My 17-year-old son Joseph, had cleaned the kitchen, taken out the trash and was finally sprawled across the furniture in the family room, arms and legs going every-which-way, while he played on his phone. My husband was out of town, and I busied myself here and there with all the mom-things. The TV was on, but we weren’t really watching, when a familiar emergency broadcasting test appeared on the screen. I didn’t pay any attention to it, because unless there’s a hurricane in the area, it’s just a routine occurrence.
But this time, something was different. The announcer sounded strange, so I stopped what I was doing and walked into the room to listen more closely. I told my son, “They haven’t said this is a test.” Just then, the computerized voice said, “This is NOT a test.”
I quickly thought about the weather outside, which had been beautiful all day and the upcoming forecast was just as lovely.
The monotone voice continued, “This message has been issued by the United States Government for immediate release.” I drew closer to the TV set and held my breath.
“Moments ago, a nuclear bomb was launched at the United States of America . . . “
At that point, I didn’t hear much else, because I started planning . . . click HERE to finish reading the story at AL.com