".... I cannot relate or even insult people, who have lost partners in such horrific times; neither can I understand the inevitable critisisms of those who haven't lost someone to terrorism.  I must admit the world always sounds shocked when these things happen."       - Zoe

When I first read this I had to wholeheartedly agree. I still agree, but with a codicil. Sometimes sudden death from disease, an often deadly disease such as polio for example, can have a somewhat similar impact. When my mother died in an iron lung only months after the first onslaught of the virus, my entire family went nuts. What had seemed either stolidly Catholic, or Protestant, well-off, stable, and content, simply came apart. I still plan to make fiction out of what happened. I say fiction because that's what I want to do, and also because I can't, and have no wish to prove the truth of what happened.
My youngest brother, who was only five (ONLY FIVE !) when his mother 'vanished' won't even speak to me today because I leaked to him some of what I believe happened. For him the mere thought is too horrific to contemplate.

America contracted a deadly disease that slaughtered over three thousand people on a clear, sunny day, out of the blue. Of course people are still in a temper about it, of course!!!!

Barry