James Maroon was 29 years old when he saw the first plane crash into the World Trade Center.
He was just a few blocks away, walking toward the towers that morning in 2001. His father worked inside. He knew people who never made it back out. Since then, that corner of Manhattan has not been just an address for him — it is a place he carries.
Today, at 54, he returns there every night. Five times a week, between midnight and dawn, he gets into the water of the memorial’s reflecting pools alongside his team.
They vacuum each pool dozens of times, remove leaves, coins, and toys that fall from visitors’ hands. A job almost no one sees, in the exact place where the towers once stood.
Maroon says he tries not to think about that day every day, because it would be too much. But as the anniversary approaches, the memories return on their own. And still, every night, he returns to the water.
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