I do not own 'We Carry On' it is owned by Tim McGraw, who I also do not own. I don't own 'Concrete Angel' nor do I own its owner, Martina McBride.
...And Martina in a pear tree. (Only WGAR listeners will get this joke.)
Nor do I own 'Travelin' Soldier' it is owned by the amazing Dixie Chicks (who I don't own)
Chapter 6
Age 10
The T.V. screen showed the back of a bunch of people's heads. Voices were audible in the background and the orchestra was clearing its stuff off the stage at the front of the room.
"Kina, can I chew on your fingernails?" Kitten asked somewhere off screen.
"Why?"
"Because mine are chewed all the way down."
"I think you're more nervous than Ris." Rogue teased.
"Shh." Ryu hissed. "Look."
The stage had been cleared off except for a microphone stand. A teacher stepped in front of the microphone and the auditorium became silent.
"Now as you all know, students sing in front of our music teachers for the past month trying to be the best singer in the school.. This year's school idol is a transfer student. Boys and girl our school idol: Risty Ryokin."
There was a light applause from the students attending.
Risty stepped onto the stage and music started playing. She held up her black microphone with the red dragon and began singing. Even at a young age, she had a strong, beautiful voice.
He hasn't seen a drop of rain in months it seems,
The rollin' river is nothing but a tricklin' stream.
The crops are dyin' in the harsh sunlight.
The dust on his tongue is dry.
The fatted calf is down to skin and bones.
We carry on.
Alone in the city and she's only seventeen.
The boy left her black and blue on the streets so mean.
Just twelve weeks along and she's got a life inside.
Says she's never ever felt so alive.
She walks in the shelter they say welcome home.
We carry on.
Beyond the picket fences and the oil wells,
The happy endings and the fairy tales,
Is the reality of shattered lives and broken dreams.
We carry on
When our lives come undone.
We carry on.
Cause there's promise in the morning sun.
We carry on.
As the dark surrenders to the dawn.
We were born to overcome.
We carry on.
It's the family that grieves for a lost loved one.
It's the soldier that won't leave the job is done.
It's the addict, trying to turn his life around.
It's picking yourself up off the ground, when you been knocked down.
We carry on.
When our lives come undone.
We carry on.
Cause there's promise in the morning sun.
We carry on.
As the dark surrenders to the dawn.
We were born to overcome.
We carry on.
He stands in the field cooled by the winds of change.
She smiles as her baby moves and it starts to rain.
There was a pause after she finished singing, then everyone was on their feet applauding and screaming.
The screen went black.
Age 11
The camera zoomed in on Risty with her head resting on her knees.
"How ya feeling?" Ryu asked.
"I've been better." Risty confessed. She looked up. "Get that fucking camera away from me."
Kurama smacked the back of her head.
"Where did you come from?" she yelled.
"Over there." he pointed to the back of the room where the group normally sat.
"Why are you over here?"
"I heard you swear."
"What? Do you have like supersonic hearing or something? Scram. Both of you." she rested her head back on her knees.
"Are you at least going to sing something a little less depressing?" Ryu asked.
"Depends on what you'd call 'depressing.' I'm singing something by Martina McBride, is that depressing?"
"Depends on the song."
The screen went black.
The screen again showed the back of people's heads, this time it did not show the teacher making an announcement. Risty simply walked onto the stage and said: "Please understand this song and take its real meaning to heart."
She walks to school with the lunch she packed.
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back.
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday.
She hides the bruises with linen and lace.
The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask.
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask.
Bearing the burden of a secret storm.
Sometimes she wishes she was never born.
Through the wind, and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But her dreams, giver her wings,
And she flies to a place where she's loved.
Concrete angel.
Somebody cries in the middle of the night.
The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights.
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate.
When morning comes it'll be too late.
Through the wind, and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But her dreams, giver her wings,
And she flies to a place where she's loved.
Concrete angel.
A statue stands in a shaded place.
An angel girl with an upturned face.
A name is written on the polished rock.
A broken heart that the world forgot.
Through the wind, and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But her dreams, giver her wings,
And she flies to a place where she's loved.
Concrete angel.
"Not a dry eye in the house." Kitten commented.
"She said she wouldn't do a sad song." Ryu sniffed.
"It's not sad, it's true." Rogue looked at her arms that had once been riddled with bruises.
Rogue sniffed and looked down at her arms. Even though they were covered with cuts, at least none of them had been intentional. She thought of the bruises and marks that had once covered her skin and thanked God that her mother had finally abandoned her.
Risty reached out a hand and touched Rogue's shoulder.
Age 13
Risty, Kitten and Kina were sitting on the floor playing Black Jack while Dante paced anxiously and Rogue unwrapped a chocolate bar. Smelling the chocolate Risty jumped up from the game, spilling the deck across the floor, and grabbed the chocolate bar from Rogue, shoving the whole thing in her mouth.
"Risty!" Rogue, Kitten, and Kina yelled.
"Sorry." she mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate.
Kurama hit her on the back of the head. "Don't talk with your mouth full."
"Where do you come from? Every time I do something wrong you magically pop up and smack me! WHY?"
"If you're finished?" A teacher walked into the room. "Risty, please get ready, the rest of you... OUT!"
The screen went black.
"Why do we always sit this far back?" Kitten asked.
"I don't know, it's tradition." Ryu answered.
"Let's freak Ris out and sit somewhere else." Rogue suggested.
"I don't think we should." Kina objected. "Risty has gotten better, but I believe if we pulled something like that she would try to kill us."
"Ris raided my closet again didn't she?" Kurama asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Rogue asked.
"I thought I recognized that suit! Why does she always raid my closet?"
Dante: "I don't have any dress clothes."
Rogue: "Me either."
Kitten: "I only have skirts and dresses."
Ryu: "My stuff doesn't fit her."
Kina: "All of my clothes are white."
Kurama sighed as the lights came on the stage.
"Why didn't you win when you were twelve?" Yusuke asked. "I'd think you were a shoe-in."
"I didn't enter when I was twelve."
"Why not?"
"I was going through a transitional period and couldn't think of anything suitable to sing."
"Oh."
Risty took a deep breath and smiled at her audience.
Two days past eighteen,
He was waiting for the bus in his army greens,
Sat down in a little café there,
Gave his order to a girl, with a bow in her hair.
He's a little shy so she gives 'im a smile,
And he says would ya mind sitting down for a while,
And talkin' to me, I'm feelin' a little low.
She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go.
So they went down and, they sat on the pier.
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care.
I got no one, to send a letter to,
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you?
I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy.
Too young, for him they told her,
Waiting for the love of a travelin' soldier.
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again.
Never more to be alone, when the letter said a soldier's coming home.
So the letters came from an army camp,
In California then Vietnam.
He told her of his heart, he might be in love,
And all of the things he was so scared of.
He said when it's gettin kind of rough over here,
I think of that day sitting down at the pier,
Don't worry but I won't be able to write for a while.
I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy.
Too young, for him they told her,
Waiting for the love of a travelin' soldier.
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again.
Never more to be alone, when the letter said a soldier's coming home.
One Friday night at a football game,
The Lord's Prayer said and the Anthem sang,
A man said folks would you bow your heads, for a list of local, Vietnam dead.
Cryin' all alone, under the stands,
Was a piccolo player in the marching band,
And one name read, and nobody really cared.
But a pretty little girl, with a bow in her hair.
I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy.
Too young, for him they told her,
Waiting for the love of a travelin' soldier.
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to come back again.
Never more to be alone, when the letter said a soldier's coming
I cried, never gonna hold the hand of another guy.
Too young, for him they told her,
Waiting for the love of a travelin' soldier.
Our love will never end,
Waiting for the soldier to, come back again.
Never more to be alone, when the letter said a soldier's coming home.
"I think Ris just enjoys making people cry." Ryu sniffed, again crying.
"She just likes touching people. That's all." Rogue whispered. "Ow!"
Kurama had hit Rogue. "Don't wipe your nose on your sleeve!"
"The rest of this is more of our school concerts." Ryu announced. "I don't think we have to watch it."
"No." Everyone agreed.
"What's DT stand for?" Kitten asked.
"Defensive tackle." Risty quickly answered.
"This isn't football Risty, so why would my tape say 'Defensive Tackle'?"
"Well, no one said it was on a tape. Let's watch this one!" Risty held a tape in the air.
"I think that's the Dark Tournament." Ryu told Kitten.
"You taped that?" Kurama asked.
"Yeah, we even taped Risty swearing at you for losing to a dead guy."
The girls began laughing.
"An we taped Risty swearing at Hiei and Bui for almost blowing us up, and Risty swearing at Toguro for almost blowing us up, and Risty swearing at Sakyo for blowing up the stadium and almost blowing us up, and Risty swearing at Rogue for making us go cheer you on, and Risty swearing at you because you hit her for swearing, and Risty swearing at Hiei for using an attack he couldn't control and almost blowing us up, and Risty swearing at Toguro and Sakyo for making you guys go therefore making us go watch, and Risty swearing at me because we got drunk and I taped everyone singing bad karaoke, and Risty swearing at the birds for singing while she had a hangover, and Risty swearing at Kina for bringing alcohol, and Risty swearing at the people who make alcohol..."