Woodstock Day Four
Woodstock
Day Four
Time stood still. Ron and I eyeballed one another as if we were statues.
With firecrackers exploding inside my veins, I pushed Livy out of the way.
I literally pushed her. Then stumbled into my brother’s arms. Dizziness ensued.
Tears sprang out of nowhere. I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn’t flow.
“SuSu,” Ron said, stroking the top of my head.
I looked up at him. Stunned. Dazed. Confused. Fit to be tied.
Ron pulled away slightly, meeting my eyes. “You must feel like you’ve been hit by lightning.”
“Try a nuclear bomb.”
“That’s fair.”
I took a step back. To get a good hard look at him. His hair hung on either side of his face, covering his cheeks. It was the first time I’d ever seen him with long hair. Or a beard. No wonder I hadn’t recognized him.
“Wh—how are you here?” I asked, with an angry fire nipping at my words. Guilt crawled all over me for my tone, but what the heck?
Ron gave a quick glance to Livy, then looked right back at me. “I’m out of the army.”
“No duh!” I shouted. “For how long?”
He took a deep breath, dipping his chin. “For good.”
This news overwhelmed me with elation, but I had a strong sense something was seriously wrong. It snapped me out of my fury. I grabbed hold of his forearm. “Ron, what’s going on? Are you okay?”
When he turned to look at Livy again, I noticed a gap in his beard.
Whiskers no longer grew on the side of his cheek.
I reached up to tuck a long lock of hair behind his ear.
Ron’s beautiful face, once the longing of every girl at Central High School, had a crater stretching from his ear to his mouth.
Crimson burn scars covered a large portion of his cheek. I moaned, tapping the scars.
“Stepped too close to a land mine,” he said. “You should see my leg.” He reached down to massage his calf. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve still got it.”
Before I could inspect the damage, Livy threw her arms up. “Yet the army sends him back into combat,” she said in a mocking tone.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked him. Not her. The very idea that Livy Foster knew things about my brother that I didn’t made me furious all over again. And to think I had wanted to forgive her.
“I didn’t wanna scare you,” Ron said, with caring eyes.
“He begged me not to tell you anything,” said Livy, placing a hand on my shoulder.
It made me flinch. “Get away from me, you liar.”
“Hey, now.” Ron guided me back into his chest, where the familiar scent of English Leather hung around his neck.
But I pulled away. “Why haven’t you written? And when did you get out?” I looked back at Livy with a pointed finger. “And how does she seem to know everything?”
Ron twisted his watch back and forth on his wrist. “She helped me.”
I glanced between the two of them. “Helped you how?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “There’s a lot I need to tell you.”
“I’ll say,” I said with a sneer.
“He’ll explain everything,” said Livy, in that sickening authoritative voice of hers. “I’m exhausted from covering it up.”
“Covering what up?” I gave her a cold stare. This fresh betrayal was excruciating.
“Let’s go somewhere to talk,” said Ron. His voice sounded as if he would choke up at any second.
I held my head between my palms and squeezed as a hideous image crossed my mind. “Wait a minute. Are you her boyfriend?” I asked my brother.
Ron and Livy looked at each other; then they both answered at the same time. “Yes.”
As an angry sigh blew from my lips, I looked heavenward, muttering, “God help me.” We all sat there in silence before I said, “I don’t get it. Who is Nick?”
“I am,” said Ron. “At least while I’m in America.”
“Yeah. We have a lot to talk about.” I spun around, catching sight of Leon.
Leon! He and Handsome Johnny stood ten feet away, chatting among themselves.
This had to have been awkward. I stepped over to him, slipping an arm through his.
“Ron. I have someone I want you to meet. This is Leon Wright. Johnny’s cousin. ”
Ron looked at him curiously.
“Hey, man,” Leon said, reaching out to shake Ron’s hand. “I’ve been hanging out with your cool sister all weekend. She’s told me a lot about you. Welcome home.”
Ron smiled. “Thanks, man, happy to be here. I thought I’d never make it.”
“Sounds like you guys have some catching up to do. Let me grab her address, and I’ll let you two talk.”
“No!” I said in a panic. As happy as I was to see my brother, I was not going to let Leon just leave.
We had our “What’s next” to discuss. Leon had said it himself; he didn’t want Woodstock to be the end of us.
Sha Na Na was stepping onstage. This was not the right time for Ron and me to “go somewhere to talk.” I squeezed Leon’s arm.
“Can’t we all listen to Jimi Hendrix together? ”
“Cool with you, man?” Leon asked Ron.
“Way cool with me. I thought I’d missed him.”
This new plan gave me solace, but I knew it would be short lived. We had only a couple of hours left.
“Hey, man,” Ron said to Leon. “How about I borrow her for a short talk first?” When Ron smiled, I noticed three of his teeth were chipped.
“Sure, man,” said Leon. “Take all the time you need.”
Time? There was no time. I was aching to know the details about Ron’s scars and how he’d gotten an early release from the army, and I needed to know what he meant when he said Nick was his name while in America. But not right now. I didn’t want to leave Leon. Not even for a second.
But I didn’t have the heart to tell my brother he had to wait.
“Let’s find our seats first,” I said, sounding a bit desperate. “It’s easy to get lost around here.”
“Good plan,” said Ron.
As the five of us stepped through the war zone of trash, left behind by a half million people, Livy sidled up next to me. Her voice was low, so no one else could hear. “I’m sorry I’ve acted weird. Does everything make sense now?” She raised her eyebrows with a smile, like she was proud of herself.
But my fury had reached a new high. “No. Absolutely not.”
Her shoulders curled as she sighed in frustration. “I’ve been dying to tell you, but Ron begged me not to. When he didn’t show up on Friday, I became frantic. Not for myself. For you. I knew how happy you’d be to see him, and I didn’t know how to handle it if he never showed up. It was all on me.”
There was sincerity in Livy’s voice. It genuinely seemed as if her concern was for me instead of herself. It still didn’t excuse her lie about being the one in the bed with Ron. Or prancing naked around Leon when she knew I loved him. That betrayal was a splinter I would never be able to remove.
“When Ron never showed up, I was so freaked out, man,” Livy said.
“The only way I knew how to handle it was to drop acid. I had to escape the pain. I was tormented, SuSu. Ron and I planned this whole trip so you two could reunite. He wanted to be the one to tell you why he’s out of the army, and about his horrible wound.
” Livy’s eyes swelled with tears. “You’ll learn the whole story when you talk to him. I’m just happy I could help him.”
Something told me to give Livy a hug, but I couldn’t do it. All I could give her was a blank stare.
Meanwhile Leon’s words echoed: Forgiveness is for you, so you can have peace.