I stepped down from the bus, holding tightly to my meager bag of belongings. I walked quickly, realizing it wasn't the smartest idea to be walking alone at night in a city I knew nothing about. I looked at the worn, three year old letter in my hand and turned down the next narrow road. I counted to the fourth house in and stood before it. It was a small one-floor house, the door was open and I could see the outline of someone reading by a faint light in what looked like it was the kitchen.
Slowly, hesitantly I started up the cement path. I reached the door just as a brighter light was flipped on inside the house and someone came to the screen door and yanked it open, almost causing me to fall off the step. He was tall and very handsome and, remembering the descriptions in the letter, I managed to mumble out "Are you Sodapop Curtis?"
"No," he answered, " I'm Darry, what do you want with Soda?'
"Oh, Nothing, I was actually looking for Dally, Dallas Winston, is he here?"
He was silent for a moment, then said very quietly " No, Dally's not here".
"Oh, well then do you know where I can find him?" I asked.
A pained look crossed his face as he said "Dally's, …Dally's dead."
"He's ….Oh my God, how?" Dally couldn't be dead. I mean, I know how much he got into trouble, but he always got himself out of it. He wouldn't have let himself get killed.
I must have looked really pathetic because all of the sudden he looked at me and invited me inside. We were standing in the kitchen, and when I looked at him closer I realized he wouldn't have fit Sodapop's description after all. He was extremely handsome, but not in the pretty-boy way that I imagined Soda. He was tall and muscular, looked to be in his twenties, with dark brown hair and icy blue eyes. They had an almost sad look to them, like he had been through too much in not enough time. Breaking the awkward silence and he asked " What's your name, and, um how did you know Dally?"
"I'm Lena, Lena Griffin. And I, …I'm from New York, I knew Dally from there."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"Um…no."
"Well, you're welcome to stay here tonight if you want, you can tell us your whole story tomorrow morning."
"Really? That would be great."
"Sure, my brothers Sodapop and Ponyboy are in that room", he said, pointing to an open door that I could here contented snores coming from, "and I'll be in there" he said pointing to the other room."
"Thank you so much," I said, truly grateful, and sat down to mull over what I had just learned.