Chapter 1: Weirder and Weirder

Fifty-nine, Fifty-eight, Fifty-seven …

Less than a minute of class left, then my life as an adult away from college will begin.

Thirty-two, Thirty-one…

The professor has already given up on us.

Ten, nine, eight…

We waited with bated breath.

Three, two, one…RING!

Papers were thrown, people screamed, and I tried to get out of that classroom as quickly as possible. The only one that bothered to say good-bye to me was the professor. Everything from my dorm was already packed into my little car, so I headed straight there, revved the old engine, and left. Of course, I had to be back a week later for the graduation ceremony. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have returned, but the teachers said something about a "valedictorian speech" so I had no choice. I rolled down the window, opened a bottle of Pepsi, and smiled. If this is life, then I'm good with it! I messed with the radio until I found some Elvis. Just one question was left to me…Where to now?

Home? I haven't talked to either of my brothers for in over a year. Darry had taken over the roofing company and Soda was moving away. Well, how about a trip down the East Coast? Yeah, that's it!

Seven hours later, and I'm nowhere near a coast! And my gas meter is touching empty. Uh-oh. I gotta go find a gas station. I was completely surrounded by trees. How did I get this lost? I took advance geography at Yale! (yeah, Yale. Full-ride!) Finally I got to a red-light!

"Hey!" I yelled at the guy stopped across the way, "Do you know where there's a gas station?"

"Yeah," he called back. He had one of those back-woods country accents, "go straight ¼ mile, then you'll hit Crazy S's Gas and Auto Repair!"

"Thanks!" Then my light turned green. I was lucky that it was just ¼ mile, because halfway there my tire blew. My day was getting worse and worse.

I somehow got to Crazy S's. It was an attractive little place, but it looked deserted. I got out of the car and walked to the door. It looked like a regular gas station: coolers of soda, snack foods, cigarettes, and maps. A closer look told me I was in Knoxville, Tennessee. Yep, definitely lost.

"Hello?" I called into the deserted building, "I'm outta gas and my car popped a tire. I'm really lost. Hello?"

"I got you!" I heard coming from the back room. The door swung open, and out walked a man with dark hair, longer than mine, and a strong build. He couldn't have been three years older than me. His head was bent over his oily hands that he was cleaning with a rag.

He extended a hand as he raised his head. I had seen his face before. Of course I had seen that face before. That face showed up on my doorstep everyday of my adolescence. Some days I could not stand that face.

"Steve?" I asked incredulously. He was still staring at me, trying to figure me out. Then it hit him.

"Ponyboy?!" Steve yelled, "This is insane!"

"Man I was completely lost and I stumbled across your ugly mug? How did I get so lucky" I teased.

He shook me off and gave me a playful shove. "You don't get it. This is like, a one-in-a-million chance. This is freaky."

"Agreed." I looked around the shop. "So, the Crazy S's. Your own place. That's pretty awesome."

"Wait. My own place? You're kidding, right? S's, like plural. I'm not by myself." He gave me a look like I was insane.

"What are you on about?" I looked at him. Then Steve busted out laughing. He was doubled-over from laughter. After a while, he straightened up and grabbed a Pepsi that he tossed to me swiftly (and somehow I caught it).

"So, empty tank and flat tire?" Steve asked me.

"Yeah. You can do that, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course. I'll go get my other guy on the gas pump and I'll go find that tire. You can come on out if you like." And he walked out the door. Draining my Pepsi, I walked after him. The auto-shop was even more impressive than the station. It had everything!

"So, how 'bout you, kid? How was college?" Steve said from under my car.

"Fine, I guess. Graduation's next week, and I'm the valedictorian. I give a speech, people clap, we get diplomas, and then I'm outta there for good."

"Don't you send out those cute little invites to graduations?" Steve asked me.

"What, announcements? Shoot, I don't know where everybody is now! Didn't this chance meeting tell you anything? I haven't talked to either of my brothers in over a year, Two-Bit's God-knows-where, and you're here, in God forsaken Tennessee!" I ended heatedly.

"Jeeze, kid, take it easy. I didn't mean anything. You still got that touchy mood!" He added with a grin.

"Well, when you go four straight years with just your textbooks, you keep things locked up," I said, taking the defensive.

Steve rolled himself out from under the car and looked me straight in the eye. "Ponyboy Michael Curtis. Do you mean to tell me that you have not yet had a girl?!" He almost looked like he was going into shock.

"Yeah." I said to my tennis shoes. It never really made sense to have one. Cramming five years of college into four didn't really give much time to other things. I didn't have a social life. I even requested not having a roommate (nightmares were still giving me trouble).

"Well," Steve started, getting up and dusting his hands off, "That tire's changed, and I tweaked the engine a little for ya. Now it's time to get her fueled up."

So, on whatever fumes were left, Steve drove my car to the tanks. I could hear the clanking of metal and the grunt of someone working coming from the other side of the pump.

"Wellup, Stevie. That last frost spell left the gas on the cold side. It's moving, but slowly." An unknown voice said. Steve plastered a grin on his face.

"Hey man, com here. I want you to meet the customer." Steve called in his direction, while keeping his eyes on me.

"Okay, let me just put this panel back on." The voice said again. There was the unmistakable turning of a wrench, then a little clanking of metal. I turned to look at the newcomer, only to drop my bottle and send glass shards everywhere.

There, standing in front of me, was the very last face I was expecting to see.

My brother, Sodapop Curtis.