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The State of Tennessee
❂Andrew S. Hickory❂

"Alright," Tennessee agreed as he washed his hands before going to help her prepare the apples while the chicken thawed out. He hadn't made a pie in a while. Baking wasn't exactly his thing even though Andrew loved sweets. Generally if he was going to cook something it was either on the grill or in a skillet. Of course he could cook other things but it was easier his way and usually there was less to clean up if you did it right.

"It's been a while since we cooked together," he said after a few moments of silence just to start up conversation. "It's kinda nice goin' to school together so we can do stuff like this." It certainly was more convenient for him to walk down the hall to a different dorm then cross their borders and drive to her house.

Grade 9
The Volunteer

The State of Tennessee
❂Andrew S. Hickory❂

"I guess school ain't all bad," Tennessee said although he would rather shoot himself in the leg than admit that to his boss. Honestly, many good things had come of him going to school. He was able to spend time with his siblings and had developed a closer relationship with Leilani that he never thought would happen. Not to mention he had learned to make friends with nations! The boy was quite proud of himself for befriending France and he blushed faintly when his mind wondered to Seychelles...

At the reminder of his first attempts at real cooking his blush spread a bit. When he was little much of what he did made perfect sense, but in hindsight his attempts were a little wild. Bacon cookies had seemed like such a good idea at the time but that had been the least of his mistakes. "Salt and sugar shouldn't look so similar," he said in his defense while he diced up some of the apples he had peeled.

Grade 9
The Volunteer

The State of Tennessee
❂Andrew S. Hickory❂

"Yeah," Tennessee said as he gathered up the apples he had prepared and carefully transferred them over to his sister. He wrinkled his nose as he tried to imagine what a plum pie would taste like. Never in his life had he eaten such a thing. Once he made sure she had the apples he turned his attention to the chicken she had put in the sink to see if it had thawed enough yet for them to start cooking. Apple pie and fried chicken really did sound like the best thing ever at the moment and he would honestly be satisfied if that was all that they put on his plate. His boss would probably give him a good kick for saying that, though.

Andrew still swore up and down it wasn't his diet that was the problem with his health so much as them giving him so much paper work and weird science projects that kept him locked indoors all the time. If they would let him go back to hunting and farming as much as he wanted then everything would be fine. The state wrinkled his nose unhappily at the reminder of how sedentary their lives had become over the years. He'd lost quite a bit of his old skills from when he was a frontier just because of the shift in living. His strength and stamina only grew with age, but certain abilities had been lost over time as his population shifted from wild backwoodsmen to blue and white collar workers. This was true for all states, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Grade 9
The Volunteer

The State of Tennessee
❂Andrew S. Hickory❂

Andrew blinked when he heard a storm brewing outside. To his knowledge there wasn't supposed to be any rain today at all. Not that the weather man being wrong was anything new, but it was always a bit irritating. He at first began to ignore it until a particularly violent burst of thunder all but shook the dorm. The state swore under his breath as he heard several car alarms start blaring in the distance in response. "You'd think is was right over us," he muttered as he approached the window to look outside.

There was a bright flash of lightning that lit up the entire sky and for a brief second Tennessee thought he saw the silhouette of something straight out of his nightmares. He jerked back from the window as if he'd been bitten by it and felt a sharp sting rush through his palm. The boy looked down at a moment to see he'd cut himself with the knife he'd been using and when he looked up again it didn't seem like anything was there...

"I must be losin' my mind..." he muttered, but for some reason he couldn't stop his hands from shaking a bit. Andrew had seen many things in his lifetime but nothing as particularly disturbing as the outline of a creature he'd only heard about in the Cherokee and Chickasaw stories the natives had told him as a child. The state shook his head before using his uninjured palm to pull the blinds closed.

Grade 9
The Volunteer

I said where I come from
It's cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lotta front porch sittin'
Where I come from tryin' to make a livin'
And workin' hard to get to heaven
Where I come from

There aren't too many rules when you come here.
Mind your P's an' Q's.
Be polite to all ya meet.
Take pride in where you're from.
Tea is always sweet.
And it's Coca-Cola, not Pepsi!

I said where I come from
It's cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lotta front porch sittin'
Where I come from tryin' to make a livin'
And workin' hard to get to heaven
Where I come from

There aren't too many rules when you come here.
Mind your P's an' Q's.
Be polite to all ya meet.
Take pride in where you're from.
Tea is always sweet.
And it's Coca-Cola, not Pepsi!

I said where I come from
It's cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lotta front porch sittin'
Where I come from tryin' to make a livin'
And workin' hard to get to heaven
Where I come from

There aren't too many rules when you come here.
Mind your P's an' Q's.
Be polite to all ya meet.
Take pride in where you're from.
Tea is always sweet.
And it's Coca-Cola, not Pepsi!