#atozchallenge: W is for War

Here's to a great AtoZ!

Join in the FUN.


This year I traveled to Cuba. You know, it's that little island that's spitting distance from Florida and should not be visited without special dispensation. I wanted to see it before MacDonald's arrived. I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people. It seems they like us. Now there's a change!

I'll add a short T/F quiz to each post the same as I did last year about Burma, and I'll post the answers to the questions the following day. 




Answers to your T/F Quiz for V

FALSE 1. The Old Havana, Cuidad Vieja, wasn't founded in the early 1900s. The Spanish founded it in the 1500s.


TRUE  2. Some of Old Havana is still owned by private individuals, but the state owns most of it. 







W is for War
 
When Teddy Roosevelt came to help out the Cubans by getting rid of those wretched Spanish (please note the sarcasm) he had a couple of agendas in mind. First, this would probably be the last chance for a calvary to go to war. We were creating machines to carry us into battle. The horse was becoming obsolete in war. 

Good for the horse, I say. 

Anyway, he wanted to ride astride his steed for one more fight. Second, there was a presidential opportunity ahead and looking brave on a horse was a good vote-getting strategy. 

But here's a funny part of the story that Teddy probably didn't mention. When they sailed up to the island, they dumped their nobel steeds into the water, thinking they'd swim to shore. Wrong. They started swimming into the open water. What? And now what?

A young bugler saw that sharks might have quite a feast if someone didn't turn those horses around. So he sounded the charge, and by golly, those equine beasts headed dutifully toward the island where the charge was supposedly happening.

War isn't just stupid, it's really stupid.



Your T/F Quiz for W:    
1. Teddy Roosevelt was 43 when he became president.
2. Unfortunately, Teddy Roosevelt was assassinated soon after taking office.


Answers tomorrow.Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew