AT THE EVENT MUSEUM
You may be surprised to know these are real places, our guide says. You can find them on the map at the end of the tour. She hands us our radiation suits. Half of us go into Chernobyl, the other half into Hiroshima. We walk from the Before room to the After room. Our Geiger Counters click an wheedle. My mask is hard to see through and it takes me a while to realize there are no more people. The ambulances have left. I want to warn the dogs. It feels so real. The guide has never heard of Three Mile Island.
We slip off the suits and hear gunshots. What's the difference between Gettysburg and Columbine? our guide asks. We duck out of the way as students run by with their hands up. Their grandfathers were in Vietnam, so they know what to do. The smoke clears and we lay wreaths at the white crosses, a single row like Arlington. We are still working on Iraq and Afghanistan, the guide says, and gestures toward the locked doors.
We go from Ruby Ridge to Waco. Jonestown is silent--no fire or gunshots, all the people in rows. Motionless fathers hold their children down. We can't see Kook-Aid on their faces. Most of us are crying, and the tour guide promises to cheer us up. We walk past Bataan and Auschwitz, all the way to Hollywood. We stay in Hollywood for hours. We better be getting to Ground Zero, Broadway, and Wall Street! calls the tour guide. They are closing Lockerbie and Love Canal! But we just stay in Hollywood, watching those beautiful people pose for flashing cameras. One mother tells us to get a good look. You can be anything you want, she says.
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