A/N ok, here is the next one - enjoy and don't forget to reveiw:)
First things first – I went to the lot, but as I was walking there, I knew I wouldn't find Johnny there. And sure enough he wasn't there when I got there. But there were lots of cigarette butts all over the place. They were all covered with mud and half stepped into the ground. You could tell they've been here for a few days. So he hasn't been here for a few days then, I thought. I hated going to Johnny's house again, but that's what needed to be done. I wished Dallas was out. He could go with me then. The headache got worse again, and I didn't have any aspirins on me. Stupid, I should've taken some with me.
I came up to Johnny's house, and this time I could hear bickering that was going on inside. It wasn't like a full blown fight or anything, but it was Johnny's dad and mom exchanging a few insults with each other. I dragged myself to the porch and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" I heard a high pitched voice of Johnny's mom.
"Tell whoever it is," I heard his dad's voice in the background, "that it's not a good time now." Shit, I thought, its' not a good time now. Is he going at it right now? Beating Johnny I mean?
"Who is it?" Johnny's mom repeated as I did not answer the first time.
"It's Ponyboy," I said, and added, "Johnny's friend," just in case she didn't know or didn't remember my name.
She opened the door only a little bit, just enough space to stick her head out, which she did. She looked me over in silence and kind of wrinkled her nose. Like if I smelled or something.
"He ain't here." She finally said - disgust in her voice. He aint here no more, and I don't know where the hell he is. Must be with one of ya alls no good hoodlums getting into more trouble. Now go on, get out of here." I wasn't moving. I kind of spaced out for a minute. She had the nerve to wrinkle her nose at me and call me and my friends hoodlums. She, whose house was not cleaned, whose husband was a drunk, who didn't even care about her own son. She was calling me a hoodlum?
"Are you deaf or something?" She repeated, and then squinted her eyes at me giving me a closer look. "You must be stoned, you dirty trash…" She was cut off by Mr. Cade himself, "who the hell is it Linda?" - He sounded aggravated.
"It's one of those dirtbags that he hangs out with." She didn't even say Johnny's name, just said he, I thought blankly.
"Tell him to get the fuck out or I'll come out and beat it out of him in a second." Johnny's dad yelled, his speech slurred a little. I heard his footsteps approaching, and while I doubted he would actually do something to me, I felt disgusted and outraged. So I turned around and beat it out of there as fast as I could.
I turned the corner and stopped. I had to digest what just happened. I mean, I was glad Johnny wasn't there and his dad wasn't beating the shit out of him, but maybe he had already done that before and Johnny wondered off somewhere. And there was more to it too. Its how she looked at me, I mean his mother. How she wrinkled her nose and how she thought I was stoned. I mean I just felt disgusting. Like if I just accidentally stepped into a pile of dog shit, and now my shoe was all dirty and I had to clean it by wiping it on the grass. You know that feeling when that happens sometimes in the summer when you are walking through the grass and you are not paying attention, and you may accidentally step into a pile of dog shit. Well, that's how I felt right then. I felt dirty, like I needed to clean it up. I felt low, like I know she was just saying that and it's not true, but I still felt like it. I lit up, and inhaled deeply, while walking a bit slower, not sure where exactly I was going, just being dissolved in my thoughts. After about ten minutes I got a hold of myself and kept walking.
I walked across our neighborhood for another few hours stopping at any places like abandoned buildings and stuff and going to the junk yard that wasn't that far away, and where some greasers hung out sometimes. I also went to the bus stop where Johnny and I would sit sometimes on a rainy day when we didn't want to go to our house or had to wait for Soda or someone else to come around. I went to some other empty lots, not the one that Johnny usually stayed at and I even checked in the park.
Johnny rarely went to any bars or any places like that and most importantly never by himself. But I had to check anyway. I started with the pool hall. He went there more than he did to the bars. A lot of times he'd go with me and Dal and we'd shoot some pool or play pinball machines.
The pool hall was almost empty when I got there. I mean it was still pretty early in the day, and most people were at work or in school. There was a bunch of hoods by one of the pool tables though. It was dark inside. It always is in a place like this. It adds to this relaxing atmosphere or something. So yeah, it was dark even though it was bright day light outside. I knew one of the kids by the table. Knew him from school. He was a tough grease who hardly ever went to school and was known for doing some nasty stuff. To girls mostly. I didn't like him that much, but I still came up to him. I would come up even if I didn't know any of them at all. I needed to ask them if they'd seen Johnny. I came up closer to them squinting in the dark.
"Hey," I said to the one I knew. His name was Roy. He stopped for a second, leaning forward and resting his hands on his cue. He nodded slightly, acknowledging me and kind of smirking from under his bangs. "Uh you haven't seen Johnny Cade 'round here I cut thru the chase.
"Who?" He looked puzzled, "oh, that black-haired kid you hang out with, the one that killed a soc?"
"Yeah, that's the one, have you seen him by any chance?"
"Why he's missing and shit?" He laughed. What was funny was beyond me, but I didn't say anything.
"No, I ain't seen him." He said after he stopped laughing.
"What's the hold up?" One of the other ones yelled from behind of the table, "you playin' or what?" He was getting impatient.
"Thanks." I muttered walking away.
Next place I had to go to was Buck's. Yeah right, like he's gonna be in there. But even if not, maybe Buck heard something. Buck talks to a lot of people and he usually knows all the gossip. So if something bad had happened to Johnny, Buck would know about it. I lit up another cigarette and kept walking. I had to pass by the DX in order to get to Buck's. I felt so low as I had to walk around it from behind, almost hiding behind the trees just to make sure I don't' run into Soda or Steve by accident.
Finally, the DX was behind me, and I was on my way to Buck's. He opened after I knocked on the door and then on the window. The music was pretty loud in there even at this hour of the day. He came down and opened the door and then looked startled for a second like not knowing who I was. He was rubbing his eyes. Must've been sleeping a hangover.
"Whacha want?" he said, his eyes finally focusing on me.
"I am looking for Johnny," I said, "and I thought maybe he stopped by here today or any time this week or maybe you heard something. We haven't heard from him for about a week."
"You are talking 'bout O'Connor from Shepard's gang?" he asked slightly confused why I needed to know about Johnny O'Connor from Shepard's gang.
"Not O'Connor," I said annoyed. "I'm talking about Johnny Cade. You know the one I hang out with. He's come here with Dallas a few times."
"Oh that kid," he gave me a wide smile. "I remember now. You two are in some shit again?" He then asked curiously, but at the same time with some sort of approval. Like he was proud that we were in some shit. He must be remembering the last time Johnny and I came here looking for Dal.
"No" I said, "but he's missing and I thought you might know something." I was surprised at how serious my voice sounded. It was no joke all right. He was really missing. Buck must've sensed the seriousness in my voice and stopped grinning. "I haven't heard anything kid, but if I do I'll let you know all right?"
"All right," I nodded, "thanks."
Buck went back in, and I was left standing outside and deciding where I should go next. Maybe I should report a missing person I thought. But I dismissed that thought. Like I said you really don't call the cops on this side of town unless you really, really have to. I figured if by the end of the day or maybe the next day I don't find him and don't hear anything from anyone, I'll have to let the cops know. But just not yet. For now I should keep looking.
So next I went to these other hoods neighborhoods, the ones that were kind of far from our neighborhood. I passed a bunch of kids in the park playing poker. Must be skipping school. You could hear them cursing five miles away. They looked kind of mean and scary too, but I still stopped by them and asked them if they'd seen this black-haired kid and I gave them Johnny's description. They only shook their heads confusingly at me and went back to the excitement of their game.
I kept walking. I looked behind the buildings in the backstreets in case he was hiding out there, I looked under the benches and in the dark corners in case he was laying there beat up by his dad or socs or who knows who else. In the dead-end streets, behind the dumpsters and in the parking lots. I looked in the field by the railroad, and in the yard by the church where a lot of homeless people made their camp.
After hours of wondering around town, I was all the way downtown and I was getting hungry and a little tired too. I didn't have money on me. Of course not, why would I think of such a thing as taking money with me. I really didn't want to smoke, but I lit up again so I could suppress hunger. I was getting out of ideas as to where else I could look for Johnny, and I was getting really worried. Maybe he decided to run away. But knowing Johnny, I was more than sure he would stop by first.
I kept walking, turning the corner and going into another street and then another park. It was getting dark by now. As I was going through the park, I passed by two guys. They looked real shady and dressed kind of funny too. They were just standing there, talking to each other, but as I was passing by them, one of them started to say in this kind of low and suppressed voice, "smoke, smoke, smoke…"-for a 10th of a second I was confused, and then I realized that they were selling drugs. It was kind of funny. I wondered briefly what exactly they were offering. Was it just pot or was it something stronger? The park was large and as I was exiting all the way on the opposite side, I passed by another guy and again he started in a low whisper "smoke, smoke, smoke…" and he kind of walked a few steps with me just to keep saying that. I walked faster. Shit, I didn't need to get into any kind of shit here with the drug dealers.
As I was walking I saw a guy in front of me who I could swear was Dallas. He even walked the same. I walked up to him from the back and called his name. He turned around and of course it wasn't Dallas.
"Sorry," I mumbled, and I felt my shoulders slouch in disappointment as I watched the guy walk away. It wasn't Dallas, but I really wished it was. Shoot, I was exhausted by then and since I didn't have any money on me, I'd have to walk all the way home. I thought of Dallas. I should go visit him I thought. Johnny worships Dallas and maybe he came by and told him something. I knew the visitation was allowed twice a week, and last visit was at 7. I should hurry if I'm to make it by 7. The jail was in the other part of town, closer to our neighborhood.
