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First the news, then the silence
By MONIQUE FIELDS
© St. Petersburg Times, LARGO -- In four-part harmony, the teenage girls sang Bill Withers' Lean on Me. As their voices trailed off, Jeanne Reynolds walked to the microphone. She delivered the news in an unwavering tone. Two hijacked airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center. All airline flights had been grounded. The Department of Defense was in control, and nothing bad had happened in Florida. "At this point, the only thing you can do is give your thoughts and prayers to the people at the World Trade Center," said Reynolds, supervisor of the Pinellas County Schools music and theater programs. Silence flooded the room. The 200 girls asked no questions. One feared for a mother who had boarded a plane bound for Indianapolis. Another wondered if an uncle who lives in New York was okay. A mother's eyes were awash in tears as she thought about her daughter who works near the World Trade Center. A cell phone rang, and a woman bolted from the room, sobbing. "It's scary to think that this is happening," said Briana Allard, an eighth-grader at Oak Grove Middle School. In all, 375 students gathered at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Tuesday to learn how to sing in four-part barbershop harmony. They had been separated by gender for their lessons. First the boys were told about the terrorist attacks. Then the girls. Several students said they were glad they were in a church when they found out. Songs and prayer comforted their souls. Nine girls clasped hands in a ring and asked for peace. "Dear God, today we're scared," said Keri LaBrant, a senior at Seminole High School. "We don't know why this happened or why it had to happen now . . . I pray that something good will come out of this."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
