Chapter 7

I was a bit nervous about taking Davanee to the doctor for her shots. Needles always made me nervous.

"What shots is she getting?" asked Soda.

"I don't know. The doctor said just normal baby shots like polio and stuff like that" I said, pulling my socks on. Soda was going to drive us to the doctor's office and pick us up an hour later.

"I'll be back later" said Soda, "call the station if I'm late."

I said ok and we made our way inside. There where thousands of other little kids there, most of them sneezing and coughing. There where a couple of older kids there too but since most pediatricians only saw kids that where under a certain age, there weren't many. The scary part was I was still young enough to go to a pediatrician and I'm taking my daughter to see one.

I sat down next to a girl who had long, brown hair and green eyes. I think I had seen her around school before but I wasn't sure. There where a lot of girls at my school and they all looked the same.

"You're Ponyboy Curtis, right?" asked the girl.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just curious. I've heard about you. Your parents died in a car accident last year, didn't they?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Anya by the way. I think I've seen you around school. Your in high school, right?"

"Yeah. I think we have a couple of classes together."

"English and Math" replied Anya. Anya seemed nice, not like a greasy girl. She was middle class. "So what are you here for?"

"Davanee has to get her shots."

"Who's Davanee?"

"The baby."

"Oh. I have to get my shots too. I hate how the school makes us gets shots. Needles make me nervous." I was about to say that they make me nervous too but the nurse called us back.

"Good luck" said Anya.

"Good luck to you too" I said.

First, they did all the normal stuff. They weighed her and checked her ears and stuff like that.

"The infection seems to of cleared up" said the nurse. Then she brought the needle out and started getting it ready.

"I'll need for you to distract her" said the nurse. I thought for a minute about what I could distract her with. Then I thought about the coffee I had that made her laugh.

"Got any coffee?" I asked.

The nurse looked at me funny and said "yeah. Why?"

"It'll distract her, trust me." The nurse gave me a funny look again but left to go get the coffee. Part of me wanted to throw the needle out while she wasn't in the room but then I thought about Davanee and her getting sick because she didn't get that shot. I left the needle alone. The nurse came back and handed me the cup of coffee. There where chunks of something floating around in the coffee. For the first time in my life, I was actually afraid of drinking something but I had to do it in order to distract Davanee. I took a sip and made a funny face. It tasted awful. Davanee laughed and while her attention was focused on me, the nurse poked her with the needle. That laughter quickly turned to tears.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"No. We still have one more."

"Two shots? Isn't that a little much for a baby?"

"Not in this case. If she where any smaller, it might be a little much."

"Do I have to drink the coffee again?"

"If it distracts her then, yes I highly suggest you do."

I closed my eyes and took another sip. She laughed and just like before, the laughter turned to tears. The nurse put a pink band-aid on Davanee's arm and the whole thing was over. We where out of there within half an hour.

Since we where so early getting out of the doctor, we had to use the doctor's phone to call Soda. Soda said that he was helping a customer but he'd be there as soon as he could get there.

While we waited, we sat in the waiting room. It was too hot to wait outside.

"How was it?" I looked up to see Anya standing over me.

"Fine I guess. She screamed most of the time but that's normal. How'd it go for you?"

"Ok. It's funny how shots can still be traumatizing when your 14. Your 14, aren't you?" asked Anya, taking the seat next to me. "You know, I didn't see you around school the last three weeks. Where'd you go?"

"I had to switch to night school. I have to be home during the day so that I can baby sit her."

"Your brothers are making you stay home to baby sit your sister?"

"Umm….. no you see, she's my daughter."

"Daughter? But your 14. Your not old enough to have a kid."

"So I've heard. But I do. Wait a minute, how'd you know I had brothers?"

"Shoot, I thought everybody knew about Soda and Darry. Soda's the one who works at the DX, right?"

"Yeah."

"And Darry's the one who works at the roofing company?"

"Yep. That's them alright."

"I guess your job kinda tops both of there's, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a dad. That's one of the most important jobs of all."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. I mean, the only man a girl can really depend on is a daddy." That statement made me think. I couldn't help but wonder if Davanee would depend on me in the future. I mean sure, she depended on me then because she couldn't do anything for herself just yet, but what about the future?

"Maybe we should hang out sometime" I said. I know I just met this girl, but it wouldn't hurt to hang out a little. If anything it would help.

"I'd like that" said Anya. Before I could say anything else, I heard a loud car horn outside.

"That's my ride" I said, getting up.

"See ya later" said Anya.

"See ya" I said, walking out the door with Davanee. I strapped Davanee into her car seat and hopped into the front seat.

"How'd it go?" asked Soda.

"Fine. She screamed a lot but it was fine. I met a girl."

"Really? What's her name?"

"Anya. She goes to my school. It's kinda funny 'cause she thought Davanee was my little sister."

"What'd you tell her?"

"That she's my daughter. She was a bit shocked at first but after awhile I think she warmed up to the idea. I dunno though, I don't think I wanna start datin' again just yet."

"Well now you've got someone else to think about whenever you do date."

"I know. That's why I don't wanna date again, for now that is."

"Hey, listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the station instead of home. There's not really a whole lot for you to do there."

I said "ok" and in about twenty minutes, we where at the DX. It was pretty busy since it was a Friday, but then again ,it's always busy. Whether that's because Soda works there or Steve is really good with cars, I couldn't tell you.

I must have had a million girls tell me that Davanee was the cutest baby they had ever seen and about half of them thought she was my cousin or sister or something.

Davanee liked sitting in the front of the store and watching all the people. That day seemed to pass by slowly. All I could think about was Anya. I wondered if I would ever see her again. I probably would since we went to school together but then again, I was probably going to do night school instead of regular school for the rest of my life or at least, the rest of my high school life.

I was laying down in the garage when Two-Bit and Johnny stopped by.

"Hey you" said Two-Bit as they approached the garage.

"Hey Two-bit" I said, not opening my eyes.

"Where's the kid?" asked Two-bit.

"She's up front with Soda. He's giving me a bit of a break. I haven't slept good in days. Davanee's just getting over an ear infection" I said, sitting up. The floor was starting to hurt me. I walked with Two-bit and Johnny up to the front of the store. I found Soda sitting with his feet up on the counter, Davanee sitting in his lap. He was asleep. I took the baby from him before she fell. I shook him slightly so that he'd wake up but when he woke up, he fell out of his seat and onto the floor.

"I wasn't asleep" he said, jumping to his feat.

"I can see that" said Two-bit.

"Sorry, it's just business slowed down and it got boring around here" said Soda, brushing himself off.

"Maybe we should go home. Everybody seems to be tired" I suggested.

"Good idea. I'm off now anyways" said Soda. Soda drove Davanee and I home while Two-bit and Johnny followed. I played with the baby why everybody else sat around the TV and watched Mickey Mouse.

"Is it just me or is Mickey always on?" I asked, waving a Mickey mouse toy in front of Davanee.

"Mickey is always on" replied Two-bit, "hey, that's my Mickey mouse toy. How'd you get it?"

"I dunno. Why, you want it back?"

"No. She needs it more then I do."

"Good because she spit up on it about 10 times already."
"Ok, now I really don't want it back." I sort of laughed and continued to wave the mouse in front of Davanee.

Darry didn't get home till late that night. By the time he got home, Davanee was already asleep but then again, Davanee always fell asleep early. She had fallen asleep at five and it was nine before Darry came home.

"How'd the shots go today?" asked Darry.

"Fine. The doctor said that the ear infection was gone."

"That's good news. Maybe you'll actually be able to sleep now."

"Maybe but she's still a baby so I highly doubt it." Just then, Soda came barreling into the living room all dressed and ready to go out.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Out with the gang. You wanna come?"

"I would but I can't."

"What about you Darry? You never come out with us anymore unless it's to play football."

"Yeah, go out and have fun. I'll stay here and hold the fort down" I offered. Darry hardly ever went out with the gang. He hesitated for a moment before finally saying yes. In about 20 minutes or so, I was all alone in the house. Well I wasn't alone but I was the only person who was awake. As I flipped through the channels on the TV, I wondered if the rest of my life was going to be like this. Sit at home on a Friday night and watch TV while everybody else goes out and has fun. I was hoping it wouldn't but deep down inside I knew that it would. That's what my parents always did before they died. They'd sit at home and pay the bills or watch TV or do something boring like that.

While I was flipping through the channels, I heard a soft knock on the door. I was surprised I wasn't scarred from answering the door whenever someone knocked. First, it was Jamie's brother with Davanee, and then it was Jamie. I thought nothing good could come from answering the door when I opened it but when I saw Anya I relaxed a bit.

"Hey" I said.

"Hey."

"You wanna come in?" I asked, pushing the door open a little further. Anya stepped inside without saying anything.

"How'd you know I lived here?"

"I looked you up in the phone book. You're the only Curtis family in there so it wasn't hard. You have a nice house."

"Thanks. We haven't had time to clean it up lately. We've all been really busy. I don't mean to be mean but what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I didn't really have any place to go."

"Wait, lets go back outside so we don't wake the baby up" I said. Anya and I headed back outside, propping the door open so I could hear Davanee if she woke up. We both sat on the swing that was in the corner of our porch.

"You wanna tell me what happened?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well there has to be some reason why you don't have a place to go. What happened?"

"From the beginning?"

"That would be a good place to start."

"Ok, well, first of all, my real name isn't Anya, it's Anastasia. My parents where Russian and after hearing the story of the infamous Anastasia, they decided that they liked the name. My parents loved me a lot ya know so it's not like my life was terrible with them or something. You see, when I was about five or so, my whole family was murdered. It wasn't a pretty sight, it was very brutal. They think that the killer used an ax or something. I'm the only one that made it out because I was spending the night with a friend. The police showed up at my friends house and they took me away. They took me to social services who put me in an adoption center. I was adopted almost immediately and my name was changed to Anya. My adopted parents never loved me. My dad is a drunk and he hits me or sometimes does worse. My mother is a drug addicted. They weren't like this when they adopted me, they where loving because the state wouldn't give a child to a drug addict or drunk. I ran away tonight because my dad hit me and he tried to do worse to me. That's how I got here because I figured my dad would never find me here" explained Anya. That was bit more then what I had bargained for. I wasn't expecting her whole life story, just what made her come here.

"You know, your story is kind like the Anastasia one. I mean, wasn't her whole family murdered and her name changed to Anya too?" I asked. I remember studying Anastasia and her family in school once.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird how that happened, isn't it?" There was a moment of silence between us.

Anya took a deep breathe and said, "you know sometimes I think I'm all alone in the world because I have nobody to turn to when things get tough."

"It's a big world. There must be somebody out there you can talk to."

"I've tried. I don't have any other family and when I started talking to my friends about it they just turn up there noses and act like they don't know me because that kind of stuff happens to me."

"I wouldn't do that to you. Friends don't do that to each other" I said, reassuringly.

She smiled and said "thanks. Your not so bad Curtis." I was going to say something in return but Davanee started crying.

"I'll wait out here" said Anya while I went inside. I picked Davanee up, wrapped her in her Minnie Mouse blanket and brought her outside. I sat back down next to Anya on the swing.

"You sure it's ok she's outside this late?" asked Anya.

"It's not cold out. It shouldn't bother her. You know, I know exactly how you feel when you think you're the only one in the world who has to go through this. I mean, same feeling, different situation."

"It's a big world, Curtis. There must be someone out there you can talk to" said Anya. Now, where had I heard that before? I wonder.

"Actually" continued Anya, "I have this friend who got his girlfriend pregnant when he was 16, I think. 16 or 17. Anyways, he went to this support group and it's for teenage moms and dads. I can get you the number for the place if you want. There's usually a lot of babies there so I guess it's ok if you bring Davanee. It's a pretty cool place actually. My friend took me there a couple of times. He still goes there even though his kid is like 2. I think he goes there mostly to talk to the new parents and stuff."

"Thanks, Anya."