Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick

Author:Jordan Sonnenblick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

BAD MOON RISING

AFTER MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 1969

I jumped up from the cot. “What?” I shouted. “You can’t send them away before the concert’s over!”

“Sure I can. They have deep, stitched-up wounds on their feet, no shoes, and miles of litter-strewn mud to cross in every direction. Do you want your friends’ cuts to get infected?”

“N-no, but—”

“Listen, Junior, this is serious stuff. I’m an emergency room nurse. I’ve seen people lose legs because they didn’t take care of injuries on their feet. This is a farm field—that means cows and horses, pigs, manure. You can’t even imagine the nasty little bacteria that are swimming around in the muck out there.”

“But—please. This is my friend’s last chance to spend with his big brother before … um…”

“Before what?”

Geez. I couldn’t exactly tell her. She wouldn’t believe the word of a drugged fifteen-year-old, and even if she would, I couldn’t say anything in front of David. “Nothing. It’s just that this concert means a lot to my friend. Okay, what if I give him my shoes? I’ll go barefoot back to our blankets, and then I’ll put on his shoes there. Mine are cleaner, and we’re the same size, anyway. It’s just one more day, right? We have soap and everything. What if we promise we’ll go to the pumps and wash his feet twice tomorrow?”

She stared me down with a tough-nurse glare. “Let me get this straight: You want to walk barefoot back on the same exact path that you know your friends just got cut up on?”

Well, when she put it that way it didn’t sound terribly appealing, but I didn’t see much choice. I gulped, crossed my fingers behind my back for luck, and nodded. “If you’ll let us stay.”

Debbie said, “Me, too. I’m the exact same size as Tina, and I would get cut for her any day. She’d do it for me in a heartbeat.”

The nurse sighed. “This is crazy. If I weren’t a volunteer, I’d get fired for this. Here’s what I’m going to do.… We have a few pairs of sandals some kids left behind earlier today when they got choppered out of here. I’ll give each of you a pair of sandals to wear so you don’t get cut up, too. And I’m going to give your friends some penicillin pills to take. David and Tina, is either one of you allergic to antibiotics?”

They both shook their heads.

“Are you sure?”

They both shook them again.

“In that case, will each of you swear to me you’ll take one of these every eight hours for the next ten days?”

They both nodded.

The nurse scurried over to a huge pile of cardboard boxes in the corner and started sorting through them, muttering, “Can’t believe I’m doing this…” When she came back, she handed a pair of sandals each to Debbie and me, and a vial of pills each to David and Tina. Debbie and I gave our sneakers to our friends, who put them on gingerly and stood up very carefully.

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