Thomas: Yeah, I remember that day very clearly, even though I was nine. We got out of school early like all the other kids. Our grandma picked us up at lunch, but we weren’t sure exactly why. Rumors were going around, but most of us didn’t care; we were just happy to be out of school.
Our grandma was a little quiet, but nothing we took too much notice of. She could be like that. She took us home and fed us, then let us play a little while in our room. Jeremy got bored and decided he wanted to go to the beach. So, we asked her. She seemed reluctant at first but eventually agreed to take us. Grandpa was home, but he didn’t go out much anymore and said he’d be there when we got back. Our grandma told us that our parents, who were at work, were coming home early too so we’d see them when we got home.
Jeremy: You wanted to go to the beech also, brother, don’t act like you didn’t.
Thomas: Anyway, we were at the beach, and as you can imagine, it was pretty empty because most people were at home, but our grandma got us some hot chocolate from somewhere, and we took off our shoes and walked on the beach.
Jeremy: I’m not sure how long we were there before we heard the noise, maybe thirty minutes, but it came suddenly. It was loud. Real loud! We dropped onto the sand and held our ears, but that didn’t help at all. If I remember correctly, Thomas dropped his hot chocolate on his pants. (He smiles at his brother.)
The noise was like that hearing test you have at the doctor’s office. You know the one. You have to put on these large headphones. Then they give you a long beeping sound that starts real high then gets lower and lower until you can’t hear it anymore. That’s what it was like, except the sound was sharp. I know that sounds weird, but it was sharp, like a spear of sound drilling right into your ear and into your brain. I couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe. I don’t know how long it lasted but…
Thomas: Two minutes.
Jeremy: Yeah, whatever, at the time, it felt like it lasted for hours or days, or maybe just seconds. It scrambled our brain, you know? So, it stopped, and we just stood there, trying to get our brains working again. I tried to stand and fell over backward. I couldn’t get my body to work right. I still don’t understand it… It felt like I had gotten off a ride at the county fair, the one that used to go around fast, then you get off and can’t walk right for a second. Well, that times a thousand.
Thomas: We were extremely disoriented and incapacitated.
Jeremy: Yeah, incapacitated, that’s the word. A five-year-old could have walked right up to us and beat the crap out of us if they wanted. Not only that, we were all deaf. And our ears were bleeding.
Thomas: Ruptured eardrums
Jeremy: Yes, brother, I know that. So, there we were on the beach, helpless. Of course, Thomas and I were both crying. I mean, we didn’t know what was going on. My grandmother had it a lot worse, of course. She was old, around sixty-one or two at the time. Her body just didn’t handle it very well. (He stops talking and looks at his brother.)
Thomas: After a few more minutes, we were both able to function again. At least control our bodies. Our grandmother couldn’t. We tried to help, tried to talk, but we couldn’t hear ourselves. It was very confusing and scary.
We looked for people to help, but the beach was empty, except for a few people still on the ground. We had to help her a lot, almost carry her, but we eventually got her up and to the car. She couldn’t drive though, so we took her keys and I drove for the first time. It was difficult for many reasons, least of all because I could barely reach the pedals. Fortunately, we lived close, and Cape May isn’t that big.
Jeremy: Our mom was already home, and she rushed out of the car, mouth open in horror. She almost squeezed us to death, checked our ears, started crying, and hugged us again. She got grandmother inside and laid her down right beside our grandfather, who seemed to be sleeping. She tried to call 911, but there was no signal, and we didn’t have a landline to use anymore. My dad, who had gotten home right before the sound weapon, drove to the hospital to check everything out and decided it was a no-go. He told us he couldn’t even get close to the entrance. So we kept our grandparents at home and tried to take care of them as best we could.
Thomas: A few days later, our grandmother died while she slept. She had regained consciousness for just a few minutes that day. She gave us both hugs and kisses and tried to speak, but her voice didn’t work well. She was so weak. I had to lift her head to hug her. We put her hand on grandpa’s hand, she gave us a last smile, and she closed her eyes. She died peacefully, with her family, and we’re thankful for that. Our grandfather passed away hours later, never regaining consciousness.
Jeremy: Nobody knew what happened. I mean, we saw the bombs drop on NYC. It was almost on a loop, but people hadn’t figured out that it was a sound bomb. Many of the major news channels just went dead. I guess because the people were… well, dead.
We stayed at home for a few days or a week, I don’t remember. We tried to call people but never got anyone on the line My dad thought China was wrapped up in all of it. (Laughs and elbows his brother.) He got out his gun and created an escape plan for us. On day four, I think, a TV reporter came back on who seemed to know what was happening. He explained that the aliens attacked us and that they were landing troops in some of our cities. We found out we were at war. Crazy. The story blew our minds, but we didn’t doubt for a minute the information about sonic weapons. Cape May is about ninety miles from Philidelphia, and we were still affected.
Thomas: We heard about aliens in D.C., but my dad didn’t wasn’t sure if we should leave. It’s not that close to us, and we’re a small town, so he decided it was best to stay. It turned out that wasn’t too bad of a decision. However, I can tell you that I’ve had enough fish to last a lifetime. When all the food ran out, we had to fish everyday.
The Veech moved through Pennsylvania and up to New Jersey, but none of them came to our town. He heard some battles though and saw plenty of jets and their ships flying overhead. It was scary, never knowing if we were going to be attacked, always watching the sky.
We got lucky, they skipped us.
Whose idea was the monument?
Jeremy: You know, I’m not sure. It came up in the town hall a few years after the war. Ideas were thrown around about what to make. One guy wanted a chicken because he said his chicken scared the aliens off. (Laughs.) Do you remember that, Thomas? But most people wanted a coastguardsman statue because they had their boot camp there and helped everyone in town when they weren’t fighting. We liked that idea as well, but the Coast Guard told us it wasn’t necessary.
Thomas: It was Jeremy’s idea about grandparents. We weren’t the only people to lose our grandparents. That sound weapon killed almost ninety percent of people over sixty within 100 miles. It killed a whole generation almost.
Jeremy: I just wanted them to be remembered.