"Ponyboy hurry up or ya gonna be late", Darry yelled from the door.

"Coming", Pony yelled back and rushed up to his older brother.

"Pony wait I gotta tell ya something", Soda called after him.

"Later Soda."

"Darry", Soda then tried but his oldest brother was already gone. Soda sighed and put the letter he'd got yesterday in his pocket. "Guess I'll tell Steve first at the DX this afternoon." Soda went back into his room and sat down on the bed. "But it ain't gonna be easy."

"Hell how do I tell Soda this", Steve muttered as he walked towards the DX. School was over and Soda and Steve would have a common shift this day. But Steve was not too thrilled right now. He saw the DX station coming into view and sighed heavily. Inside he found Soda behind the counter and took a deep breath.

"Hi Sodapop", he said and walked up to him.

"Hi Steve how is it going?"

"Horrible…"

"Why?"

Steve reached for his back pocket and pulled out a letter. He gave it to Soda with a sad look on his face.

"Read it", Steve ordered and Soda did so. Steve saw his friend's hands start shaking and how he went pale. And then his head snapped up and Steve saw the grief in his friend's eye.

"Not you too", Soda yelled and slammed his hand down on the counter. Steve jumped at the outburst.

"Not me too", he said and looked quizzically at his best buddy. "What do you mean by that?"

Soda didn't look up, but he reached out his hand and in it he held a letter. Steve took it with a shaking hand and read it. When he was done he stared at his best friend.

"Are ya serious", he yelled and Soda nodded. "No, no, no they can't do that!"

"They can and they have man", Soda said and looked up at his best friend. "We'll both have to go."

"D-Does Darry and Pony know?"

"No they left so fast this morning that I didn't had the chance to tell 'em. How about you man? Does your old man know?"

"Yeah… he just laughed and said good luck."

"Asshole…"

"Ya got that right."

"Let's tell the gang together man", Soda said and sighed again. "And Goody."

"What about me", Goodman said as he walked in and Soda and Steve handed him the letters. Goodman read through them and when he was done… he reached out and pulled both of them into a backbreaking hug. "Promise you'll be careful… and remember… ya are my boys."

Steve and Soda hugged the man back.

"And you're our daddy", Steve croaked out.

"We'll come back Goody", Soda said softly. "And when we do… you'll have to give us our jobs back savvy?"

"Yeah", Goodman said and sighed. "Now go home, shoo and be with your families."

The boys looked at each other and then hugged Goodman one last time.

They headed straight to the Curtis house and heard that the whole gang was there, watching Mickey Mouse on TV. Steve opened the door and they went inside and then Steve shut the door quietly.

"That you Soda", Darry asked.

"Yeah, me an' Steve."

"Well come on", Darry yelled back to him. "There is food in the kitchen. You can have some too Steve if you're hungry."

"No thanks Dar, not hungry…" Steve threw his jacket in the corner.

"Oh someone is moody", Two-Bit said with a grin. "Why do you have the cranky pants on Stevie?"

Steve didn't answer, he just followed Soda into the kitchen.

"That was weird", Two-Bit said and looked at the others in the room, Pony, Johnny and Dallas.

"What", Dallas asked.

"Steve didn't kill me for calling him Stevie."

"Maybe he's just tired or something", Johnny said.

"Don't know man, he looked pretty down."

"Since when is Steve not moody", Pony piped up. "Ow!" Darry had smacked him on the head with the paper.

"Darry", Soda said and entered the room with Steve. Both looked pale and Darry noticed that Soda's dark brown eyes didn't sparkle. "We need to talk to ya."

"What is it", Darry asked and walked over to them.

Steve glanced at Soda and Soda glanced at Steve and as one they reached out and handed him their letters.

"What's this", Darry asked and read. When he read the first his eyes went huge and when he read the others he went pale and started to shake. Then he looked up and looked at the younger men before him. "Oh no…" Then he reached out, just like Goodman had and pulled both of them to him. "No…" He just held them hard and rocked back and forth.

"What the hell is going on", Dallas asked and Darry noticed that everyone was staring at him, Steve and Soda.

"W…" was all Soda could get out before starting sobbing. Steve couldn't get a word out either.

"Darry", Pony asked and rose from the armchair. "Darry what's wrong?"

Darry took a deep breath. "Steve… and Soda… are being drafted."

It went so quiet you could hear a pin hit the floor.

"W-what", Two-Bit was the first to break the silence.

"We're being drafted", Steve said and squirmed away from Darry. "They're sending us to the fucking Vietnam!"

"No", Pony said and tears were forming in his eyes. "No they can't none of you are 18 yet!"

"I'm tomorrow", Steve said. "And Soda will be in two months… just in time for us to be shipped out there."

"We won't let you go", Johnny said. "There must be something we can do."

"No", Soda said and shook his head. "We'll have to. But we'll be back, right Steve-o?"

"Right man", Steve said.