The Outsiders

What Really Happened the Night Bob Died?

I was in the middle of a nightmare, which technically wasn't a nightmare because it was a dream about when my parents died. So since that had already happened, it's not really considered a nightmare. But then, it could be considered a nightmare because both of their faces appeared smiling like a memory sort of thing, which never actually happened, which could counted a dream turned into a nightmare based on real events. But for the sake of argument, I'll just stick to calling it a nightmare.

So anyway, I was in the middle of a nightmare when I heard someone calling my name. Only a few seconds later did I realize that it was Johnny calling my name, and that we both in the lot, and that we both asleep, and that I really had to use the bathroom, but the look on Johnny face said that there were more important things to think of.

"What is it Johnny?" I groaned, rolling onto my back.

"Pony you have to get home," Johnny said.

"Why?"

"Because man," he said, then his voice got low and shaky, "it's dark out."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah and it was dark while we were watching the movie."

Johnny attempted to pull me to my feet, but I didn't move. "Yeah man, but that was hours ago. If you don't get home soon, Darry'll start throwing dishes around the house just like the time you got 98% on your test instead of 100%"

I really didn't feel like getting up, even though my bare arms were freezing, there was a stick poking into my back, and something that felt like it had eight legs was crawling up my neck. But Johnny was right. If I didn't get home soon, Darry would start throwing stuff. So I pushed myself up, flicked the spider off the back of my neck, and walked over to Johnny. "Do you need a place to crash tonight?" I asked him.

Johnny shook his head. "Naw, I'll be fine here. 'Sides, the last time I crashed at your place, I fell asleep on the couch, but woke up in Darry's bed with his arm around me." Johnny shuddered. "Man I do not want to know what happened that night."

"That makes two of us," I said and started to walk towards my house.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When I got to the gate that was outside my house, I could hear the faint smashing sounds of bowls – or maybe it was plates, I mean you can't really distinguish what eating object is being smashed by a muffed sound. Or maybe you can and I just suck at it. Either way, I walked towards that door, knowing that the second I opened the door, Darry would start yelling at me, and cussing at me, and tell me that I'm going to be put in a boy's home. Slowly I opened the door…

"PONY!!" Sodapop yell when I walked in the door. "It's about time you got home." Oh great, now Soda's mad at me. Darry I can handle, but Soda?

"I'm sorry Soda, I didn't mean too. I lost track of time and…."

"Whoa," Soda said, cutting me off. His anger had now been replaced by confusion. "First of all, what are you sorry for? Second, what did you do? And third, what the hell does the track of time have to do with anything?"

It was my turn to look confused. "Aren't you and Darry mad about me falling asleep in the lot?"

"You fell asleep in the lot?" Soda asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "didn't you two realize that I was gone?"

"You were gone?" Soda asked.

"Yeah I went to go see a movie with Johnny and Dally."

"Oh, so that's why it was so quiet today."

Anger started to boil in me. How could my bothers forget about me? "Where did you think I was all day?"

Soda shrugged. "I don't know. Me and Darry were at the park all day, and when we got home, Darry started freaking out like he is now, so I didn't even know you were gone."

Until Soda had mentioned Darry's spaz-attack, I had totally forgotten, which is weird because he had been smashing stuff (which turns out was a combination of bowls and plates) the whole time I was talking to Soda. "Hey Soda," I said, "if Darry's not mad at me, then why is he smashing dishes?"

Soda sighed, "That's what I was trying to tell you when you came in." Soda pulled me closer to him and whispered so Darry couldn't hear. "When we got home today, Darry realized that he didn't have Larry with him."

I gasped. Larry was a special quarter that Darry had found when he was five years-old. It's no wonder Darry was throwing a fit, among other things. He never went anywhere without that quarter.

"Pony," Soda said, bringing me back to him. "When we were at the park, Darry was hanging upside down on the monkey bars, so I'm thinking that's where he dropped his quarter."

"Why didn't you tell him that when he realized he didn't have it anymore?" I asked.

"Because Darry won't listen to anything that I say until he has Larry," Soda said. "And I couldn't go out and get it because I thought that if I left Darry alone he'd set the house on fire." I could see Darry doing that. "I want you to go to the park and find Larry. I'll stay here and watch over Darry," Soda told me. I nodded and left.

Before I went to the park, I went to get Johnny so that he could help me look for Larry.

"Why don't you just get a random quarter and give it to Darry?" Johnny asked on the way to the park.

"Because," I said, "this quarter has a slit in it and an un-identified yellow smug on the side. So if we were to give Darry a random quarter, he'd know that it wasn't Larry."

"Right, I forgot about that."

The rest of the way to the park was quiet. When we did reach our destination, I told Johnny about where Soda thought Darry had dropped Larry and so, we both got on our hands and knees and looked around for the quarter. The upside of this was that being on our hands and knees made us closer to the ground, which allowed us to see small objects better. The down side of this was that it was two in the morning and pitch black outside, so even though we were close to the ground, we still couldn't see anything.

As we continued to search for Larry, a bright light shone on us. We turn around to see a blue mustang, and four, very drunk socs, climbed out of the car. They were the guys that had almost beaten me, Johnny and Two-Bit up at the movies.

One of the Socs, whose name I recalled was Bob, walked over to Johnny and me, followed closely by another soc, whose name I recalled was Randy. The other two Socs stayed by the car.

"Hey greasers, what's up?" Bob said, and then took a swig from his bottle that, I guessed, was filled with alcohol.

I don't know what had come over me, but I had this sudden urge to tell them what me and Johnny really were doing, instead of making something up. "We're looking for a quarter," I said casually, "it has a slit in it and a yellow smug on the side."

Bob and Randy started to laugh, while the two at the car snickered. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard," Bob said, "and I've heard some pretty dumb things."

"Can you guys just leave us alone and go back to your own part of town," Johnny said, which surprised me.

"Why don't you make me," Bob threaten. When Johnny kneed there, not moving, Bob laughed.

And as Bob laughed, Randy had be bent over and was now standing upright holding a quarter. But not just any quarter, it was Larry. "What the hell is this yellow smug?" Randy said, as he inspected the quarter.

"I don't' know," I shrugged. "We're still awaiting test results."

"When did you get it tested?" he asked.

"….Six years ago," I said, and Bob and Randy started laughing again. I was kind of hoping that they would just give me and Johnny the quarter, but I realized that I was going to have to ask for it and hope that they give it to us.

"Hey guy's," I started, "can I have that quarter?"

"No," Bob said. "We found it, so we keep it."

"But it's my brother's quarter," I said.

Randy shrugged, "Too bad."

I stood up, but my head hung down. Darry was going to kill me for letting Larry be taken in my socs. Johnny stood up to and put his arm around me. "It's ok Ponyboy."

I was going to tell Johnny that it wasn't ok, but Bob started to talk before I could. "Listen grease," he started, "we'll make you a deal. Me and my friends are hungry, and we're out of beer. If you can get us some beer and say, chocolate cake, we'll give you your quarter back. No strings attached."

Johnny's face lit up. "Pony, this is great. You have beer and chocolate cake at your house."

I shook my head. "No. Two-Bit and Steve were over awhile a go and ate the rest of the cake and washed it down with the rest of our beer."

"Damn it," Johnny said.

Bob laughed again, "Sorry, but it looks like you greasers are out of luck." Randy flipped him the quarter and they both started to walk back to the car, but before I knew it, Johnny had jumped onto Bob's back and started to stab him with the knife he always carried, making Larry fall from his hands.

Scared, the two socs that stayed behind, jumped in the back of the car, and Randy ran to the front seat and drove away. Lucky for me and Johnny, on his dash to the car, Randy didn't bother to retrieve Larry. Unlucky for me and Johnny, the other three socs were going to call the police, and then we'd go to jail. Well actually Johnny would go to jail seeing as I did nothing.

So, instead of dwelling on that, I picked up Larry and Johnny and I made our way back to my house.

When we came inside, the house was quiet. Darry wasn't smashing things anymore. I was going to go and look for him, but I saw Soda asleep on the couch and decided that it would be safer to talk to him first. So I walked over to him and nudged him awake. "Where's Darry?" I asked when he opened his eyes.

"He's in the kitchen," Soda said.

"Isn't he still worried about Larry?"

Soda shook his head, "No, he just all of a sudden stopped throwing things and kept quiet. I was going to go and see what happened, but before I could move, I fell asleep. Where were you guys?"

I sighed and retold the whole story about the socs, Johnny being a murderer, and the fact that I had Larry right there with me.

"Go show Darry then," Soda said.

And so me, Soda, and Johnny made our way into the kitchen to give Darry his quarter. Only when we entered the kitchen, Darry didn't even look up at us because he was too entranced by a piece of string.

"Hey Darry," Johnny said, "Pony and I found Larry."

"That's nice," Darry said, not caring.

"I thought you couldn't live without Larry? I thought he was your best friend?" I asked puzzled.

"That was yesterday," Darry said. "Now I can't live without my new best friend." Darry held up the piece of string. "I call him Merry."

All three of our mouths dropped and we returned to the living room, leaving Darry with Merry.

"That was weird," Soda said after our way to long of an awkward silence.

"I know," I agreed.

"And it really sucks too," Soda continued, "I mean, you guys went through all that trouble and Johnny killed that soc."

"It wasn't that bad," Johnny said.

"It will be when you go to jail," Soda told him.

Johnny sighed, "Yeah I guess I will be lonely in jail."

I shook my head, "You won't be alone in jail Johnny."

"Why not?" he asked.

I held up the quarter. "Because you can be with Larry."