Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders or the song Papa was a Rolling Stone.
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"... It was the 3rd of September. That day I'll always remember. 'Cause that was the day that my Daddy died..."
I was sitting in my living room watching some tv when the phone suddenly rang in the kitchen. I was about to go and get it but my mother got it before I could. "Hello?" Her voice echoed through the phone. She just stood there and shook her head. There was no emotion in her, she just stood there like she was frozen. Once she hung the phone I asked her what was going on. She responding by telling me to sit down. I was only 14, I didn't know what to do but sit down. When I was seated on the end of the blue sofa and placed her fragile body next to mine. "Your father, died, Maria."
"... Never got a chance to see him. Never heard nothing but bad things about him..."
I never really knew my father. He left my mother right after I was born. All I heard about him was bad things that I didn't want to hear. I didn't know if I should've listened to the people telling me. Apparently, it was all true. No one wants their Dad to be like that. I know I didn't. I didn't want to ask how he died. I probably already knew. Somebody probably killed him because of a fight he had gotten into, or money that he owed someone. Now it was all depending on my Mom to tell me the truth.
"Mama, I'm depending on you, tell me the truth. Well Mama just hung her head and said, 'Papa was a rolling stone.'"
"Your father was certainly different, Maria." She had her soft, warm hand on my lap now. I glanced down but quickly looked back up to keep my eyes with hers. "He never cared about us. That's why he left as soon as you were born. He wished her never got into this mess in the first place." Her voice broke at the end. I never thought that my mother cared about my father. I still wasn't sure if she did because of their past. "He was always cheating on me. Wherever he went, that was his new home." I just nodded my head and felt a lump in my throat. I quickly cleared my throat and laid my hand on the top of hers.
"... Wherever he laid his hat, was his home. And when he died all he left us was alone."
"Well, I never really knew him, Mom. That's why I'm not upset," I softly said after a few minutes of silence. She looked up and the smile that I loved formed on her face. I couldn't help but smile either. "We'll always have each other." Her face glistened and she leaned in to give me a hug. "I probably would of never seen him anyway." I broke from her embrace. "I don't think I would of wanted to either," I muttered quietly under my breath. Dallas Winston was now out of the picture. But the truth was, he was never in it.