The Sunshine Grabber
Paul Cantor
Every year, around September 11, I feel the need to write something about Charlie. There are two reasons why.
First it is therapeutic. I find writing about him eases the pain. Second, I think it can help others better understand the significance of 9/11 to people in other countries.
Charlie, as you by now suspect, died in the aftermath of the September 11th attack. Actually, it would be more accurate to say he was one of the thousands who were killed. So what do I want to write about him this year?
Well, first of all he was my friend. Second, he was a New Yorker born and bred. Third, he was an only child. Fourth he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard. Fifth he was a sensitive, caring, highly intelligent human being. Sixth he was a gifted writer who wrote a screenplay for an animated cartoon called the Sunshine Grabber.
The Sunshine Grabber destroys people for so much as thinking that they can make the world a warmer place in which to live. “He has fangs as long as Yak horns and yellow eyes. And if he hears anyone, anywhere in the world, talking about WARM PLACES, his ears wiggle and his nose twitches and he comes slinking and sliming around and GRABS them and so much for that person.”
Seventh, September 11th didn’t surprise Charlie. Rather, he saw it coming. Still, he didn’t think he might be one of its victims. Nor did I until I got the news that he was missing.
Then I had a nightmare. In the nightmare Charlie was being beaten and interrogated in a room with bare walls, a chair, and a metal bed frame. The questioning went on for a short time. After it was over Charlie was taken outside and shot. Later I learned that is the way things probably happened and that the person doing the questioning may well have been a US government operative.