For They Are Many
"They preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth. They are the focus of evil in the modern world..."
-Ronald Reagan, March 8, 1983
"You have to believe me! I'm not a communist! Please!"
Alfred F. Jones heard the protests coming from around the corner and rushed towards the cries, pushing a few people aside. A crowd had gathered.
Finally, he reached the front. A man in his forties with a ripped and muddy suit on was shoved up against a brick wall, a few men around him. Every once in awhile one would spit an insult at him and either kick and punch him. A burly man on the left finally punched him straight in the jaw, and the man flopped to the ground like a rag doll, unconscious.
Alfred flinched when the punch was given, frozen to the spot. This is what they were reduced to. Nobody could be trusted. Watch for the communists. As soon as the police showed up, Alfred spun on his heel and continued down the street, shivering. It was a constant struggle, trying to resist the urges to find all the communists and destroy them. How dare Russia do this to his country, his people.
The citizens of the United States were scared and suspicious, and the toll was starting to wear on Alfred. Occasionally, he would slip into a state of pure paranoia, and other times pure numbness. Russia would invade his dreams, taunting him with his atomic bombs and pipe. Alfred shuddered as he looked up into the sky, thinking of what would happen if Russia got his satellite into space first. He could spy on them or…
Alfred shook his head forcefully. Don't think about it. All he wanted was for people to be free, not controlled.
He kept walking, getting progressively angrier and angrier, flinching at every little sound, occasionally fiddling with Texas or his jacket. Russia will regret it...just wai-
He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by somebody pulling him into an alley. Immediately yanking his arm out of the mystery person's grip, Alfred stuck his fists up in a semi-defensive position.
"What do you want? You're not a communist are you?"
It was a young man in front of him, his eyes wide and hands up in the air.
"No, no, I'm sorry! O-of course I'm not a...nevermind. I j-just need a place to stay for the night. I'm having a fight with my girlfriend right now and-"
"I'm sorry." Alfred said stiffly. "I can't help you." He started to walk away, but the man grabbed him by the sleeve.
"Please! I-I have a feeling you can help. Just one night!"
Alfred turned back towards the boy, looking at him sharply, trying to discern if he would try to murder him if Alfred did let him in his house. As with all the other nations, he could glean some of the intentions and emotions of his citizens. It wasn't always accurate, but Alfred didn't sense any ill intent from the boy in front of him. He just seemed scared out of his mind. His girlfriend must have been pretty angry.
"Fine," Alfred agreed. He figured the boy would also help keep his paranoia down slightly. It was always when he was alone, with his thoughts… "One night. Come on, it's gonna be dark soon." The boy nodded gratefully and followed Alfred closely, chatting quietly the whole way.
"I'm Jimmy, by the way."
"I'm Alfred F. Jones."
"This is so good! Thanks!" Jimmy took another bite of his cheeseburger. Some ketchup dribbled out of the side and down his face.
"No problemo. So what happened with your girlfriend?"
Jimmy paused for a second and blinked at Alfred. "My...oh yeah! Um, it was a pretty nasty fight. I'm pretty stupid when it comes to girls, hah…" He took another bite of the burger and shrugged.
Alfred narrowed his eyes. Jimmy was lying. "Oh really?" He said false-cheerfully. "What was the fight about?"
"Oh you know...money. I have bad gambling habits."
Alfred nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that sucks. You lie to her about the money loss, or something?"
Jimmy's eyes widened slightly. "I...um…"
In about two seconds flat Alfred had Jimmy pinned to a wall in the dining room. The plate crashed into the ground, shattering and spilling ketchup and burger everywhere. As Jimmy was gasping for breath, Alfred stared him straight in the eyes.
"Are you here to spy on me? Did Russia send you?"
Jimmy could only manage a squeaky "no" before Alfred shoved him against the wall harder.
"Don't lie to me." Alfred hissed. "I'm not going to let that communist send spies after me with some sob story."
As Jimmy continued to protest weakly, a voice in the back of Alfred's mind said "He's telling the truth. He's not a communist. You can sense it!" but all he could see was red, and Russia's mocking face.
Suddenly, Alfred jerked back and Jimmy dropped to the ground. Exactly the same way the man did in the middle of the street earlier that day. The voice inside his head was right, this kid wasn't a communist. He backed away until he hit a chair, and then sat down in front of it clumsily, staring in shock at Jimmy, who was lying on the floor, attempting to breathe again.
"If...if you aren't a communist, then why...did you lie to me?"
It was a bit before Jimmy could speak again. He looked as if he wanted to run (Alfred didn't blame him) but figured it was a bad idea with Alfred right there. He coughed a couple of times.
"I-I was accused of being a communist...I would never do something like that! But I knew a guy that was supposedly one and now they think I'm-" He buried his head in his hands. "My life is ruined. They kept chasing after me and my girlfriend kicked me out and they know where I live...you seemed like somebody that would help. I don't know why but…"
"I'm sorry." Alfred said quietly. He couldn't believe that innocent people were being accused of being communists. Though there were rumors about that McCarthy guy…
Jimmy shook his head. "It's not your fault. If you're not going to attack me...can I still say here? I'll leave tomorrow, I promise."
"I'll take you somewhere tomorrow. Out of town. And then I'm going to fix this."
Just another problem, another mistake we've made, he thought.
A/N: Ah, probably inaccurate Cold War fanfiction. Oh, the good times.
And Cold War fanfiction without Russia making an appearance? Preposterous.
If there's anything that is glaringly and horribly inaccurate about the time period or anything, just tell me or something. Though these aren't exactly for accuracy. They're more for the morals. Or whatever.
My headcanon for America during the Cold War during the Red Scare and McCarthy's reign is that he was very paranoid, but also having a lot of horrible, scared times where he feared for his people. They were being threatened by Russia's bombs. And satellite. Oh, Sputnik.
During this time there were a lot of people accused of being communists or communist sympathizers, but most of them weren't actually any of those. McCarthy was a man that lead this humongo anti-communist campaign and blamed a lot of liberals in the government. Eventually he moved on to blaming some higher-ups in the military of being communists, and that was a big no-no. And so, McCarthyism was no more.
My views on communism aren't in any way playing a part in this work. I am only putting down the views for that time period and the turmoil that could have gone on in Alfred's head if he were really America. I'm American, so we are extremely negative when it comes to communism. I don't really reserve any particularly strong feelings towards it.
And as I was about half way finished with this, a song called "Russian Privjet" by Basshunter came on my Pandora station (dance/EDM music is great to write to). Privjet means "hello" or "hi" in Russian, so it's basically "Russian hello". And I can totally see Russia popping into America's house with his pipe and a not-so-innocent smile going "hi" in Russian.
For others in this series check out Never Forget, American History, and Learn From Your Mistakes!
Sorry for the long author's note…(-.-")
Never forget
American history.
Learn from your mistakes,
For they are many.
Next: The Will To Be Strong