Feelings of despair and helplessness engulfed my being.  I did not fret so much about the buildingb itself.  Structures can be rebuilt.  I was frightened instead of the unknown.  What did the future hold for me?  A new job?  A next pay check?  Would I be able to pay my bills?  Live?  Try as I might to think of other things, these questions haunted me.

This shadow had followed me ever since I heard the news the previous day.  Every now and then I would chide myself.  Was I, in truth, getting the proverbial "cart before the horse?"

That morning I had been determined to learn of my fate.  I awoke to my alarm and readied myself for work just as I would at any other time.  The traffic moved smoothly until I neared the cutoff leading to the expansive building where I had spent the last few months of my life.  The highway cloverleaf was jammed with cars going nowhere.  The early morning skly was blackened with thick, heavy smoke combined with the offensive odor of burning tar.

I had to come to the realization., though it was not easy, that there would be no work. at least not that day and perhaps for many more.  I fpound little comfort with the fact that I was only one of many caught in this turn of events.