, to write a fairly decent journal. I don’t know why I bothered anyway. Mr. Walker wasn’t going to get to read them. Not unless he and they survived through it, and even then, why would he bother reading a kid’s journal? Tennessee had just been destroyed!

I set down my pencil and looked over at Brooke, who was finished also.

“Is he serious?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

Soon, everyone was finished and conversation started. I asked Brooke and Robyn again, but received the same answer. I laughed warily and uncomfortably at the jokes they began to make. I seemed to be the only one taking the threat seriously. I was so scared because I didn’t want to die that way.

Then, of all things, Mr. Walker began class! And he didn’t say anything about the upcoming destruction. He didn’t tell us he was joking, and he didn’t offer us any comforting words. Now on top of my fear I was confused. Nothing was making sense. The only surety I felt was that I was going to die. And now Mr. Walker expected me to concentrate on English when I was going to be dead in a couple hours.

All of us were thinking of that question: “Was he serious?” Everyone just tried to go along with what he was doing. Then one student spoke up and asked the question we all were pondering.

“You’re not serious, are you?”

There was a brief moment of silence, but it seemed to last forever. “No,” Mr. Walker said jokingly. “I was just kidding.”

I sighed with relief, but my heart was still racing. The whole experience had shaken me up. It was my first brush with death, and I’ll never forget it.

03/98