Morning recess, fifth grade, on this date...

Mrs. Arnold raised her hand early that morning-- the sign that we were to line up to go back into the building. Whining, we all complied, running to her from all parts of the playground.

But she didn't call us to the door. She called us to the center of the four-square lines on the "upper grades" section of Poly Drive's playground.

It was a very bright sunny morning.

It was a relatively warm day-- because I can remember the slight smell of tar from the crack seals in the blacktop.

We were all confused-- we'd only been at recess a few minutes. Why were we all being called back to the building?

She told us all to gather around, because she had very sad news.

Many of us had been talking about it, thanks to the monumental flight. And our class of eight fifth graders and twenty fourth graders (minus whomever was missing that day), couldn't say a word.

It didn't need to be said-- we all went into a long moment of silence. I remember looking at the shadows formed by our shoes and our heads upon the blacktop.

It's the first national tragedy I remember. The Challenger had exploded.

And when I see the footage, I still remember being eleven years old, staring at that blacktop.