We are the same
I don't own the Outsiders!
There was a time when I wasn't so grown up. I didn't have to be the parent, and fight the state. I didn't have to hold two jobs to keep my family together. I didn't have to because that was mom and dad's job, and they were still here to do it.
I stand here at the gate of the county jail because he was getting out today.
I was here to bring Tim Shepard back to Tulsa.
If anyone saw us just by how we are now, they wouldn't believe we were best friends in school. I was the football star, pride of our town and Tim was on his way to having the highest average in district. We weren't the overprotective parent or the gang leader; just two guys having a blast senior year, going places in life.
We were best buddies, never knowing that we would ever end up like this. We were wild partyers with a future. We drag raced each other and got chicks together and we had each other's backs.
Back then Tim would have never dreamed of getting in trouble with the law, he was trying to get several scholarships that way he could go to college. Now he has his own gang and a record a mile long, and me well…
I never thought I would have to be a parent to my little brothers. I never once doubted my choice to take them, I just wish mom and dad were here, that way everything would be normal again. I find myself telling them not to do things or go places, that I went or did as a kid. Any kind of trouble and the state would split us up, but sometimes I wonder if I'm to hard on them…
At one point me and Tim had it all worked out; He was going to get an academic scholarship and I was going to get an athletic scholarship to the same school. Then we were going to pick a place and spilt the expenses.
Everything was going to be great, and then I noticed something different in Tim. He started hanging out with the rough crowd including my buddy Dally (who was trouble) in our school, and his grades started slipping. One day, Tim didn't show up at all.
I decided to check on him, we were best friends after all, but when I got to his house I stopped. His dad was always a level-headed guy, but he sure didn't look like in from the window I was peeking in.
Bottles lay everywhere and I could tell his dad was drunk. His parents were screaming at each other, but what happened next shocked me.
His dad hit his mom so hard it knocked her back against the wall. Tim came running in from his bedroom down the hall. He helped her stand up, and then yelled at her to go to his room and lock the door; she followed his instructions quickly.
After his mom left, the two men were yelling at each other. His dad must have said something to make Tim upset, but he wasn't going to fight him.
Instead, he bolted out of the house. I followed him to an old building; I remember this place! This was our secret club house as kids. It used to be a clothing store, but it went out of business a long time ago. The front windows are boarded up and it's empty.
I remember the games we would play and the secrets that we shared in here. After a while we grew up and forgot about this place, until now…
I sat down next to him; he had his legs pulled up to his chin and his arms wrapped around his legs. I had never seen him this upset before, it was disturbing. He spoke up,
"Darry, I don't know why I have to do this to everyone…"
"What are you talking about, Tim?"
"I wasn't in school because I got picked up by the fuzz man."
That scared me; he had gotten a few warnings before but never got in real trouble before,
"What did you get hauled in for?!"
"Public intoxication"
"You were drunk?!" I knew Tim drank but never enough drunk, at least without me getting drunk with him…
"Yeah, me and old man got in a fight too. He lost his job the other day, and he was taking it out on mom. I wasn't going to stand there and do nothing, you dig?" he asked looking at me with a hard expression. It was like a mask he put on when he was real upset. I didn't like it one bit, it took a lot to get him like this…
"Yeah I dig"
I was broke out of my memories when I looked at the Tim Shepard of today. This Tim Shepard was very different from my friend Tim.
Tim Shepard was a gang leader and a trouble maker. I shouldn't be friends with him; I almost lost my brothers because I was friends with Dallas.
When I look at the hood in the car next to me, I can't help think about the guy I knew he was.
Behind the rep and the scar, was a guy that had to be a mom and dad for siblings.
Me and Tim were the same, that was a scary thought…