May 30, 1973
"I'm comin'!" I yelled as I ran to the front door. I didn't know who it was, but whoever it was woke up KJ with their loud and persistent knocking. They better have had a good reason for being so loud.
I got to the door and when I opened it, I saw Candy. Her eyes were a bit puffy and her nose was a little red and she had an envelope in her hand. She held the envelope out to me. "Read it," she said quietly, almost like a whisper. I took the envelop from her and let her in, closing the door behind her. When I opened the envelope, there was a letter from Soda:
"Candy,
You're probably wondering why I sent you a letter. Alright… so you know how we were supposed to come back about next week? Ok, so Two-Bit's still gonna go back to Tulsa- you probably wanna tell Rain. But I'll be another month or so. I got hurt. We were moving some of the POWs and some Vietnamese rebel came out of no where and shot at us- and I got shot in the leg. Apparently, it wasn't a very good place to be shot, and I wasn't the only one who was, but compared to some of the other guys I'm not so terrible. I can come back home in about a month, maybe sooner or maybe a little longer, but when I come back I'll be in physical therapy for a while I think. Don't worry too much, I'll write you when I can come back. I love you and I'll miss you.
-Sodapop Curtis"
"If I could," Candy said quietly, "I'd fly all the way to Vietnam and kill that damn rebel that shot him."
I nodded, "Hey, if I could, I would've flown to Vietnam and killed every guy there who was in the Vietnamese army, or whatever the hell they call it."
Candy chuckled. "You think he'll be alright?"
"Oh yeah. If anything, he'll be the one who's gonna brighten up the whole hospital there."
I went back to KJ's room and Candy followed behind me. She had woken him up when she kept knocking. Now that I knew who was knocking and why she was knocking and I wasn't as annoyed. I wish I could say the same for KJ, but the whole time while I was reading the letter, I could hear him crying from the next room.
His crib was built so that it could rock back and forth, so that made life easier. I guess some people might say that it was- what I call- a "parenting cheat", but when you're twenty-three years old and have your first baby so young and are still getting used to the fact that you're a parent, it helps you a lot. It would probably be helpful too if I ever had another kid- we'll figure that out then. And also, in my case, it was the least expensive crib in the store when we bought it, so it had a few benefits.
"Do you think Soda changed while he was there?" Candy asked quietly when KJ fell back asleep.
I walked over to right outside of the doorway of his room and Candy followed. I shook my head, "I don't think so. I mean, he hasn't before."
"I know, but before this time he didn't get shot in the leg and have to stay over there for an extra month. I'm just scared that the whole experience changed him- and I don't mean for the better."
"Well, he'll probably be feeling pretty down and such for a little while when he gets back, but he's him. You're the one engaged to him, you know him more than I do."
She sighed, "I know, I know. You can't blame me for being nervous, though."
I nodded. "That's true. I get it," I said.
Just like I guessed would happen, phone calls were made the whole rest of the day. Candy had called Darry and Ponyboy and asked if they could all meet somewhere. While she was out with the two brothers, Marilyn came over with Mariah and Lucy since Marilyn was watching her for the day while Sandy and Danny were doing something for the bookstore. I had called Mrs. Mathews and Keilah to tell them about Soda getting hurt and Two-Bit coming home in the upcoming week. Plus, Mrs. Mathews wanted to come over and see KJ, Mariah and Lucy.
From what I knew, neither of them were going to go back to Vietnam after this, war or no war. And not just cause they were called for this one thing.
With everything that Candy has said about her being nervous, it made me a bit nervous too. I mean, Two-Bit had first went to Vietnam when we were all still in high school and nothing had happened to him. Other than the fact that he had a uniform and a different haircut, nothing changed. But Candy was right. Before now- as far as I knew- both had of them had only encountered a close friend getting seriously hurt or killed once in their life. I mean, that whole week back when we were all teenagers was terrible and we never tried to think about it, and to be honest, that was enough to last a life time- but as far as I could tell, none of us ever really thought about it anymore and we were fine.
I had offered for Candy to stay over the night with me, as long as she didn't mind KJ. She laughed when I asked her that and offered to help me if I needed anything while she was there.
"Ya know," Candy said in a nervous tone, "Before Suzie went off with the hippies, she told me about this thing her brother had when he got back from Vietnam."
I felt my heart start to beat a little faster. "What was it?" I asked nervously.
"I forgot what the exact name for it is, but I remember the initials were PTSD."
"What's PTSD?"
"IF I remember right, it's this brain thing that mostly people who were in the military can get. When they get back home, they might get these weird flashbacks or memories, both while they're awake and asleep, where they remember really traumatic things that happened while they were in the military."
"Does it go away?"
"I'm not really sure. I think you can do things to make them it happen less, and I think a person can have things that helps them calm down, but I don't think they can actually go away forever."
I sighed, "After this, they'll both probably have that to some extent."
Candy sighed and nodded, "It's not unlikely, that's for sure."
A little after that, candy went on a search for a book about PTSD or at least a book that had a little something about it. After an hour of searching, she came back with a huge medical book. She showed me the page that was all about PTSD- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. TO say that everything on the page made me scared would be a huge understatement.
That night, Darry and Marilyn invited me and Candy over to their house for dinner. I was going to ask Mrs. Mathews to watch KJ for me for the night, but Marilyn said he could just stay with Mariah in her room. They had also called Ponyboy and Cherry, but Cherry said she had arranged for something to possibly try and get Ponyboy's mind off for a little while that Soda would be there longer and was hurt.
"Those military hospitals ain't so bad," Marilyn said, "At least that's what I heard once before."
"Well wouldn't they need to be? I mean, it is the military. It just makes sense that they would be pretty good," I said with a shrug.
"Especially since probably more than half of those guys are drafted to go rather than actually choosing to go," Candy said, "Don't get me wrong, I ain't a hippie and I support the military one-hundred percent- but I really hate the draft system."
"Agreed," me, Darry and Marilyn all said at the same time then laughed.
"Thankfully, the draft system was shut down this past January," Darry said with a relieved sigh.
"To be honest," I said, "I wish it had never even been started."
"Agreed."
Now that everything good was happening, I enforce the author's rule: knock em down, make everything that happens good, repeat. It's like the unwritten rule for author's.
Ok so I'm kinda behind in all my school work yay! (note the sarcasm) but I was finally able to tell my friends what I'm doing for my sweet sixteen (it's gonna be on September 12 that's two weeks and it's just hitting me that my birthday is in a little over two weeks oh my gahd) so my sweet sixteen is going to be at a build a bear workshop! XD I have no shame, especially since I have always wanted a birthday party there since I was a small child and now I can have a party and I'm excited :D
By the way, I deleted my story "Up In Flames"
Anyway, yeah, hope you liked the chapter! Peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=