KABOOM by Brian Adams

Author:Brian Adams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Green Writers Press
Published: 2016-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

37

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR began in 1861, when there was no state of West Virginia. Back then we were part of Virginia.

When Virginia voted to secede from the Union in 1861 and join the Confederate States of America, the western counties of the state were pissed. While there was huge support for the South, most of the folks here were just not into the secession thing. They immediately began a movement to split off from Virginia, and in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, the new state of West Virginia was admitted to the Union.

Believe it or not, the two states are still arguing over where the boundary between the two of them should be. Go figure.

West Virginia was the only state to be formed by seceding from a Confederate state. It was originally going to be called Kanawha but everyone realized what a loser name that was and they settled on West Virginia.

“What a waste!” Ashley said when I told her this story. “Think of the names they could have come up with. I mean, really, ‘West Virginia’? How lame is that? Totally uninspired. After we stop them from screwing Mount Tom we should work on getting us a new name.”

“That would be an excellent use of our time,” I said.

“Duh,” Ashley said. Then she went quiet for a moment, deep in thought. “How about Crystalmethylvania?” she asked.

“So respectful,” I said.

“Or Coalorado.”

“That’s even better,” I laughed.

`“Or even Ashleyland after me. Mary got her state. Why can’t I have mine?”

“That’s just mean!” I said. “It would have to be Cyndieashleyland.”

“No way!” Ashley said. “I thought of it first. But because I love you so much I’ll settle for Ashleycyndieland.”

“Done,” I said.

Anyway, back to the Civil War. West Virginia, along with Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, was a border state. Border states were Union states that bordered Confederate ones, and, though technically part of the North, were still brutally divided between the North and the South. In those states it was total mayhem. Brother against brother, father versus son. One would be a Yankee, the other one a Rebel, and they’d shoot each other stone-dead at the drop of a hat. Blood ties be damned. It was just blood, blood, and more blood.

And so it was, a century and a half later, as word had gotten out about American’s decision to blow the top off of Tom; it was fast becoming the Civil War all over again. Mountaintop removal were fighting words. By now everyone knew about American’s plans for Mount Tom. Battle lines were being drawn. Opposing camps set up. KABOOM had fired the first shot.

A lot of people still didn’t seem to give a crap, but for others, one false word and boom, down you went. BFF’s were shouting at each other. Inseparables were splitting apart. One anti–mountaintop removal kid got sent to the principal’s office and suspended for three days for popping off and punching out his Coal-Is-King best buddy. I had never realized how polarized the school was.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.