In a downtown, Little Rock hotel, on 9 11

©Copyright LillyGrillzit all rights reserved December 12, 2010

The day our Nation was taken down, was September 11, 2001. Where were you? What were you doing?

Finding the Peabody Hotel is easy, making it down President Clinton ave is usually slow going during business hours, so give yourself plenty of time. Early morning, and evening rush hour, keeps Clinton Ave to a crawl. If you are taking a lunch break, it is advisable to walk, or take the trolley. Keep a little cash on hand for the trolley. For guests of the Hotels downtown, they all provide transportation.

The Excelsior Hotel had been Little Rock's hottest hotel. 21 floors + the Penthouse. In 2000 the Peabody people, bought the Excelsior, and started a three year plan of converting the Excelsior est. 1982, and the Little Rock Convention Center, to the Peabody. This brought a lot of jobs finally in 2001, to Little Rock, Arkansas.

It was a hot August day in 2001 When Lilly was first assigned to the Excelsior / Peabody job through a new temp agency. Having earned construction experience the last few months, she was able to fit right in. Lilly could not believe her good luck. She landed a construction job, inside, with air conditioning. It was just $6.00 per hour, but she was guaranteed lots of overtime.

• The first day as a laborer on the Excelsior conversion, Lilly worked with a couple of other older ladies . Their task was to prepare the sheet rock for a primer coat. This was accomplished by sand papering by hand. .
• The second day, Lilly waited for instructions, then finally, started cleaning up after the carpenters in the remodeled second floor rooms without being told to. She started a little system, saving good wood in a safe and sane manner. That was her job the second day.
• On her third day, Dale, who was probably a pirate in another life, Contractor's big bosses, came and stood in the hallway where we were all working and yelled , "Does anybody think they can operate this ***&^(@^#%!*^%^%$^%$_)(_*^&(%^$&^%$ ELEVATOR!!!? "

Always wanting to learn new things, and use her skills, Lilly boldly stepped up and said, "I can"

The construction elevator, was simply a service elevator from the Hotel, that was exclusive to the Construction job...When Lilly took that elevator, it was dirty, nasty and yucky . She ordered a broom and mop (that remained hers). She was given all authority and power over the elevator to deal with some little thugs who tried to push their way around. Instantly, the mood in the elevator changed, it smelled good too. It was being ruled by Lilly! She could and would boot somebody off if they didn't act right. She worked from 4:30 am to 10:00 pm 5 days per week. 

The job consisted of taking the sub-contractors, their equipment and tools, bosses, some hotel staff and dignitaries wherever they needed to go. The elevator has one speed, and can only go one direction at a time, but Lilly was required to the elevator on a dime and pick up the big bosses ASAP. When the hotel needed it, it was stat and everything else had to be dropped.

The entire conversion job spanned the Little Rock Convention Center to the Penthouse of the Excelsior,, 22 floors in all. Hotel guests were not supposed to see the construction personnel if possible. The laborers were a rough looking bunch. They were a rough bunch.

Lilly was good running the elevator, and continued on. A bonus that Lilly offered is that she speaks enough Spanish that she was able to assist communications between sub contractors, and the owners, that communication was missing previously.

During her tenure the construction was completed from the 2nd Floor to the Penthouse demo about 19 floors, punched and ready to rent.

September 11, 2001 It was a rare time in the morning when she wasn't up and down in the hotel elevator. Lilly was usually picking up, or dropping off workers, equipment on the elevator. The constant cursing coming from the 2-way clipped on her jeans, is turned to low. She can pick out her mispronounced name, lolly, each time it is barked by one of the big bosses. Her immediate boss Dale, doesn't even need a radio, you can hear him all the way across the hotel which spans 3 city blocks. She is tuned into the job, and will respond to transportation needs.

Lilly, a construction laborer, operates the construction elevator. She is working on the conversion of the Excelsior to the Peabody Hotel, in Little Rock, AR. Funny how things turn out.

It is September 11, 2001. As the construction elevator sits at rest on the 21st floor of the Excelsior Hotel. In Little Rock, AR. Lilly's clipboard sits, atop her chair that rides the elevator with her.

The doors are open, Lilly is just outside the doors of the elevator, her 2-way radio, clipped onto her jeans pocket. The last load of sub-contractors and their tools have been dropped off within the last hour, we are at rest on the 21st floor right below the scandalously famous Penthouse suite.

For the remodling, everything was ripped out of the old suites, and everything was built new for the Peabody. The Excelsior sold everything that could be hauled out. This included a famous Jacuzzi that had Presidential butt marks in it. All of us were so poor, but we were so thrilled at being close to famous DNA, that we lied to each other about probably buying that moldy sucker...how funny.

Everyone is at work stations. It is still another hour before breaks would start...

Lilly is considering sneaking to the roof for a smoke break, when Ranger came running to the hotel elevator banks saying, "...we've been bombed, Lilly, we've been bombed by the enemy."

This professional electrician , always busy and cheerful, stood helplessly mouth down turned, tears in his eyes. Holding his small radio by the handle; up and out hoping to push this news away. Ranger and Lilly stand transfixed as they listen to the quickly changing news reports.

[Lilly remembers it like a photograph. They stood in a baked silence, produced by an icy coldness of black and white. A knowing in the pit of her gut, that their world was now very different. Colorless, sounds are over-amplified in a twilight zone sort of way.]

With as much calmness as she can muster, Lilly grabs her two-way radio. She speaks calmly into the microphone, knowing anyone in the hotel could be listening. "Code 99. code 99. Please turn off your power tools. Turn off machinery, and make your way to a television or radio. Please, calmly make your way to a news media outlet."

Lilly's work mates are as diverse as the local college campus. All of the laborers are from one of those places that pays workers daily.

Most of the workers are down on their luck, some slipping further down. Some, like Lilly are working almost 100 hours per week to break out of homelessness.

She pushes herself for the day, when she can move out of the hotel room, get a real place, bringing her youngest daughter home.

One of the Labor supervisors, Craig, has a brother who works at the Pentagon, none of his family can make contact, they are frightened.

They are all scared. Most of the 21 laborers Lilly works with are indigent, most are away from family, staying under the bridges.

On any job, when a crew works the long hours, weeks and months, they become a substitute family.

After a few hours of waiting and some frantic phone calls, the decision is made by the owners and Contractor, to keep working.

For the rest of the day they all worked quietly. Waiting...knowing that those who hated our Country enough to bomb NYC, could do anything. They could be next.

In retrospect, most of the laborers, Lilly included, on this construction site, would be unclaimed or unknown. Relatives didn't know where most of them were.

Their most pressing needs had to met, a slow and hard path home. It was a guilty knowing that if they were sent home that day, they had no where to go, and would miss the hours of pay. Even though they were scared they were glad for the work.

Each one of these laborers hungered for their family far away.

For Lilly and the rest, the need to be in a better place, and of having pulled themselves up, would be the only way they could then expect love and acceptance from the people they crave day and night. In order to muster enough courage to face those they loved they had to be better.

Lilly did not have any family directly affected by the Twin Tower attacks, but knows the story's of many who are / were. It is unimaginable.

The Stephens Building, which houses many federal offices, was evacuated and considered a hot zone. No one, really knew what was happening at that very moment...It changed our Country and world forever.

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