Chapter 1
Ages:
Ponyboy & Anya: 16
Davanee: 2
Darry: 22
Soda & Johnny: 18
Steve & Dallas: 19
Two-bit: 20
Hailey: 4
Kara: 7
Dillon: 2
Maddie: 14
"Daddy, come find me" said Davanee from her hiding place, which was under the kitchen sink. She chooses the same hiding place every time.
"Where oh where could Davanee be?" I asked. Before Davanee had time to answer the question, Anya and Soda came home. Anya just got a job at the DX a couple of months ago.
"Anybody home?" asked Soda.
"In here!" I called from the kitchen.
"How was y'alls day at work?" I asked.
"Good" said Anya.
"Fine. We got a lot of customers today" said Soda, flipping through the mail.
"Daddy, come find me" said Davanee.
"Ok, I'm coming" I said. As I went to go open the cabinets, I knocked over a Pepsi that I had left sitting on the counter.
"Soda, can you get me some paper towels from under the sink?" I asked while I threw the bottle away.
"Sure" said Soda. Soda got the paper towels out from under the sink, acting like he didn't see Davanee.
"Here ya go" said Soda, handing the towels. I mopped up the mess and threw away the wet towels. I then proceeded to open the cabinets.
"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you" I said, letting Davanee out form under the sink.
"You know what?" asked Davanee.
"What?"
"Uncle Soda opened the cabinets and he not see me" said Davanee.
"Wow, you're getting really good at this game" I said, picking her up.
"I got a surprise for you" I said.
"What is it?" asked Davanee.
"You're gonna be staying with Uncle Soda tonight while daddy goes to school" I said.
"Really?" asked Davanee.
"Really" I said.
"Yay!" shouted Davanee. She loved it when Soda babysat her. She loved being with Soda, but she said she loved being with me more.
"Yeah, Dillon and Hailey are coming over too" said Soda.
"Why?" I asked.
"Maddie has school and Hailey's grandparents have some important dinner thing to go to" said Soda, "I volunteered to baby-sit."
"Two 2 year olds and a 4 year old. You're gonna have your hands full tonight" I said.
"Well Dallas and Two-bit said they might stop by" said Soda.
"Is Dallas bringing Bo?" I asked.
"I dunno. Probably. He can't really leave her home alone" said Soda. Bo was Dallas' daughter. Sandy had left her with him right before she left for Florida.
"So that would be a 4 year old, two 2 year olds, and a baby that's almost a year old" I said.
"Possibly a 7 year old too if Two-Bit brings Kara" said Soda.
"You know I think we would make a lot of money if we turned our house into a day care" said Anya. She had been there so long; she started calling it our house.
"That's not a bad idea" I said.
"What's not a bad idea?" asked Two-Bit, coming into the kitchen.
"Uncle Two-Bit!" shouted Davanee. I set her down and she gave Two-Bit a big hug.
"Hey munchkin" said Two-Bit.
"I not a munchkin" said Davanee, her hands on her hips. Munchkin was Two-Bit's nickname for her.
"Are you bringing Kara with you tonight?" asked Soda.
"Yeah if my mom has to work" said Two-Bit, "plus her new boyfriend is probably coming over tonight an as far as I know, Kara isn't too fond of him."
"I didn't know your mom had a boyfriend" said Anya.
"Yeah. His name is Sam. He works at the bar. He's kinda new" said Two-Bit.
"Do you like him?" I asked.
"He's ok I guess" said Two-Bit, "not really my favorite person but he's ok. He's nice to us."
"Well if he's nice to ya then how come Kara doesn't like him?" asked Anya.
"I dunno" replied Two-Bit.
"Daddy, I wanna watch Cinderella" said Davanee, pulling at my arm.
"Ok" I said. I followed Davanee to the living room. She planted her down on the couch while I rewound.
"Oh boy we get to listen to those singing mice again" said Soda.
"Well, if you're babysitting tonight you're probably going to be hearing them again" I said.
"Daddy?" asked Davanee.
"Yes?"
"You come watch with me?" asked Davanee.
"I can't right now but I'm sure Uncle Soda and Uncle Two-Bit would love to watch Cinderella with you" I said. Soda just rolled his eyes at me and sat down on the couch right next to Davanee. Two-Bit also did the same except he didn't roll his eyes. His sisters went through a phase of watching Cinderella everyday when she was younger so he was use to it.
I went back to working on my homework. I had about 2 hours until school. Once I was done with all my homework, Davanee absolutely insisted that I play with her. She was done watching Cinderella when I was done with my homework
Unlike other girls, she liked to play with army men. These were the same army men I played with when I was little.
We had been playing for about half an hour when I head to leave.
"Bye Daddy" said Davanee, giving me a kiss goodbye.
"Bye, sweetie. You be a good girl for Uncle Soda, ok?"
"Ok" she said.
I said goodbye to everyone else and left. I decided to walk to school that night. It was a nice night out. Sure, it was a little hot but it was nice.
We didn't really do much at school that night.
I walked home with Maddie that night.
"So how has your week been so far?" I asked.
"Pretty good. Oh, did I tell you I have boyfriend now" said Maddie.
"What's his name?" I asked.
"Joey. I met him a couple of months ago" said Maddie.
"Where'd you meet him?"
"At the drive in. Dad said that I could go out and he would baby-sit Dillon for a little while. I was there with one of my friends and he was sitting all by himself so we decided to be nice and sit with him."
"How old is he?" I asked.
"16, two years older than me" said Maddie.
"Uh-huh. And how does your dad like you dating a guy that's 2 years older than you?"
"He doesn't know. He thinks Joey is 14. Your not going to tell him are you?" asked Maddie.
"No, I won't tell. Does Joey know about Dillon?"
"Of course he does. He seems to like Dillon. I wouldn't date him if he didn't" said Maddie.
"That's good" I said.
When we got to my house, there were four little kids asleep on the floor, two of them being Dillon and Davanee.
Maddie picked Dillon up and whispered "tell Soda I said thanks."
"I will. See ya later" I said.
"Bye" said Maddie, walking out the door. I found Soda sitting at the kitchen table.
"How'd it go?" I asked.
"Not that bad. They were a little wild but after awhile they settled down" said Soda.
"Davanee wasn't wild, was she?" I asked, taking my shoes off.
"Not really" said Soda, "I did have to put her in timeout for a little while."
"How'd that go?" I asked. Time out was a relatively new thing for Davanee. She hadn't grasped the concept that once you're in timeout, you have to stay there until it's time to come out.
"She fought me a little bit but that was it really."
"What'd she do?"
"She was pinching Dillon" said Soda. Not pinching was also a relatively new concept for her.
"So besides her going to timeout what else happened?" I asked.
"Nothing really. Once they all settled down, they watched Mickey Mouse. They've been asleep for about an hour" said Soda.
"I'm gonna put her to bed" I said, walking into the living room and picking Davanee up. I laid her down in her new bed. We had just put it together a couple of weeks ago. Davanee didn't like the idea of not sleeping in her crib at first but she got use to it after awhile.
"Daddy" whispered Davanee, still half asleep.
"Yeah?"
"Will you sing to me?" asked Davanee.
I sighed and said "ok." I laid down next to her on her bed and asked "what song do you want to hear tonight?"
"Teddy Bear" she said.
"Of course, I should've known" I said. She went right to sleep when I was done with the song. Once she had fallen back asleep I went out to the kitchen and waited with Soda for Two-Bit and Hailey's grandparents. Hailey's grandparents were a little late picking her up. Two-Bit never came so Kara ended up spending the night in Davanee's room.
I awoke the next morning to somebody jumping on my bed. I opened my eyes to see Davanee, giggling while jumping.
"Morning Daddy" said Davanee.
"Morning, baby" I said.
"Uncle Darry's makin' breakfast" said Davanee.
I got out of bed and carried Davanee to the kitchen. Davanee sat down at the table and finished eating her breakfast. Davanee wasn't a picky eater.
"So what's on the agenda today?" asked Darry as he placed a plate of eggs in front of me.
"I dunno. I was thinking maybe we would go to the park today. Maybe stop by the DX a little later" I said.
"Yay! We're going to the park!" shouted Davanee.
"Shhhh, Davanee, Uncle Soda and Kara are still asleep" I said.
"Sorry" said Davanee.
"Besides, you can't go to the park in your pj's can you?" I asked. Davanee shook her head no.
We finished up breakfast and I put both mine and Davanee's plates in the sink. I helped Davanee get dressed. By that time Kara was already up.
"What do you want to wear today?" I asked.
Davanee thought about it for a moment before finally pointing to a purple shirt and a pair of jeans.
"What shoes do you want to wear?" I asked.
"These" said Davanee, holding up a pair of black converse that Two-Bit got her.
"Come on let's go brush your hair" I said.
"No" said Davanee.
"Yeah, come on" I said.
"No" said Davanee.
"Why don't you want to brush your hair?" I asked.
"It hurts" said Davanee.
"Oh, come on it won't hurt this time. I promise" I said.
"Ok" said Davanee. I tried not to let it hurt but it did. With that many knots it was impossible for it not to hurt.