On the Road to Woodstock -part eleven

John and I made our way back to Linda and Sherry's tent to meet up with them so that we might go up on the hill and listen to some music together. As we got close, I saw that Linda was sitting on a blanket in front of the tent reading a paperback, and Sherry was not in sight.

John and I walked up side-by-side, and Linda looked up and smiled.

"Hi guys," she said. I was looking around for Sherry when Linda said, "Sherry went to use one of those god awful portable toilets."

"I bet those things are rotten," John said.

Linda looked up at him with a disgusted look on her face. "I'll say," she said, "and if that were not enough, it takes half an hour standing in line to get to use one." She stretched her legs out on the blanket. "Sherry and I usually go together, but we thought that one of us should stay here in case you guys came back."

"Johnny Lee and I just use the woods when we have to go."

"You guys are lucky." Linda put a bookmarker in her book and crawling on hands and knees put it in the tent. Sitting back down on the blanket, she said, "You two can sit down if you like. Sherry might be awhile."

We took her up on her offer, and John and I sat down cross-legged on the blanket across from Linda. A short period of silence went by, and then Linda asked the both of us, "So how did you guys end up coming up here?"

"I'm not so sure about that myself," John said. "How did I end up coming up here with you, Johnny Lee?"

"I told you. Bob didn't want Lynn to go, so you got her ticket, and she bought bus tickets for us to come up here," I said to John. I didn't really feel like explaining the whole thing.

"Yeah, but I still don't really understand it all," he said. "Lynn is Bob Paris's wife?"

"Yeah, she..." I started to say, but Linda interrupted.

"Wait a minute. Who is Lynn?"

"You know the bus we drove up on?" I asked Linda. "Nationwide Charter?"

"Yes, of course."

"That's my uncle's company," I told her. "I work there." I nodded my head towards John. "John's mother works there, too."

"Yeah, she's been working there ever since I can remember," John said.

"Well, Lynn works there, too. That's how I know her."

"She’s really married to Bob Paris, huh?" John asked me. "How does a big, fat guy like that get a good-looking woman like her?"

"Beats me," I said and shrugged my shoulders.

"Who is Bob Paris?" Linda asked.

"He's my cousin," I said. "My Uncle Vin is his father."

"And your Uncle Vin runs Nationwide Charter?" Linda asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"But Sherry and I got our tickets from the Paradise boutique. Does your uncle run that, too?"

"No," I said. "Paradise chartered the bus from Nationwide Charter."

"Oh," Linda said. She was quiet for a moment. "So did you guys get to ride for free?"

"No," I said, "Lynn bought tickets for John and me from Paradise." I thought for a moment. "I guess she bought them. She's friends with the owners."

"And who is Lynn?" Linda asked. She looked at me. "You said that John got her ticket. Was she going to come up here?"

"Yeah, we were going to drive up together, but then Bob, my cousin, didn't want her to go."

"And he's her husband?" Linda asked. "How was it that you two were going to come up together?"

"Well, Lynn started giving me a ride into work," I said, "and we kinda got to be friends." I shifted my position a little. "I had gone to the Laurel Pop Festival, and she thought that was pretty cool, so when I said I wanted to go to Woodstock, she wanted to go, too."

"You went to the Laurel Pop Festival?" Linda asked. "I heard that was great."

"Johnny Lee saw the Beatles at DC stadium when they played there three years ago," John said. "He's gone to more concerts than I have."

"You saw the Beatles?" Linda's eyes got big and her jaw dropped down.

"Yeah," I said, "It wasn't very good, though."

"How could a Beatles concert not be very good?" Linda asked.

"'Cause we were up in the stands, and the Beatles were way out on this stage in the field. They were so far away they were just four little people standing on this little box." I paused for a moment and gathered my thoughts. "And the sound was coming through these little speakers in the stands. It sounded like a cheap radio. Besides, the girls were screaming so loud it was hard to hear anything."

"But you were there. You saw The Beatles," John said.

"Yeah," Linda agreed.

"I guess," I said.

Sherry came walking up and sat down on the blanket between Linda and me. "Wow, am I glad that's over." She let out a sigh. "So what are you guys talking about?"

"Johnny Lee saw the Beatles," Linda exclaimed.

"You saw the Beatles?" She looked at me. "Wow." She seemed awestruck.

"Johnny Lee was going to come up here with his cousin's wife, but his cousin put his foot down." Linda looked at me and asked, "Did you two have something going on?" She gave me a sly smile.

I tried to maintain my composure, but my embarrassment gave me away.

"Look," Linda said to everyone, "Johnny Lee's face is turning red."

I was hoping that Linda was only kidding me, but the truth was I had had my hopes up about getting together with Lynn when we came up. I hated Bob for stopping her from coming. She still could've come against his wishes, but as she told me she wanted to give their failing marriage a last chance to succeed.

I looked down out of embarrassment, and John leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I don't blame you for wanting to fuck her."

I became even more embarrassed. I was afraid that the girls had overheard John's crude remark. I figured that they did, because they were real quiet for a minute. Then John broke the silence. "What about you two? How did you end up coming up here together?"

"Sherry and I have been best friends since elementary school. She lives a couple of blocks over from me." Linda leaned over and put her arm around Sherry, and Sherry smiled.

"Yeah, Linda and I do everything together." Sherry put her arm around Linda's waist.

"So when we heard about Woodstock, we just had to go. Our parents weren't to cool with the idea, but in the end I guess they figured it was better to send us up prepared rather than have us run off."

John leaned over and whispered in my ear again. "They're queer for each other," and he snickered.

"We are not," Linda exclaimed. She leaned over and punched John hard in the shoulder.

"Ow, that hurt," John said. He rubbed his shoulder.

"That's what you get for being an asshole," Linda said.

Linda looked pissed off, and John had a smug look on his face, and Sherry and I just sort of looked at each other with a mixture of shock and surprise. We all sat in silence for a minute or so, and I felt uncomfortable sitting there.

Finally, John broke the silence. "Let's all go find a place on the hill." Linda turned her head away from him. "Oh, come on Linda." He reached over and squeezed her shoulder.

She turned her head back to John, and gave him the evil eye for a few moments. Then she said, "All right." She looked at Sherry and me and then back to John. "But you better behave," she warned him.

He just smiled and started to get up, and I got up with him. Once John and I were standing, Linda and Sherry stood up, and Linda folded up the blanket and handed it to Sherry. She crawled into in the tent and was back out in a moment. "Okay," she said, ”if we're going to go, let’s go."

So we went. John and I walked together and Linda and Sherry followed behind us. I could hear them whispering back and forth.

I could've killed John. We had all been getting along so well, and then he had to go fuck everything up. And now I just knew that Sherry thought I was a jerk.