Chapter 27

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President Gardner began meeting with the alien diplomats the day he was sworn in. They came to an agreement, ratified by our Congress on February 4th 2069 and immediately signed by Gardner. Other countries would continue the war for another two years, trying to gain a little more territory. But, thanks to this peace agreement, America was no longer at war. This proposal was known as the American Plan, it had been proposed by president Duric in the early days of the war and was now official with only a few minor differences. The basics were that America was no longer at war with the aliens, and we would all share this country. The aliens living here were now considered american citizens, in theory now we were all one country, one people, and we all lived happily ever after. It wasn't quite that simple. Just saying that everyone is free and equal doesn't make it true immediately. The work of reconstruction had just begun. Future generations would have to learn president Gardner's address at the peace ceremony. "Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. We have known the bitterness of defeat, and the exhultation of triumph. From both we have learned, there can be no going back. We must move forward to preserve in peace what we have won in war."

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For me and David reconstruction meant working at the hospital, and helping to rebuild St Louis, we knew that clearing all the rubble would take years and we had little Abe to take care of. But we were eager to do our part, to make this city a nice place for him to grow up in. In the hospital we still saw the injuries of the war, physical and psychological. We were quite familiar with the second one. It was hard, seeing people who seemed to be dealing with PTSD fairly well, only for them to end up taking their own lives. David and I were in the same support group, it wasn't too unusual for humans and aliens to be in the same support group, the horrors of war affected people on both sides the same. During the war we tried not to let the nightmares get to us, we just tried to power through to do our jobs. But with the calm of peace, you have more time to focus on these nightmares. After I was done breast-feeding the baby, I started drinking again. David used this as an excuse to drink. I supposse we were in a co-dependant relationship. I can't say we were perfect parents, but we were hardly alone in this during reconstruction. And because of high unemployment and poverty, there was a lot of crime in these days. There were also groups like the "Friends of Humanity." They were a human supremacist groups opposed to the peace, and they were known to target mixed race couples. Because of this climate of fear, we kept a gun in the house, not a good thing when you have two alcoholics struggling with PTSD. There was an incident, just before Abe's 2nd birthday. He had been playing in the rubble. It wasn't the first time he played in the rubble, perhaps it was just the last straw. David and I got into an argument that night, I don't even remember what it was about. But as I said before I was struggling with PTSD and self medicating with alcohol. I got the gun, and threatened to bow my brains out, right in front of our baby. David would later admit that he might have been fairly close to something similar, I just did it first. It was clear at this point that I was a threat to myself and my loved ones, so David called the police. It took them only a few minutes for the police to arrive, I don't think I ever wanted to be dead more than in those few minutes. The thought of having to explain what I had just done, I didn't think I could face it. But David was able to talk me down, and he promised he would be there for me. I was arrested, and spent the night in jail. When I went to sleep I actually prayed that I would die in my sleep, that I wouldn't have to face what I had done, but that prayer went unanswered. I was assigned a public defender, who hoped to get me into a treatment center rather than prison. He advised that I plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of the court. Leah came to this to support me, but David didn't. He said he couldn't get anyone to babysit Abe, in any event I couldn't really blame him. I pled guilty, didn't have to fake tears, they were real. Fortunately the judge was sympathetic to veterans with PTSD, and I was sent to a local treatment facility.

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At the treatment facility I had to go through alcohol withdrawel, but I was put on new medication. It helped, as did group therapy. It helped to talk with people who had also had similar incidents. It was nice to know I wasn't alone in this respect. Like the others in this group I also wanted to do better, to be a better parent that one really bad night. Leah was the first to come and visit, David came later. He wanted to be there for me, but he wasn't sure if our marriage could work after this incident. To my surprise, my mother came all the way from Israel to visit me. It was the first time we were able to hug each other in over five years. I was grateful for this, but then she talked about Willow. Willow had stayed in Israel, it was safer that way. Mom talked about how Willow, who was 15, was dating an 18 year old IDF soldier. Mom said, only half jokingly, that she was worried about becoming a grandmother. I reminded her that she did have one grandson already, my son. It was clear that she didn't accept Abe as her grandson, and this made me angry. I yelled at her to get out and never come back. It would be three more years before we spoke again. I tried to focus on getting better, to be a good mother. When I was released I moved back in with David. I prayed that Abe was too young to remember the incident later. David tried to be understanding. We weren't married, some states tried to ban human/alien marriages. But that wasn't the only reason we weren't married. We did love each other, but given our problems, we weren't sure we could make a marriage work. In 2071, about six months after my release, David said he was moving out. This wasn't a complete surprise, but he promised to always be there for our son, and that was my primary concern.

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My guess is that you've read about the turmoil of the 2070's, the social confusion, economic depression, the riots. It was a scary time to raise a child. It became clear that playing in the rubble would be Abe's childhood memories. I showed him movies, his favorite was the movie about the disgraced umpire who redeems himself by helping little league players. I still remember him singing the song "Guilty but not very proveable." I was grateful he had this good memory of childhood. David was a good father, Abe usually spent weekends at his place. By 2074 my mother and I tried to reconcile again. I made it clear that she would have to accept Abe, and she agreed. She admitted that she would continue to live in Israel, coming back to America for visits. She said that her wife was israeli, I didn't even know she had gotten married. Willow had married the israeli soldier, and did have her own baby by this point. Willow named her daughter Sarah, after her big sister. I was honored by this.

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2076 was America's tricentennial. I thought back to America's first centennial, which wasn't too long after our civil war. Union and confederate veterans had suppossedly joined together to celebrate America's 100th birthday. Now, humans and aliens who'd been naturalized, were joining together to celebrate America's 300th birthday. David and I took Abe to the big celebration together, like a family outing. The rubble was still here, seven years after the war ended, but the city was much better than it had been. There was much less crime, far fewer starving refugees. David hoped that his son would consider himself an american, that he would have a better life than his parents had. I also hoped for this, but I feared for him. The country was still fairly divided. Some states tried to resegregate the schools. Leah helped start a group opposed to segregation, made sure that our children had the right to go to school. I was proud to help her with this. The Friends of Humanity and similar groups tried to drive out the aliens from their states. Until 2097 we still had the electoral college, so each state got a certain number of votes for president. The FOH wanted to limit the aliens to a certain number of states, thus reducing their ability to vote for president. As Abe became a teenager, he fell in with the wrong crowd. He feared he would never really be accepted in this country, so why bother trying to make something of himself? Abe joined a gang, was involved in a number of burglaries, and was arrested at 16. David and I knew we had to pull together for his sake, to help him when he needed it most. We were fortunate that this juvenile facility focused on rehabilitation rather than just punishment. He did better in school, really applied himself, even joined the facility's baseball team. When Abe was released, he vowed to be a better person, maybe even help at risk kids like he had been. During this time David and I reconnected, by the time Abe was released on his 18th birthday, David and I decided to get married.

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During the 2090s a number of politicians used the images of "alien criminals" to get votes by promising to be tough on crime. Most would say "I'm not racist, just anti-crime." But the media kept showing aliens as violent criminals. So many alien youths, who hadn't even been born when the war ended, only saw themselves as murderers and rapists. Abe did become a youth counselor, helping at risk youth and children in juvenile detention. It was hard, but he helped a lot of people. He said that me and David were good role models on this, that we helped start his interest in politics. Abe was always somewhat torn, being half human and half alien. He had two girlfriends, simultaneously, one human one alien. The alien girl got pregnant. He was a good father, but he never married the girl. He married the human girl instead. I was dissapointed, but I also loved playing with my granddaughter, little Willow. I unfortunately heard all the nasty comments people made. By this point abortion was once again legal. Groups like the Friends of Humanity were the biggest supporters of abortion rights, they wanted as few half-breed children as possible.

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By the 2120s things had calmed down. The cities were rebuilt, fewer and fewer people were still live who could remember the war. I had gotten older, turned 80. My mother, Leah, David, had all passed away. Willow was still alive, and a great-grandmother. I hoped to live long enough to become a great-grandmother. In 2128 president Sullivan was running for re-election. She had been a child during the war, had vivid memories of running to the shelter in the middle of the night. Sullivan wasn't old enough to have fought in the war, but as an adult she joined the Friends of Humanity, had helped parents with homeschooling rather than let them attend integrated schools. By this point she had become more moderate, focused more on the tough on crime platform rather than outright racism. 2128 was believed to be the first election in which grandchildren of those born just after the war ended could vote. Perhaps that was symbolic. Because on November 2nd 2128 the United States of America elected it's first alien president. My son, Abraham Lincoln Rosenberg. I have seen my son sworn in as president, I'm sorry to say his father didn't live to see this. The war is long over, and we are in a period of peace. I have heard it said that we are in paradise, compared to the war I supposse it is. People said that about the days before the invasion, when people were far less violent. It's easy to be a saint in paradise, but when you're struggling just to survive it's considerably more difficult. It seems I have lived to see the end of that great conflict. At my age I'm likely to die before the next great conflict begins, I can only hope.