Now, you all didn't think I am evil enough to leave you with just a prologue, did you? Well, I am, so good thinkig that, but not this morning. Happy New Year to all and lets get it started the right way! Oh, and I should mention there's a fair bit of swearing. So don't like, don't read.
Disclaimer: I only own the character of Pepsi-cola and his aquatiances. S.E. Hinton owns the Outsiders and Gayle Rivers/James Hudson own the ideas in the book 'The Five Fingers' where a lot of the refrences came from. So big thankies to them.
Dedication: To my own twin.
On with the show...
Chapter 1: Homecoming
"You sure you want to be let off here, Curtis?"
"Yeah, Lou. I'm sure," I answered opening the door of the pickup truck "Listen, thanks. For everything."
"Hell, man. You don't have to thank me," Lou answered shrugging "Just promise me you'll drop in if you're ever up Independence way. The Missus will shore like to meet ya."
"I'll remember that. If you ever get back down here again, you do the same."
Lou reached out his hand and I shook it. I had been preparing myself for it all night, hell since we got stateside, as we drove from Houston to Tulsa in his brother's old beat up truck. It was going to be tough saying goodbye to good old Lou. I had invited him to stay in Tulsa, at least for the night, but he was anxious to get up to Independence. I didn't ask why and he didn't offer. Just like he didn't ask me why I wanted to get out on the outskirts of the city. There wasn't anything in sight for a few miles, but he'd stopped anyways, not asking. It was a good way to be.
"Got another favor to ask, Curtis. Don't let yerself get jumped on the way home by some Coyote lookin' for an easy meal."
"I won't. Stay safe, Lou."
I stepped out into the darkness with that final word and waved after Lou as he sped down the highway. After my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I readjusted my pack and started towards Tulsa. I was only three miles out, but it seemed a lot closer. I didn't know if I was nervous or if I was excited, but the thought of home made my stomach do flips. I shivered against a gust of wind and pulled my jacket closer around my shoulders and picked up my pace slightly.
I didn't know what I was expecting when I finally saw it, but I stopped and took a good long look. It was Tulsa...Good old Tulsa. I let out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding. It was the same and it was welcoming. It was still home. I had to smile to myself. Sure, I'd left it only to find myself in the middle of something huge and overpowering, but there was something to bring me around again. There wasn't much to it and I had seen bigger places, but there was something it had that no other place in the world did. Now, if I could only put my finger on it. Mostly it was how everything lit up in the dark. It was brighter than anything I had seen since I left. I hadn't been gone that long, but it felt like a lifetime had passed me by. Tulsa was still here, reminding me it was far from a lifetime. Everything still lit up the same after sundown. The diner, The Dingo, Jay's, The DX…Nothing had changed, 'cept maybe me.
I wondered suddenly what it would be like to go by just Pepsi-cola Curtis again. It had been Curtis, Private Curtis to the military brass I liked to piss off, for so long now that I could have forgotten my name was Pepsi-cola all together. I know, I'm the last person who would join up on anything like the army, but I wasn't going to let myself get into that. I'd made my choice and I would have to live with it.
I sighed, feeling the air sigh with me, like it knew all that had happened with me since the trial. I was shipped out to an army base in Texas a few days after the courtroom scene. They'd kept me waiting until that rich Daddy, the one who would have liked to see me rot in jail, showed up outside my cell. He told me he hoped I died over there. Well, I hated to disappoint, but it was something I just couldn't do. I wasn't a coward and I wasn't clumsy enough to get myself shot. Hell, I was just plain lucky. So, I did what came naturally. I'd told him to go and fuck himself. I'd bet everything I had that he hadn't disappointed me.
We went into training for a couple weeks and I'd been fighting since I could walk, so they made me a squadron leader. Congratulations Pepsi-cola, you've gotten even deeper into the system. With that thought in mind I started being the worst draftee you ever saw. Then they bump me to Private. It was the most ass backward system in the world. I tried to get out and they pulled me in even deeper. Well, conforming was out of the question so I kept on with pissing off the brass. They got the last laugh there.
'Report to room 40B at 0600…' Those words were the beginning of the end. I got mixed up in a mission that…well, that was one mission I wanted to put behind me. I finally got sent home 18 months after I was charged with manslaughter. That was after a pretty violent fight on the Nam Pa River. Those assholes should have asked me on for another tour- discharging me after my tour was up was almost painful for them, I'm sure- but they didn't. That was only the beginning. I was shipped out on the next flight with Lou. We where the only ones on the plane, if you didn't count the coffins...
I shuddered at the thought of them. I'd seen Vietnam, all right. 18 months were hell enough. I hated taking orders and I'd missed home. I guess I was lucky to get out when I did. I would have done something stupid after a while and landed myself in a prison camp or one of those pine boxes. That's what happened to a lot of guys who were due to come home. They got too cautious and they got killed. I was glad I hadn't known when I was done. Two months leeway would have seen me dead, surely.
I turned down a road in the Soc end of town and kept my stare forward. I didn't bother looking around until I had crossed through their territory and into the middle class houses. It was funny how I still feltout of place, even though the places where closer to what I had grown up in. It was houses all together that had me feeling out of place. I was used to bamboo shacks, tunnels, military bases, the open jungle...I definitely needed some time to think about what had happened and what I wanted to do now. I guess that's why I was back home. Maybe I'd stick around for a while and see how that went. The world wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I had time. Now I was starting to sound like Darry! Was he ever going to be pissed…When I left, I never got the chance to tell him where I was going or if I'd be back or anything. In the long run I think that was best. I never handled goodbyes well and saying goodbye to Darry, Soda and Ponyboy would have been too much, not to mention Lily. I'd sent along the court order so they wouldn't worry. At least they knew I was going somewhere and wasn't dead in some alley. Now I was turning up on the doorstep with dog tags still around my neck. This was going to be an interesting welcome home to say the least. I was looking forward to seeing all of them, but would they want me back after all I'd put them through? I shook that thought from my head. I'd done worse and they'd accepted me. This time couldn't go different. I wouldn't allow it.
I walked down the familiar darkened streets just taking it all in to keep myself from thinking. Dally and I had got hauled on the main street twice for fighting and once for being under the influence. Next street over was the telephone pole Curly Shepard climbed and fell off of and the street after that was the High School and after that would be the DX than after that a-ways would finally be home. Like I said, things didn't change.
It was nearly midnight by the time I even got into the neighborhood, but I didn't mind. I had always preferred it better in the dark. I guess it wasn't so obvious we lived on the wrong side of the tracks or something. Hopefully I would be able to sneak in, if Darry still had 'the door's always unlocked' policy. I didn't feel like waking up anyone by crawling through a window or ringing the doorbell, not at this time of night. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. It had been a rough couple of days. I was never hitching a ride home again. It left me too much time to think and it took too much energy. First thing in the morning I would borrow the T-bird from Buck. That is to say if he even still had it. Knowing him, he probably managed to crash it sometime ago when he was too drunk to be going on one of his own beer runs. I just shook my head. I would find some wheels.
When I finally got home, I stared at it for a minute. It was closer to five minutes, but I hadn't seen the place in over a year. I liked the thought of eighteen months better; it didn't carry as much weight as a year. A year and a half was too long, but eighteen months didn't seem that way, even though it was longer...
"Pepsi-cola, you're just being a coward. Open the door," I told myself "What's the worst that could happen?"
"The whole house could cave in 'cause the door was holding it up,"
I sighed. Ponyboy was supposed to be the one with the active imagination. I flipped off the little voice in my head and finally got my courage up enough to try the door. I smiled when it opened under my hand and the house didn't topple over. Just goes to show what a waste an imagination is.
I was tempted to turn on a light when I walked in, but from the sound of the muffled snores from the living room someone had made the couch their bed. I only sighed and went down the hall. The light was off, so Darry was home unless someone had changed the routine.
The first door was Soda's. I poked my head in and smiled. Soda wasn't in there, but the place smelled like Soda and the room was messy as ever. Even in the dark, I could tell he acted like the same old Sodapop. I closed it behind me and made my way down to my old room knowing I would wake Darry if I looked in on him. I knew he would be home. There was rarely a night Darry wasn't in before 12, even if he was working. Like I said, some things didn't change.
Ponyboy was on his side of the bed with the covers all on the floor. It was summer, but it wasn't warm enough for that. Maybe I was just used to the jungle because Oklahoma seemed cold, even under the warm noon sun. I supposed I would just have to get used to it, the same way I got used to the heat and the stale water and the blood. The leeches, well...No, I don't think I ever got used to them. I peeled off my shirt and found a scar on my chest where I had dug one out. I was inexperienced and I had mauled myself good. 'Ta think you could just burn the little beasts off...Live an learn.
Ponyboy didn't move when I grabbed one of my old shirts out of the closet and changed for bed. I pulled the blankets up to my chin and just stared at the ceiling. How many times had shit happened and I ended up, just staring at the ceiling? Mom and Dad's funeral, Dally and Johnny, Vietnam…was this some form of punishment? Or was it my reward?
I nearly laughed at myself as I watched the street light make distorted shapes of the ceiling. I had no idea where all of these profound thoughts had come from. Probably one of the only things that had got me through Vietnam was thinking simple. No memories when I had to concentrate, no good times, no thoughts of home. Just math. Fuck, that would make my teachers laugh. 'Pepsi-cola Curtis in the middle of a sticky spot trying to calculate…Pi?' Well, let them laugh. It was either that or getting myself shot to hell. I had had that happen anyways, but not as bad as it could have been. I had one of the boy's moms send me his old calculus textbooks. I'd taught myself when I could and had him help me when I couldn't. I'd lost the books when…well; I hoped I would never have to use it ever again.
I thought of the boys then. Rivers, Wiley, Jackson and the rest. It didn't seem fair…but there was nothing I could do about it. I sunk deeper into the bed, feeling comfortable for the first time in weeks. I knew no matter how old I would get, or how far from home I would wander, I would always remember this bed. I fell asleep then, feeling relaxed for the first time in weeks.
----
"…Two-Bit, get your head out of the fridge"
"I'm hungry."
"There's cake on the table"
"No beer to go with it..."
"Deal with it."
"Now, what's the fun in that?"
I groaned and tried to ignore all the voices. It was too early to get up, in my opinion. I rolled over and saw Ponyboy was up and about. The weight of that hit me and I grinned. I was home, people where up and I was still in bed. It didn't get any better than that. Well, maybe it did. I hauled myself out of bed and stretched while Two-Bit laughed at something. I had to grin again. I was home. No matter what the reception would be, I was home. Did I mention I was home? I just couldn't get over that thought. It was a wonderful feeling.
I made my way down the hall, just listening to everything, taking in the house. It was all the same as it always had been. This house didn't change, no matter what happened to the people within it. I thought that was nice and tormenting all at the same time. I sighed and figured it wasn't the house's fault. It hadn't killed them or sent me to war. Everyone was in the kitchen, so I leaned in the doorway and watched them for a minute, just taking them in and getting my courage up.
Darry was wrapped up in the morning paper. He looked tired, but at this time of the morning it wouldn't surprise me. His hair was still the same, his build still the same and his coffee was probably still black as sin. It was nice to know someone had stayed constant.
Two-Bit was a little older, but he generally looked the same, and from what I had heard, he still acted the same. He was grinning even though he had a handful of cake in his mouth.
Ponyboy was sitting at the table and looked to be thinking on something. I couldn't get over how tall he'd gotten. He was seventeen now, had been for a whole month. He was getting a pretty damned good build and was starting to grow into his looks. He was still my baby brother, though. He would always be my baby brother.
I wondered where Soda and Steve where at this time of the morning. If they hadn't been fired by now, they would still have work in an hour. Darry seemed to be reading my mind, even though he didn't know I was even in the room.
"What's taking Soda so long?" He asked
"Shower's running," Ponyboy pointed out
"And Stevie-boy said he was going to meet Soda there this morning," Two-Bit told them "He wanted to stop by and see Evie first. I would skip that before breakfast…"
"Lay off, Two-Bit. They want to get married and then you'll be stuck with her," Darry said, folding his paper
So Steve had asked her to marry him. All I could think was that he was going to have to cut back on his night life, if he wanted to make that one work. I knew Evie to be homebody who liked to go out occasionally, but liked to stay in, more often than not and complain Steve didn't take her out enough. Whoever said chicks where easy to figure out should meet Evie and Lily.
Lily… I missed her like I never thought possible. I never sent her what I wrote her from Nam. I didn't want her to know about what it was like there. I didn't want anyone to know, really. So I wrote letters, but never sent them home. They were for me, to keep me sane and that was all. 'Did send her a post card from base camp once. I don't know if it ever made it as far as Tulsa.
"Didn't know you were out of the shower yet," Darry commented after only glancing up at me
"Haven't had a shower," I answered going to the fridge
There was an apple on one of the shelves that I helped myself to before sitting down. Ponyboy threw me an odd look, but I ignored it. I took a bite and savored it for a moment. You didn't get fresh any thing when you were positioned along the Mekong River, fighting every time you thought you where safe and comfortable, unless you robbed a village. This apple was everything I had wanted since I left rolled into one bite.
Two-Bit was staring at me like he'd seen a ghost and it was starting to creep me out. I don't suppose Ponyboy had noticed I wasn't Soda and told them all I was home. Hell, he might not have noticed I was there at all. Before I could say anything Two-Bit jumped off the counter and closed the space between us. He looked right in my eyes before pulling back and staring at me, again.
"What?" I asked, a little amused
I was shocked when his eyes started to mist. I stood up and he grabbed me in a rough, bear-like hug. I stood there and awkwardly rubbed his back. He was full out sobbing and I looked over at Darry who was gazing at me in some type of shock. I couldn't see Ponyboy, but I could hear sniffling behind me. What the hell was going on? When Two-Bit pulled away, his face was drenched in tears, but he was smiling.
"You're one lucky son of a bitch. Nine fuckin' lives, like a cat," Two-Bit laughed, croakily "Never knew Soda to like apples..."
I turned towards Ponyboy who was sitting in his chair sniffing with Soda's hand on his shoulder. I looked at my twin, praying he would keep it together and explain what was going on. He patted Ponyboy's arm and disappeared down the hall. I looked over at Darry who was fixated with the table, trying to keep it together. Two-Bit had me in a hug again, but he was laughing this time between his sobs. He finally let go of me and Soda was back, standing beside Darry. Darry had a letter in his hands and he looked lost and helpless.
"Would somebody explain what's going on?" I asked opening my arms for Ponyboy, who was crying now
"We got this letter almost four months ago," Darry started quietly and handed it to me.
I knew what it was the moment I took it. The yellow color and the weight of it, but mostly the crases, like it had been read over and over again in disbelief. I knew what it was, alright and it explained everything. I still had to know, though. I read it with one arm still around Ponyboy.
"…We regret to inform you of the loss of Private first class Pepsi-cola Shawn Curtis…blah blah blah…who was killed in action March 21st 1968 along with the rest of his unit…What the fuck are they on about?"
"We got that letter and had a funeral and everything," Soda whispered
Things where starting to piece together even faster and I gripped Ponyboy closer to my chest, hoping to make things better. This was scaring me as much as it had scared them. I sighed, clearing my throat to give them something. My voice was raspy, but it hadn't had much practice for a long time. I guess this was it.
"I must have gotten shuffled somewhere in the Military's paperwork. I went straight home when I got my orders. You'd think that they'd have said something." I shrugged heavily "But this would explain my orders. I was basically packed on a truck with a bunch of crates and shipped home on the first plane available."
"You lucky son of a bitch," Two-Bit cursed
"That's what people keep telling me," I answered absently
I let go of Ponyboy to give Soda a hug. He was smiling like no tomorrow despite the tears on his cheeks and that made me grin. When I was finished ruffling his hair, I looked over at Darry. He looked sad and I felt for him. He kept too much in and let too little get help.
Tossing my apple to Two-Bit, I reached over and pulled Darry up, so I could hug him as well. He was crying by that point and hitting me rather hard on the back, like he wanted to hurt me for the last four months. I let him do it until there was nothing left. He pushed himself away from me and still seemed sad.
"I thought we'd lost you, just like Mom and Dad," he croaked
"You should know by now that I'm too stubborn to die," I answered finding myself a little choked up, too
He smiled a little bit and ruffled my hair. I needed to get it cut at some point and I hadn't shaved since I got stateside. I'd imagine I looked a sight and wondered how they could confuse me with Soda for even a minute. He still looked like the same Soda that I left behind. Maybe he was a little wet, but still the same Sodapop. I guess that was easier than admitting a ghost was in their kitchen. I smirked at the thought. I looked nothing like a ghost. I'd gotten pretty tanned and managed to get pretty toned from the constant heat and movement. I'd added some scars to the collection, but nothing in comparison to the ones on my shoulder. I guess you couldn't beat home, I thought bitterly. Not in any respect, it seemed.
"You're home now," Darry said looking into my eyes and I was rushed back to the present
This was home. The smells, the people, the sounds of the floorboards under my feet, the way the refrigerator liked to sputter every once in a while reminding us of how old it was…all of this was part of home. I looked up at Darry, who was smiling now. I grinned, too.
"Yeah," I replied, "I'm home."
Well, there's the end of that chapter! It was an interesting write and I know it's not the best, but hey. I can settle.
Any comments at all are welcome and flames are accepted.
See ya in the funny papers!
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