Opet and the Tales of Heroes

Chapter 7: August 16th, 1969

"Uh.....ugh......ah," Stephen said as he opened up his eyes. There was morning light that flooded his vision as he could feel the cold, wet ground underneath him.

His back was sore, and his body was wet from the rain, but it had cut down significantly. The weather had calmed down, but the sunlight was not in full bounds. A rumor had started to be passed around that Hurricane Camille, a mighty monster of a storm, was about to strike Mississippi. The end result was that it was affecting the weather of the entire region. Of course, the hurricane posed no significant danger to the concert since they were nowhere near the storm's path. Not only that, but it would be dramatically weakened by the time it reached the area. The result was the same, though, more rain.

For Stephen, lying on the grass with no blanket, wet and cold, had pushed his body a little bit. It was a little bit warmer since the sunlight was trying hard to get through the cloud layer. The area was wet, and the combination of hundreds of thousands of people in a place like this was going to be remembered for the fact the weather didn't cooperate.

His head was hurting with a minor headache. The grass had done its best to keep the area cushioned beneath him, but it wasn't enough. Sleeping on a hard floor, even in the satisfaction of nature, was taxing on his body. Having to stay up all night listening to the great music of Melanie, Ario Gutherie, and Joan Baez was great, though, and felt worth it.

Regardless, he managed to fall asleep around three o clock. He stirred from the ground as he looked around. He could see the countless amounts of individuals that were asleep, gone back to their vehicles, or stayed and also slept on the ground. Some had foldable chairs where they slept at. It was the most unorganized sleep out ever made.

Stephen could see Tiffany and Brendan sleeping in their sleeping bag. It seemed that they escaped most of the soaking rain with what they brought, but others, including himself, were not so fortunate. The dirt patches combined with numerous people walking over it had reduced some of the landscape to mud. How he managed to sleep through this rain and noise was something that made him genuinely wonder.

Yet he did feel something on his chest when he stirred. His head turned down to look at a woman's hand that was lazily applied to it. He turned his head to see that it was Oniya that was comfortably sleeping near him. Sleeping on her back, her eyes briefly opened up as she seemed calm and peacefully relaxed. Stephen's brain was trying to recount the previous night's events as he was starting to wake up.

"Mmmm....." Oniya moaned as she stirred a little bit. Stephen surmised that Oniya must have slept much as he had. He could not see Theo. He recounted seeing her talking with a woman before Joan Baez started to perform.

Stephen watched as Oniya lifted her hand away from him. Her body was a little bit close to him as he could see that she was obviously in need of warmth. She had been enjoying the music, but there was a sense of comfort that he felt seeing this person so close to him. He pushed his body up as he got a better view of everything. He didn't have any form of a watch, but judging the sun's angle and the amount of daylight, it must have been around nine or ten in the morning.

He could already see the trash that was collecting up. It wasn't that bad, but the collection of people was starting to bring in issues with sanitation. There were hundreds of porta potties available for a population that was expected to reach as high as 100,000 people, but not the 400,000 that it had arrived. The long lines to take a piss or shit were an issue. Did you wait to use something that was most likely gross or unusable or go as far away from the concert into the woods to go and relieve yourself? Things like this were a constant in his mind.