A true story

It was 2000, I was attending Texas Tech University at that time, still an undergrad. I lived in a dorm room back then, I shared a bathroom with someone else. I would say it was a very typical college student's life, until...

I remember going down to the cafeteria for dinner, my usual posse was there. I greeted them, while I was getting ready to eat, I noticed a student I have not seen before. He was a dark-skinned, short guy with rather interesting eyes. My friends introduced me to him, he told me his name (which, by the way, I do not remember anymore). I asked him what major he was in, he said he was learning English there. We talked a bit more, he was from Saudi Arabia. Then he told me he was taking flying lessons at Lubbock International Airport (they called it "International", because they had a single flight to Mexico back then). I honestly thought it was a bit strange that an ESL student from Saudi Arabia would want to take a flying class in the middle of nowhere. I asked him what he was going to be in the future, he told me he wanted to fly planes and be a pilot back in his country.

It's been years since these happened, now I ask myself... Was he so unlucky as to be a Saudi Arabian student truly trying to learn how to fly just before 9/11, or was he a part of the plot? Was he a back-up, perhaps, in the greater scheme of things? Were any red flags raised after 9/11? I guess I'll never know.... Or perhaps he is already a pilot in Saudi Arabia and will reply to this post, surprising all of us - after all, never say never, they always say.