Chapter 3: Country 101
Claire watched fascinated as her country practically inhaled 10 hamburgers in less than five minutes. They were still in the Oval Office, and having a midnight snack before delving into whatever information America had to give to Claire. Claire, barely able to contain her excitement, started to speak.
"So, Mr.-"
"Alfred."
"Sorry?"
America grinned, scrunching up the hamburger wrapping and throwing it into the trash. "The names Alfred F. Jones. No need to be so formal, dude! You can call me whatever you want in private, but when we're out in public just call me Alfred." Claire couldn't help but smile. There was something so endearing about Alfred's enthusiasm and casual attitude. Claire felt herself relaxing, formalities taking a back seat. "Alright then Alfred." Claire said, stealing one of his French fries and swiveling around in her chair. "Gimme the low-down."
Alfred grinned. He was really starting to like his new President.
Right. Basically, every country is personified as a dude or chick. We're all pretty young looking, even though some of us have been around for, like, a million years. God knows how old that old fart China really is." America slurped on his Coke thoughtfully before continuing. "Anyway, our job is to make sure our people are happy, and that we make decisions with they're best interest in mind. But we don't consider ourselves "better" than our citizens. After all, we're like all our people rolled into one!" He smiled fondly. "We are the representations of our people: their beliefs, culture, everything. We fight for them and alongside them. We give them a place to live and thrive, and in return, they believe in us and unite under us. That is what it means to be a country."
Claire studied her country. He looked so young, about 19 years old. Just four years older than her Alex, and to have such responsibility and literally part of the world resting on his shoulders….
"It must be difficult." Claire said quietly. "Serving the needs of the many as best as you can, all the while keeping your identity hidden as much as possible." America laughed. "It definitely has its moments, but it's worth it! And it's not like we need recognition from our people about who we are. After all, all of our hard work is shown on the map of the world! Heck, our pride and joy are shown when all our people celebrate our birthdays! That's the best gift you can get!"
Claire smiled. She could tell that despite his crazy personality, he took his job very seriously. Claire's curiosity was rising to breaking point. "Tell me more about you, Alfred." said Claire. "How are you affected by major changes in the country? How involved are you with the people? My goodness, there's so many things I want to ask!" She looked rather frazzled, and America couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright Claire, lemme give you Country 101." He stood up, gesturing to himself. "Each part of my body corresponds with a part of my country. The curl on my head is Nantucket, my heart is Washington D.C., and Florida…." he paused. He usually didn't mind sharing just exactly what Florida was with his previous presidents. They had the same anatomy as him after all. But now, it felt different. He suddenly felt self-conscious. What the hell, he was about to proudly announce to his female president what his junk was!
"Your 'private parts', I'm assuming?" America blushed, mentally smacking himself as his President smirked. "Y-Yes." He felt like crawling under a rock. But then he remembered, he was a hero dammit! Hero's didn't get embarrassed! He let out an obnoxious laugh to cover up his embarrassment. "Yep! And my glasses are Texas!" "Oh, so they aren't prescription glasses?" said Claire. "Nope!" He took them off, and Claire was surprised to see how young the country really looked. Despite being the current superpower of the world, he still had the looks and personality a young man, practically young enough to be her son. Something inside of her softened.
"If that's the case, then when your country is attacked… what happens?" America's smiled dropped, and he put his glasses back on. "Well, when scars are left on our land, scars are left on our bodies. And no matter how many centuries old they are, the attacks are never forgotten, and the scars never go away." He took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. Claire took in a sharp breath. As a soldier, she had witnessed death and injuries at their worst, but seeing all the scars that littered her country's young body made her heart break. Alfred, seeing the look of sadness in his President's eyes, felt guilty. But she had to know. She had to know what governing a nation really meant, that each of her actions would affect him too.
Suddenly he felt warm fingertips on his chest, over his heart. He looked down, surprised, to see Claire examining the burn-mark over his heart thoughtfully. "Was this from 1812, then?" she asked, looking up at her country. America relaxed. "Yeah, it is." The way she fussed and worried over his wounds, poorly- hidden motherly concern all over her face, filled him with a feeling he hadn't felt for centuries. It was the feeling of having a woman in his life, but not just that, but a mother. America was floored. To feel this way towards his new boss, who he had just met an hour ago, was crazy. But then he thought about it. Ever since he was little, he had been surrounded by men. He had been raised by men, governed by men, and fought alongside mainly men. Sure, their had been motherly figures in his life, like some of his President's wives. He stared hard into her face. Then he realized. Was it her eyes? Those green eyes, full of concern and affection. A bit like how his eyes used to look, hundreds of years ago.
"Surely not all of these could be from attacks on the country." said Claire, interrupting America's thoughts. "A few of these look like bullet wounds." "You got it!" said America, starting to button up his shirt as his President sat back down. "They're from all the wars I fought in. The World Wars, the Vietnam War, you name it; I probably have a scar from it somewhere. You see, I can get hurt physically or when my country is attacked. Though any attacks on my body don't affect my land. Otherwise there probably wouldn't be much left." Once again noting the concern on Claire's face, he said quickly, "It's really not that bad! I'm young and awesome! You should see what some of the older countries look like."
"That reminds me," said Claire. "If the other countries are personified as well, what exactly are your relationships with each other like? The Austro-Hungarian Empire, for instance." Alfred coughed. "Um, that's a bit tricky. But I'll do my best to explain. Most of the countries are guys. And some of us are centuries of years older or younger than each other. But despite that, we each kind of have families, based on who raised us and stuff. Heck, some of us are actually related to each other, though no one really knows how that happened!"
"Really!" Claire was starting to get excited at the prospect of meeting other countries. "Yeah! Like North and South Italy are twins, Norway is apparently Iceland's big brother, Germany is Prussia's little brother, England and his big brothers Scotland and Wales and the Irelands, and me and Mattie are twins!"
Claire nearly choked on her tea. "You have a twin!? Who is he?" America grinned proudly. "He's Canada, of course! He looks just like me, but not as heroic looking. He's really quiet though, so he gets forgotten a lot…" There was a moment of sadness on his face. "But I never forget my bro, and that what matters! You'll see him tomorrow probably, he always comes down with his boss to meet the new President and stuff."
"Fantastic!" America's twin brother, Canada. She was going to meet Canada! "As for relationships with each other… huh. Well, I know that Austria and Hungary were actually married for a while, what with the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire and all. Oh yeah, Hungary is one of the few chick countries, but I swear she's the manliest out of all of us." He shuddered. "As for me and England, we are NOT together! He raised me; it would have been really creepy if he turned all pedo on me. If I had to bet on who England was sleeping with, I'd say France. There's so much sexual tension between them that even ITALY has noticed, and he's a complete airhead."
"Interesting." Claire didn't mind same-sex relationships at all. On the contrary, she fully supported it. You should be with the one you love after all. "Oh yeah! Iggy's probably gonna come around some time this week too! I think it's to establish friendly relations with you or something like that. He comes every time I get a new President, it's kind of annoying. Oh yeah, Iggy is England by the way. I REALLY hope France doesn't come too. I swear, if he tries to hit on you just kick him in the nuts. That should stop him. For a while, anyway."
"Will do," said Claire, growing slightly concerned. "Alfred, as much as I want to hear more about the countries, what exactly is our relationship? Where do you live? Do you accompany me to my meetings or do I accompany you to your meetings? How often will I see you? I must know, so I can start planning and getting to work as soon as possible."
America threw his empty Coke can into the trash. "Oh yeah. I have my own place here in D.C., and a bunch of places around the country, but I'll be staying here in the White House for the first month of your term, to make you get settled in or you need me for anything. We'll probably be seeing each other almost every day, for paperwork and all that boring stuff. We can also hang out for fun too! We go together to meetings and really important stuff, like signing official documents and whatever. Though there will be time where we have separate appointment. Also, I gotta warn you about World Meetings. All the leaders of course have their own World Meeting. That's the one that is filmed and shown on T.V. The countries have their own World Meeting, and that, thank god, is not recorded. The next World Meeting is here, so I'll be leading it! I am the hero, after all! If you guys hear any loud or disturbing noises, just ignore it. You'll probably get more stuff done than we do anyway." He looked at Claire. "No offense, but you look like a zombie. Why don't you go to bed? We can talk more in the morning if you want. It's probably gonna be a crazy day tomorrow. Besides, I wanna meet your kids!" Claire smiled tiredly. "I'll take your advice, Alfred. Goodnight. It was lovely to meet you. I'll see you in the morning."
Claire lay in bed, processing everything she had just learned. The countries were people, and it sounded like she would be meeting a few of them very soon. As she drifted off to sleep, she though, "I wonder what they're like? The kids are going to go crazy when they find out….."
Little did she know just how crazy things were going to get.