8.58am
“We’re… uh, we’re just getting word of an explosion in Florida, in Sarasota specifically, apparently President Bush, who was on the way to a visit at an elementary school, a car has crashed into one of his convoy’s vehicles and exploded. We don’t have any more details right now, but we’re calling all the sources we can, obviously this news, uh, very frightening considering what else is in the news right now.”
9.05am
“Right now, ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the South Tower of the World Trade Center, and… uh, stand by, one moment, please, I’m just… okay, I, uh, we’re now getting further information about that explosion in Florida, we have footage coming in right now…”
The broadcast changes. Gone is the scene of two great towers burning. Instead we see a line of black sedans, on what any other day might have been a quiet street. In the middle, one black Cadillac is burning, its entire body shoved to one side by the second vehicle next to it, which burns fiercely, its body ripped apart by an internal explosion. The doors of the Cadillac are hanging open but no-one is inside. Its rear is twisted and shattered. Men in suits and emergency services swarm all around. Ambulances and police cars are among them.
9.08am
“What we’re getting from the Secret Service right now is that President Bush has been injured in what was a suicide bombing, a car bomb was driven right into his vehicle. The President is being rushed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, it’s possible that a member of his staff has been killed but we have no names at the moment.”
9.14am
“The President is undergoing emergency surgery at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, the wreckage of parts of the presidential convoy are still burning near the elementary school he intended to visit. Vice President Cheney’s whereabouts are unknown, this may be speculation but he may have been evacuated to a hidden location due to today’s circumstances.”
9.26am
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a terrible day for our country and I’m afraid it just got even worse. Several minutes ago the 43rd President of the United States, George Walker Bush, died. We’ve been reporting that his convoy came under attack in Florida, it now appears that his injuries were too severe for him to survive. We don’t yet know how many more have died across America today, all we can be sure of is that it will be too many.”
8.30pm
“Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts…"
The cameras cut. A shout of “Good job, Mister President,” from someone in the Oval Office. The 44th President of the United States, Dick Cheney, takes a deep breath as he sits at the desk George Bush was sitting at this time last night. He reflects on the day’s events, thinking about the sight of the burning vehicles in Florida, or the crumbling World Trade Center.
And he smiled.