BOMB
A low-flying jet screamed by overhead, ripping a wake through the clouds and tearing a new hole in the sound barrier.
I've been told that this city was in the top ten on the Soviet hit list during the Cold War. I guess it's plausible.
We've got the military base, a pretty big deal back I the day, even though most of it has been shut down since those days of paranoia. There's also "The Hole", which used to be the premium security post buried under the pre-Cambrian rock of the Canadian Shield. If you take them for their word, it is bow just a hole.
It is quite the thing to realize that this mostly sleepy little community used to be so significant - and such a threat. We were the only thing standing between the mighty U.S.S.R. and the tenacious American superpower.
That's a wild thing to think about. There are still shrines scattered around the city to that storied past as well. Military jets like the Voodoo and Bomark missiles up on big cement pedestals. All that despite the fact that our city might as well be a DMZ compared to the halcyon '80s.
If you were to ask around, most people here would probably tell you that the base had been closed for years. Not technically true, although job well done for being so under-the-radar.
We're not the only thing that has changed though. The U.S. Is now waging war on the army they built to combat the reds and the U.S.S.R. dissolved.
This entire military history flooded confoundedly through me as I watched the jet. In the distance a gleaming object separated and dropped from the jet. A moment later, the ground beneath me leapt upward and my knees buckled. In the distance, a bright fireball mushroomed up from the horizon and all I could think was how weird it looked.
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