Words to Live By - A Countryhumans SovAme Story

Act I, Chapter VI - The More You Sweat, the Less You Bleed

October 1938

Washington D.C., United States of America

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So, about Poland. Many are a friend to her, but few truly know her. I do not particularly consider myself one of these few, however, so I cannot speak of what happened to her in great detail, as they are details I simply do not know. Now, the story of what happened to her is a terrible tale, but the trouble with the Third Reich did not start with her. It started on March 12, 1938, with the Germans' annexation of Austria, who went willingly. While I know many European feathers were immensely ruffled by this affair, I was dealing with other things at the time, namely the Great Depression. No, for me it started in October of that same year, with a frenzied phone call from my sister.

I was sitting at my desk in the Capitol Building, going through my mail when it began. The phone I used exclusively for "country business" rang and I set aside my fountain pen to pick it up. That's strange, I thought, what country would be calling at 1:47 PM on a Wednesday?

"What time does London open?" I asked, using our code. I had to ensure this was another country I was speaking to, and not someone else.

"17:38," the voice of my younger sister answered. I was now certain, through our nonsense code, that this was indeed one of our own. 

"United States of America speaking," I replied, "what are you calling for?"

"America," Canada gasped, "have you seen the news?"

I shook my head, momentarily forgetting that she could not see me.

"No, no. What is it?"

"Czechoslovakia!" she shouted. I jerked away from the phone, shocked by the loud sound.

"Lower your voice!" I whisper-yelled, before responding: "What about Czechoslovakia?"

"The Germans have invaded!" she said, "I only heard this morning!"

"I thought there was an agreement to only take the Sudetenland?" I said, confused. I'd heard about the Munich Agreement, where Britain and France decided what the Czechoslovak fate would be, without Czechoslovakia even present, but I was under the impression it would have ended there...

"He's violated the treaty. He wants the rest of Czechoslovakia for himself!"

...and of course that was a foolish assumption. I should have known this would happen, that he would start slowly taking as much as he could. Britain and France should have known, too, but truly I wasn't all that angry at them.

"Legions of Rome!" I said, using an old country expression, "that sick bastard, I should've known," I told Canada, and I heard her hum her agreement.

"So, what are we gonna do about it?" She asked suddenly. I paused.

Wait a moment. Does she really expect me to be the one who handles this? I have other problems right now.

"What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Excuse me?!"

Now, I know this sounds very selfish of me, but you must consider my point of view here. I did not yet know about the horror that the Third Reich would bring upon this world, and I figured other major European powers would be able to handle it. They'd been able to wrangle the Germans the last time they got out of hand mostly without my help, so why should I think they would suddenly be incapable of war, if it should come to that? If anything, that was likely to offend them. To add to that, I was still dealing with the Great Depression and its effects, which meant I could hardly focus on a crisis all the way across the ocean. From my perspective, it was simply illogical to get involved. Unfortunately, my sister's thoughts differed.