ReUNION: What if the Civil War had never happened? Read Online Free PDF Page B

a well-manned barrier of concrete pillboxes and deep, impenetrable
tunnels nearly 300 miles long, bristling with artillery pieces, machine guns
and mortars."
    Callaway finished off his cruller, and, realizing his fingers were sticky,
reached for a napkin and tried to wipe them off. That failing, he licked, and
smiled when he saw everyone watching him. "Madame Secretary of
State..."
    "Designate," Ms. Tennenbaum reminded him mischievously.
    "Designate," Callaway added, "How would you characterize our
relationship with the Confederate States of America?"
    She leaned back and folded her arms under what her awe-struck subordinates
liked to call the Grand Tetons. "We don't have much a relationship,"
she said. "We've tried to be friends occasionally, during the 1918 and
1963 influenza epidemics, for instance, But the cooperation didn't last."
    "Yes," Callaway said, "I remember some of the stories. They'd bring
sick whites to our hospitals, but no Blacks. So we finally started refusing all
CSA patients. What about now, Veronica?"
    "Now we don't have much to do with each other," the
Secretary-of-State designate said. "We're like a long-divorced couple with
no children. We might nod if we pass each other in the street. But neither of
us is interested in trying it again."
    "Let's keep this in mind," General Hutchison pointed out. "We
share most of our southern border with the CSA and it's one of the most heavily
patrolled borders in the world, on their side anyhow."
    This time it was Hawke who helped himself to a donut, a glazed one just
starting to turn gooey. "True enough, but in their paranoia, they want to
prevent their people from leaving. They’re not concerned with keeping us
out."
    "They're happy to see us when we bring money," Eric Wang said,
speaking up for the first time.
    "You've been?" Callaway asked, surprised.
    "To Miami Beach,"
Wang said. "It was pretty nice. Good corned beef at Junior's Deli."
    "I like Havana
much better," said the Vice President. "The night clubs are
spectacular."
    Callaway frowned. The Vice President was a known partier."Ok,
people," he said, "let's get down to business. We've already
covered the CSA and Mexico
pretty well. Let's look at the rest of the world. Director Hawke?"
    Hawke opened the yellow binder on the table in front of him. "You mean Germany, of
course."
    "Indeed," said Callaway, pleased with Hawke’s quick mind.
    "Well, as we all know, the German Empire is thriving and at peace with its
colonies in Africa, the South Pacific and China. It remains the most powerful
country in the world, both economically and militarily, as it has been for the
last 75 years or so."
    "With military bases all over the world, " General Hutchison put in
unnecessarily.
    "Well, they are good peacekeepers" said the
Secretary-of-State-designate. "And God knows, the world needs a policeman.
Japan and China would
still be at war if it weren't for the Germans."
    "The line between peacekeeping and colonization is a very fine one,"
DCI Hawke observed.
    "That's true, " Callaway said, "but they've been fairly
benign."
    "Yes. So far. And very generous to their defeated enemies," said
Hawke.
    "Ah yes, England,"
Callaway said. "Anyone have any ideas about reducing tensions between us
and Jolly Old England?"
    "I think we're destined to rub each other the wrong way," Hawke said.
"We're continually on the verge of a trade war, or a trivial territorial
dispute, like the one over Bermuda, or we're
kicking each other's diplomats out of the country because of some kind of sex
scandal. Or spying."
    "Well, we did fight two wars against each other," said Dr. Burton.
"and we barely avoided two others. That’s a lot of bad blood."
    "Fortunately, England
isn't powerful enough to be a real problem," Secretary-of-State designate
Tennenbaum piped up. "She hasn't been the same since the Great War. It's
almost 100 years later, and she still hasn't recovered from her loss of men and
treasure."
    Callaway drew in a deep breath. "keep going,