"America had the biggest, strongest, richest military in the world," she says. "We fought a lotta wars, and most of 'em were pretty bullshit on our part. But World War 2 was the last time any battles were fought on our turf. But we didn't need war. Everythin' was shit in our world anyway. And then countries sort of stopped existin'."

It gives her an odd feeling, talking about the pros and cons of her home. She knows that, in the grand scheme of things, Americans in her time had it better than basically anyone else ever. Only a few countries were better off. And that American propaganda machine had been working on her since she was a toddler; she was taught a lifetime of national exceptionalism, that she was lucky enough to be from the greatest culture in the history of humanity. Having all of that undone in the blink of an eye was hard, and now she is separated from it forever, so she wants to love it. Love the only place she ever knew until Abraxas.

She shakes her head a little, folding her hands together. "Nah, they were right. To them, I was a let-down. But I never would have wanted to be what woulda made 'em proud. That was never me. The only thing we ever both wanted for me was to not worry about money, and the only way that happened for me was for money to stop existin' for a while."

If society hadn't fallen apart, she doesn't know that she'd even be here. She thinks she would probably still be back in Kansas.