One Step At A Time
Summary: When he was only two, a car accident took his leg, and his mother. Now, Ponyboy must learn to deal with life as a fourteen year old with only one leg. With the help six brothers and dad, he's just going to have to take it one step at a time. (Mr. Curtis is alive!)
Disclaimer: No, silly, I never have nor will I ever own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders. *sighs* :( I simply borrow them for my own creative enjoyment purposes.
White collar black wolf: Thank you so much for taking the time to review. I'm glad you are continuing to enjoy my story. :)
Kas3y: Thank you so much!
HappierThanMost: You never fail to make my day, Happier. You're so dependable and helpful with your kind reviews. I'm so glad you liked it! I've always seen Darry with a spitfire kind of girl, someone who will keep him on his toes. I tried to make the dream as heart wrenching as possible, so I'm glad you seemed to see that. Thank you so much for taking the time to review, Happier. Have a fantastic day.
Amanda (Guest): Ugh, I wanted to vomit, but that's just my general distaste of romance. However, I'm glad that you liked it. Thank you so much for your kind review!
Chapter 7: Savings Accounts and Broken Prosthetics
~ Monday, September 19, 1966 ~
Darrel had been trying not to think about what he had done, what he had allowed his son to give up, but that plan was wrecked when two weeks later Sodapop offered him his first check since going full-time.
"You don't need to overwork yourself, Dad. Please, take it. I got plenty of money, and I want to help out," Sodapop offered, pushing the check towards his dad.
Darrel shook his head adamantly, handing the check back to his son. "No, it's your money, son, but if you really have enough money, why don't you open up a savings account or something," Darrel suggested. He had already allowed him to give up his education, the least he could do is not let him sacrifice anything else. His son could build up money for when he wanted a house, or a wedding, or something, but he wouldn't let Soda spend his money on him.
"Fine," Sodapop agreed, upset his dad wouldn't let him help, but then continued, finding the idea of a savings account harmless enough. "How do I do that?"
"I'll take you to the bank after work tomorrow," Darrel replied. Sodapop wandered off in search of Ponyboy to occupy him, satisfied with Darrel's answer.
The older man sat down at the kitchen table, his head in his hands. He couldn't have imagined at twenty when his wife first gave birth to Darry, that this was going to be his life. He had lost his wife, had two more sons, one with only one leg, one son in college and another college bound, and one son a drop out. But as he thought about his son, about how happy Soda typically was, he thought about how Soda was when he was in school. The answer was the complete opposite of how he was when he was working on cars.
Maybe being a dropout wasn't such a bad thing, at least not for everyone. Maybe being happy was better than other people's idea of success.
OoOoOoO
"Ponyboy? You home?"
"Yeah, Johnny, it's just me," Ponyboy replied, looking up from what he was working on as Johnny walked into the living room. When Johnny laid eyes on what Pony was doing his mouth dropped open.
"I was able to walk home on it, but it was really cracked," Pony explained, looking down at his broken prosthetic. "It fell into two when I tried going up the steps."
"How did it get cracked?" Johnny asked softly, sitting down next to Ponyboy. It didn't look good, a diagonal crack cut all along the middle of the leg, completely shattering the prosthetic into two. The kind that Ponyboy had consisted of a plastic part of the top to attach to what was left of Ponyboy's leg, which was the part that was now broken in half, and then the bottom half was a metal rod that connected into a fake, plastic foot.
"I just to go to the bathroom. And that asshat senior, Bob Sheldon, and a few of his buddies jumped me in the hallway. Broke my leg." Ponyboy's voice held a bitterness Johnny had never heard before. "It lasted me walking on it all day, until I tripped walking up the steps."
"We'll get it fixed. Come on," Johnny assured him, standing up in search of some superglue. He located it in one of the far kitchen cabinets, and began helping Ponyboy glue his prosthetic back together. They had almost finished when Sodapop walked in.
"What the- Ponyboy...what happened?" Sodapop stumbled over his words, a confused expression covering his face.
"The Socs at school cracked it when I went to the bathroom during math class, and then it broke completely when I got home," Ponyboy repeated his previous story, and Johnny couldn't help but notice how his fourteen year old friend suddenly sounded so much older and exhausted.
Sodappp let out a few curses under his breath, mumbling about the bastards would live to regret hurting his little brother.
"Let it go, Soda. Just help me finish gluing this before Dad gets home. I don't want him mad, either. He's got enough on his plate."
Sodapop let out a long sigh, but with the sigh also went most of his anger. Biting back the rest of it, for Ponyboy's sake, not the Soc's sake, and began to help hold the prosthetic in place as the glue dried.
"Try it out, Ponyboy, see if it works," Soda suggested after poking the ring of glue, feeling to see if it had finally dried or not. Ponyboy stood up and took a few gently steps, slowly adding more pressure on his prosthetic until he realized it really could hold him again. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, relief flooding his system.
"It works?"
"It works," Ponyboy replied, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Well, I believe that this calls for celebration," Sodapop suggested. "Milkshakes at the Dingo, anyone?"
"I'm in. Come on, Johnny, lets go."
As the three excitedly made their way outside in search of milkshakes, Ponyboy realized he was lucky to have his brothers and the friends that he called his brothers to count on. Always.
A/N: Review? Any requests on what you guys would like to see? Any criticisms to make it better, or thoughts on what you liked about it? Hit the button below, every last comment makes my day. :)
Stay Gold,
~ Alee XxX
