Curtis Family Briefs
1. Bad Dreamland-and Good Dreamland
Piercing screams of terror pervaded the house
Across the scratched old wooden hallway came the flying of feet
Mamma Curtis reached the room, and dried the tears of 3-year-old Ponyboy
"No want to be left alone! No leave me in alone in bad dark house!"
sobbed baby Ponyboy.
"We would never leave you by yourself in a bad place!" soothed Mamma Curtis
She wrapped him in a blanket with horses and mules on it and saw to it he had his sky blue stuffed koala in his arms, with his soft golden stuffed horse nearby, keeping watch.
Softly murmuring a made up song about an enchanted place with little gold capped gnomes, tiny silk winged fairies, pink cotton candy trees and chocolate streams, she rocked him back to sleep.
2. Big Brothers of Magical Powers
"I've got a bunch of huge monsters in my room!" 10-year-old Darry said just to get a shocked reaction out of people.
"Ooooo!" yelled 7-year-old Soda, and he ran about chasing and attacking the imaged nemesis characters.
"Monsters?" 4-year-old Ponyboy's eyes were enormous with horror.
"Aw Pony, they're just pretend monsters!" Darry stated more than a little scoffingly.
"No they're real!" insisted Ponyboy and he started to cry.
Darry, a little ashamed, put his hand on Ponyboy's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Pony, they're gone now. We've slew them. We've slain them all!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Get 'em! Get 'em!" chimed in Soda still charging around.
"You want to make stuff with some play doh?" Darry asked his littlest brother.
Ponyboy sniffled and nodded.
Eventually the 3 of them make a "village" of unicorns and friendly flying dinosaurs of every bright color together.
3. Don't Fight
"What! You wandered out and turned on the lawn hose when I specifically asked you to assist me in the toolshed?" yelled 20-year-old Darry at 14-year-old Ponyboy.
"Why is your brain always in outer space?!"
"I didn't mean to! I just got involved in thinking up ways to revise my theme for Mr. Syme at school!" Ponyboy screamed in turn.
"Again with the I didn't mean to!" shouted Darry, throwing up his arms in the air.
"But it's true!" Ponyboy bellowed back at him.
17-year-old Soda, meanwhile ever so quietly walked onto the sidelines of the scene and just as softly turned on a cassette recording he had secretly made of Mr. and Mrs. Cade quarreling.
Darry and Ponyboy both stopped for a moment in surprise, but even that was not nearly so startling as to what came next-the bucket of ice cold water that Soda stealthily pulled on a string from the ceiling and dumped it all over his arguing brothers.
Darry and Ponyboy stood stunned, then caught a fast parting flash of Soda, who conveniently ran out for a jog in the park for a certain while and returned later.
"I told you two to keep your promise to me," he spoke to them as the three ate dinner after his return, and Darry and Ponyboy knew they had better try all the harder, as they had been initially uncertain as to where Soda was when he first left, until they finally figured it out.
Besides that, they did not want any more buckets of frigid water poured on them on chilly days.
4. The Other Adams Family
Rebecca Adams was a beautiful lady in soul, her smile brought joy and reassurance to all around her.
Her faith in the Lord, shown in the sincere way she gave loving comfort to those who were grieving, drew others to aspire to the same such faith.
She was a rock and pillar of support to her husband Robert.
Robert himself was an uncommonly kindly and modest man, always showing appreciation for others.
Both Robert and Rebecca brought strength to their community, and when the time came for them to have to be transferred to a different church in another town, sorrow reigned at the little church in which they had served.
However, Robert and Rebecca continued to correspond with their former congregants and vice versa, even after their (Robert and Rebecca's) later retirement in their "new" town.
Further along in time, though, Rebecca's health declined from the effect of hardened lungs.
One of her sisters had died years before of some type of cancer, and a second sister had died of bad lungs more recently.
Prayers went up for Rebecca to receive a lung transplant in both the towns in which they had served.
One day in August, Darry saw a message on Facebook (on the second-hand computer in which he had purchased with a gift card from the church members he and his brothers received the immediately preceding Christmas) that filled him with joy.
"She's got it! Her new lung!" he crowed to his younger brothers.
There was a photo of her, beaming with a calm aura of peace about her, even in the hospital with the plastic tube across her nose.
Then, on Friday night before Labor Day, the nearly 19 -year-old Soda took the almost 16-year-old Ponyboy out to get ice cream (they made sure to take some home to 22-year-old Darry too)
Darry, meanwhile was on Facebook again and came upon Robert's message about going home to a lonely house. He was about to write a response about how he bet Robert couldn't wait for Rebecca to return home with him, until he saw the next line-and he knew then that there would never be a reunion between Robert and Rebecca-not in this life anyway. It was something about Rebecca taking a downturn, and about "Jesus running through the clouds" to meet Rebecca.
"Oh no, Oh G-, Oh no" Darry groaned to himself and he felt a strange hard object fill his throat.
As Soda and Ponyboy walked to the outside porch of the Curtis house, they heard tears in Darry's voice as he was leaving a telephone message for Robert.
They looked at each other in great worry, it was so out of character for their big brother to have tears in his voice.
"Darry, what happened?" Soda inquired as they walked in.
"It's Rebecca-her body apparently rejected her new lung," Darry responded, battling hard to maintain control.
"She's still going to pull through though, isn't she?" asked Ponyboy not wanting to believe the worst.
"No, Soda and Ponyboy, we've lost her."
A brief hush filled the house, then the 3 embraced one another and cried together for a few minutes.
Later, though, they were moved by Robert's message to her, and they signed and mailed (postal mail)
a condolence card to Robert, personally adding statements about what a lovely person Rebecca had been.