I don't own The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton does.
I had expected the police to come to the hospital first, because of Johnny and me running away and all, and killing the Soc, but the social worker must've convinced them to split, since she was the only one in the hospital waiting room besides Soda, Darry, and me.
The social worker's name was Mrs DeLane, and it seemed like she was the one who put half the runaways and J.D.'s in homes. Steve figured that it was because of her that his cousin got sent back to Kansas. Tim Shepard probably knew her pretty good, his brother was always getting sent to the cooler and the reformatory, and she was always the one responsible for doing that. She also pretty much dragged Two-Bit's sister back to the Mathews house by the ear after she ran away. Dally wasn't too fond of her either, ever since she began labeling him as a 'victim of the environment' or whatever.
Mrs DeLane wasn't real popular in out neighborhood.
She had to visit once a month, to check up on us. She treated Sodapop and me like we were either six years old or invisible, and was always trying to convince Darry to send me and Sodapop to a home so he could go to college and 'make something of himself.' At which point, he'd just say that he was fine with the situation now, but she was always telling him that he could 'go places' in life and succeed and I don't know what else. I guess that people are like that to Darry, since he was on the football team, Boy of the Year and all.
"Michael," she said, looking down at me. She calls me by my middle name, because she says that 'Ponyboy' isn't a real name. She barely talks to Sodapop for the same reason. "You did a very serious thing by running away." Sodapop began to whistle, bored. Mrs DeLane glared at him until he stopped, short of breath.
"As I was saying, you did a very serious thing by running away. What, pray tell, made you run away?" I couldn't say that Darry hit me, because then Sodapop and me would get sent to a home and Darry would get sent to the cooler.
Lie, I thought to myself. Lie, lie, lie. But I couldn't think of anything.
"Michael? What made you run away from your house?" she repeated.
"Uh, I was kinda hacked off at Darry," I said quickly. "We got into a fight about whose turn it was to clean the dishes." I could see Darry looking at me, confused.
"Very well. Michael, do you know the consequences of running away?" How many times could she say 'running away'? She sounded like a robot, like she had given this speech before. Then again, she probably had it memorized.
And I did know the consequences of running away. "You wanna send me to a home," I mumbled. My head hurt, I didn't feel too great, I felt like I was coming down with something.
"Not yet," she said, still sounding like a robot. Or maybe that's just me.
"Then what?" I asked.
"We'll see how things go," she said. "Darrel, you are taking care of your brothers?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"And you," she turned to Sodapop, "have you gone back to school?"
"No, ma'am. I'm working at the DX," he said proudly. He once told me that he wasn't good at school, so it didn't really matter. She made a small tsk, tsk noise with her tongue.
"I will see you in a month," she announced before leaving. Once the doors were shut, Darry looked at me.
"Fighting about dishes?"