Kim Emerson tells her friend Gladys Chen about the day Kim’s sister, Kendra Webdale, was killed when a mentally ill man pushed her in front of an oncoming New York City subway train.
Originally aired January 6, 2006, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Transcript
Kim Emerson (KE) and Gladys Chen (GC)
KE: I was at home and I got a phone call from, actually a reporter or a journalist from the New York Post and I just let it ring. I was just screening my calls. And she said, “Are you the sister of Kendra Webdale…” and so I heard that and I, like, hopped up to go get the phone and she said, “…that was killed on the subway?” And, like, as soon as I heard the word “killed” I just… I went to a different place, a place that I’ve never been before that I felt like I was kind of out of myself. I never knew what going into shock was and now that I look back it was definitely that type of feeling that I just remember falling on the floor. And I was just screaming. I was making noises that I didn’t even know I was capable of because there’s nothing in my life that ever made me scream like that or make a noise like that. And I actually, later, I must have been eating an Oreo cuz there was Oreo, like, all over the floor.
And the worst part about the whole day was knowing that I had to tell my family. And I remember standing by my bed and thinking to myself, “Right now they don’t know”. Like, right now life is good and I’m gonna tell them something so horrible that’s gonna change their lives and I don’t wanna do it. And I just remember like waiting. Just minutes. Knowing I had to but just waiting to give them more moments of peace.
And there was one voice message that Kendra had miraculous left on… I had the old um answering message so there was a little tape in it. And uh there was a full message from Kendra Its Kendra. Uh… Its Monday night at about… I know every inflection in her voice so she’s actually talking on it and talking for like a couple minutes and in the end shes like, “Ok bye I love you…” …I love you. Talk to you later bye. That is the one thing that I have with her voice on it. And its one of the most valuable things that I could ever have.