On the Road to Woodstock -part twelve

John and I and Linda and Sherry went looking for a spot near the top of the hill to sit and listen to music, but there were no bands playing yet. It was past noon, and only recorded music played through the PA system.

We found a spot, and Linda laid the blanket down, and John and I sat down in the front with Linda and Sherry sitting behind us. The sky was a beautiful deep blue filled with big, billowy clouds, but the sun was beginning to beat down hard.

I had an olive complexion and rarely burned; I just turned brown. John, on the other hand, had fair skin, and his cheeks and nose were sunburned from the day before. Linda and Sherry had on sun hats and sunglasses and their faces were unfazed by the sun. John was right; they had their shit together.

Sherry had taken her sweater off back at the tent and was wearing a fairly snug fitting short sleeve top on underneath. It was lavender with paisley designs on it, and it showed off a shapely chest that had been hidden by her sweater. I couldn't help but to take quick glances at her. She didn't seem to mind.

Linda had on a tie-dyed T-shirt, and her long black hair glistened in the sun. She had a bit of a gut on her and as she sat a couple of folds of fat formed. Other than being heavy, though, she was not an unattractive woman.

Both girls' bare arms were brownish red from the sun, and there were tan lines at the edges of their sleeves. They had seen their share of the sun.

We were all quiet for a good 10 minutes, and then John spoke up. "I wonder what's up with the music?"

" I don't know," I said. "There should be bands on by now."

"Well, I'm getting thirsty," John said, and stood up. "Does anyone want to go get something to drink?"

" I do,” I said. I stood up with John.

Linda and Sherry exchanged glances, and Linda said, "I think we'll stay here and save our places, but could you bring us back something?" Linda dug into her front pants pocket and pulled out a dozen or more Food for Love coupons. She handed them to John.

"Sure," John said, and he pocketed the tickets. "Just something to drink?" he asked.

"Yes, that'll be fine," Linda said. She looked at Sherry.

"Yeah, something to drink," Sherry said.

John and I started walking up towards the concession stands. "You've got Linda and Sherry pissed off at us now," I said. "Why'd you have to say that about them being queer?"

"They'll get over it," he said. "Besides, you don't want to let girls know that you are too interested in them. Sometimes," he explained, "the less interested they think you are with them, the more interested they are with you."

It didn't seem to make sense to me, but John knew more about girls than I did. But I was unsure of his reasoning. "I don't know," I said. "They seem pretty pissed off."

"You worry too much." John looked at me and chuckled. "If anyone, they're pissed off at me, not you."

As we walked along, I hoped he was right but had a nagging suspicion he was wrong. As we began to get near the concession stands I said, "I hope it's not like it was last night."

"I hope not, either," he said. "I hope they've gotten more food in."

"Yeah, and drinks, too."

We made it to the stands, but things didn't look good. There were no lines to get food or drinks, and there was no one at the tickets stands. People were just wandering around.

I went up to where they sold food and cold drinks and saw that there was only water and ice left in the big containers that normally held cans of sodas.

There was a vendor there, and I asked him, "Are there any food or drinks left?"

"Nope, we're all out."

"Can I get a piece of the ice," I asked him.

"No, you can get dysentery from it."

"I don't care," I told him.

"Help yourself then," he said.

I reached over and grabbed a good-sized chunk and took a bite out of it. As I chewed on the ice, the cold melting water felt good.

"Do you have any cups?" I asked him.

"No." He was beginning to sound annoyed.

I looked around, and John was nowhere in sight. I didn't feel much like looking around for him--I was still angry with him--so I made a pouch out of the bottom of my shirt and put as much ice in it as I could carry and headed back down to where the girls were.

At first I had a hard time spotting them amidst everyone else in the crowd, and I began to get nervous that I might not be able to find them, but then I saw them. Their black and blonde hair hanging down their backs was unmistakable. And with a sense of relief I headed over to where there were sitting.

"They didn't have anything to drink," I told them, "but here's some ice if you want it, but the guy told me you could get dysentery from it." I kneeled down beside them.

"What's dysentery?" Sherry asked.

"Someone said it gives you the shits," I said.

"I think I'll pass," Linda said.

"Me, too," said Sherry.

I felt kind of hurt that I had gone to the trouble of bringing them the ice, and then they didn't want it. But I figured there was more for me, and to hell with them. I sat down facing away from them and took another bite of ice.

Linda reached out and touched my arm. "I appreciate you bringing the ice for us, but we're just afraid of getting sick, that's all."

I looked up at her and the compassion in her eyes melted my anger away.

"What is it with John?" Linda asked me.

"What do you mean?" I turned around so that I was facing the girls.

"Back at the tent," she said. "He was being such a jerk."

"That's just John," I said. "He jokes around too much sometimes."

"He sounded serious to me," Linda said.

"He wasn't serious," I said.

"How do you know?"

"John likes you," I told her, "he doesn't think you're queer."

"Then why did he say it?"

"He was just messing with you," I said. "You can't take John seriously sometimes."

"Well, I didn't like what he said," Linda said. "I don't think Sherry liked it either."

"No, I didn't," Sherry said. She looked at me. "You don't think that about us, do you?"

"No, not at all." I hoped she heard the sincerity in my voice. I didn't want to blow it with her.

"Good." She sounded convinced, and I was very him relieved.

John came strolling back and sitting down he said to me, " I was wondering where you went. Why didn't you wait for me?"

"I looked for you, but I couldn't find you."

"You just wanted to get back to the girls so you could talk about me."

I couldn't tell if he were serious or were just joking. "No, I really couldn't find you," I said. "Besides, I knew we could meet up here if we couldn't find each other." But there was something in John's eyes that told me he didn't believe me.

"That's all right Johnny Lee," he said. He said it as if it were a threat.

It served him right if he was pissed off, but I still felt uneasy about his being angry with me.

"I think we're going to head back to the tent," Linda said. "We can come back when the bands start playing." Sherry shook her head in agreement.

"You mind if we head back down with you? John asked. There was some doubt in his voice about whether we could tag along or not.

"Sure," Linda said, "come on along."

We all stood up, and Linda picked up the blanket and folded it up, and the four of us started to make our way back to the tent. And not a word was said along the whole way.