"Hey Darry, there is someone on the phone for you", Tom called. Quite an idiot, that Tom. Always screwed over all of our projects.
I quickly made my way over to the phone, wondering if it was Ponyboy needing a ride home from school, or Soda calling me to tell me he forgot to pick up Ponyboy. That kind of thing would happen the one day I work late.
"Hello", I answer gruffly, not really caring anymore at this point.
"Is this Darrel Curtis speaking?" The voice wasn't soft like Pony or Soda's, but rough like the social workers that called every month, or the police that told us our parents died. This clearly wasn't anything good.
"Yes this is he."
"We have identified your car on the corner of Parson's Street. It was in an automobile accident about 10 minutes ago. We would like you to come immediately and identify that it is your vehicle."
My head spinned. Not again, this was to much. Finally when words reformed in my mouth, I asked, "Was there anybody in the car?"
"Yes two unidentified teenagers"
Shit. Shit. Shit. No this couldn't be happening, it couldn't.
"Please come to the corner of Parson's immediately, and if it is your car, we will go from there Darrel."
My heart was beating 500 miles a minute. But that would come later. I quickly cleared my head and told boss I would have to leave early. He didn't look too happy, but one look at my face and he agreed. I drove as fast as I could to Parsons Street, not daring to believe it. Not yet.
Finally I arrived, and I couldn't believe my eyes. The whole front of our green truck was broken up. And yes, it was our car. I quickly walked out of the car and towards the accident. Some short bald guy met me and introduced himself.
"Hi you must be Darrel. My name is Jacob White, and I spoke to you earlier on the phone. Is this your car Darrel?"
"Yes. What happened to the people inside? Are they all right? Where are they? They were my brothers God damn it!"
"Oh dear. I'm sorry, but they have been taken to Tulsa General. I'm sure you can find them there"
I didn't give him time to say anything else. I kept trying to tell myself that they were okay, that they were going to make it, but I kept thinking back to our broken down car. What if Soda and Pony were just as broken?
I rushed through the hospital doors. It was eerie how many times I had to come here in the past few years. I found the receptionist and asked her about my brothers. One look at my face and she complied.
"Darrel Curtis? Here for the victims on the accident on Parson's Street? I need you too identify two bodies in the morgue."
Morgue? No, no, no. That's not fair. Soda and Pony? Not them too. I didn't want to believe it, but the logical part of me knew it was true. I lost them. And know all these stupid people want me to do is identify. They didn't care about who you were, or who you lost, all they want done is your stupid paperwork. I hate people. I hate life. Why did some people get to have everything, while everything that meant something to me was lost?
I held in my tears and anguish as I followed her to the morgue. Yup, that was my role in this. Confirming my brother's death. I wanted to break down and die, but I had to keep it together. I just had to.
She took me to the room, and I removed the sheets, looking at the faces.
Fuckers stole our car, and fucking got it into an accident. Darry is going to flip his lid. Soda and I sat in the back of Two-Bit's car as he drove us back home.
"So the cops said your insurance will cover it?"
"Yea, but that ain't gonna lower Darry's gasket" Soda chuckled, but we both knew how mad Darry was going to be.
When Soda came inside to get me from school, we came back out and found our car stolen. A few hours later, we were finally released from the police station. They located our car. It was totaled, but luckily it will be covered for us. Two-Bit dropped us off, at home, but left after seeing that Darry managed to beat us home. We both slowly walked to the front, walking into the tough questioning that Darry sure would give us.
But to our surprise, Darry was white in the face when we came home. He looked like he just saw a ghost when we walked in. Who died, I thought, but then realized that might of actually happened. I looked over at Soda and he looked we equally confused.
We walked toward him, and without warning he grabbed us in a bone crunching hug. I heard him mutter, "Oh thank God", in a very tearful, broken way.
When he let us go, to my surprise, he fell to the floor and started sobbing. I felt paralyzed. Darry never broke down. He was cool, hard Darry. The tin man. I felt as if time had stopped for me as I looked down and saw Darry heavily sob into his hands.
Soda unfroze first and sat down next to Darry and grabbed him into a hug. "Darry, what the hell happened? Did someone get hurt?"
Soda glanced at me, and signaled for me to comfort him. I knelt down and rubbed Darry's back, trying to soothe his sobs.
Finally Darry told us what happened. I was horrified, and couldn't imagine what that must of felt like. I looked over at Soda and realized he was also silently crying. I touched my own face and realized I was too.
And it was as if recounting the story made Darry sob harder. "I thought I lost you," was what he was repeating over and over again. Then he started with a chorus of "You two are all I have left."
Soda was more of a comfort then I was. "Darry don't be stupid. We are right here. You are stuck with us. Please don't feel this way." He kept rocking Darry, while shooting me sad glances every once in a while.
Finally Darry's sobs slowed and he turned to me and clasped my hand. "Pony I'm really sorry for the way I've been. I know I let you down, but please know this. I love you so much, and I'm so proud of you. I'll try harder, I promise." Why was he apologizing? He did everything right. It was me who was the pain in the ass.
Darry got up and rubbed off his tears. "I'm gonna go to bed you two. But there is leftovers and stuff in the freezer. I guess I'll call the insurance people tomorrow morning."
Soda got up and gave Darry a hug. "Stop worrying so much old man" he said with a chuckle. Surprisingly Darry laughed back.
Darry's words upset me. I felt like I should say something and clear things up.
"Darry wait." Darry turned and looked at me. "Don't blame yourself Darry. You have never disappointed me, and even though you make me mad sometimes, I love you and look up to you so much. Please don't beat yourself up."
Darry just hugged me and whispered a thank you in my ear. After he went to bed, me and Soda looked at each other in silence.
"Damn, two years of built of sadness finally comes out."
I didn't say anything, but silently agreed. It was at that moment I promised myself to be good. To use my head and get out of trouble. I would never, ever want to see Darry hurt like that again.