I was 9 years old when the accident happened. And being at Rheems Elementary we weren’t that far away. I believe it is 15 or so miles by car but probably less than 10 as the bird flies.
Mom & Me
I was in fourth grade in Mrs. Whitaker’s class. Mrs. Whitaker called in sick that day and we had a substitute teacher. A substitute teacher whose husband worked at TMI (I have no proof of this and it may have just been kids talking). The Scholastic Book Fair was there that day – so it was one of my favorite days of the year. Then kids starting leaving class. Parents were coming and picking up their kids. So many that we couldn’t have class, so we were allowed to sit and talk and read our books. We had absolutely no idea what was going on and asked the teacher. Finally, the teacher told us there was an accident at Three Mile Island and closed all the windows and pulled down all the blinds. She said there could be a possible melt-down. We had no idea what that meant, but we knew it wasn’t good and expected an explosion of some sort. Rheems was by a rock quarry and we were used to hearing small ones, we just thought this one would be bigger. We wondered if we should sit under our desks. We didn’t. One by one kids disappeared. Til there were less than 10 in my class. We then had to take the bus home. We discussed radiation and held our breath running to get on the bus and then closed the windows when we got inside.
One by one kids disappeared.
My mother worked at Hershey Medical Center. She was a scrub nurse in the Operating Room. She worked part-time three days a week and would get home a half hour after we did. I had one older sister and one younger. The hospital would not let anyone leave because they were expecting scores of injured people to come in. So, she had to work out her shift and then she was allowed to come home. My parents were divorced and my father begged my mother to take us to Florida or the Poconos – just somewhere far away. He said he would pay for it and was really worried. My father lived in Mechanicsburg at the time. My mom decided to take us to stay in Lancaster with my grandmother. Less than 20 miles away. We slept on my grandmother’s floor for a few days and then went home. During that time I wrote in my diary because I seriously believed that we could all blow up but my diary would remain and I could be like the new Anne Frank. I was only 9.
Heather
