Darry's POV:
Usually, when it rains, I'm out of a paycheck. I literally have to have the weekly forecast in front of me while I try to figure out our budget for the week. We all hated dismal weather predictions and cursed the sight of dark rain clouds approaching on the horizon. We all knew wet conditions meant peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and pork and beans for dinner. Without work, we couldn't afford much more.
It bothered me some that Pony had to help out with the bills when he belonged in school. With the mortgage payments piling up and no oil in the furnace, though, none of us had much choice in the matter. I'd convinced him to start night school by correspondence, but he was only doing one class at a time, seeing as how he was practically exhausted by the time he got out of work anyhow. At that rate, it would be another four years before he'd be eligible to receive his diploma.
Soda helped some too, but the peanuts they paid him at the center was only a little more than pocket money. I couldn't understand for the life of me why he'd ever agreed to teach a bunch of snot-nosed kids how to sign, but seeing how he really couldn't do much else for work and it kept him from wandering the streets all day, I didn't mind. At least I knew where he was, and that he was safe, and that one of the gang would be around to escort him there and back.
It wasn't that I didn't trust Soda. I guess, if it really came down to it, he could hold his own in a brawl. The fact of the matter was that I didn't trust every other low-life hoodlum out prowling the streets. Soda was exactly the kind of defenseless victim they'd be looking for.
I know Soda took it personal, but I didn't mind him being sore at me, if it meant he was safe. Besides, there was no way for me to explain to him all of the reasons why I had to be so protective. It wasn't exactly a conversation I wanted to have Pony translating for us, and I'd never been good at signing, anyway.
Luckily, the rain had held off for most of the day and-to be honest-I wasn't too worked up about getting to knock off early. I figured on stopping by the DX to pick Pony up before going to collect Soda at the center.
Pulling into the station, I could see both Steve and Pony in the garage. Pony looked like he was cleaning spark plugs, while Steve was lounging with a magazine in an armchair he'd fashioned out of old tires. Business slowed down for them too in inclement weather.
"What're you doing here?" Pony asked when he saw me, genuinely surprised.
"Boss called off the job when it started raining. Thought you might want to go pick Soda up and grab a pizza for dinner," I answered, knocking the magazine out of Steve's hands when I realized the obscene content.
"Hey!" he groused and started to get up to retrieve it.
I snatched it up before he could get to it, though, and tossed it into the waste oil tub. "I don't want you reading that filth around him, you hear?" I gave Steve the same look I give Soda and Pony when I'm serious about something.
"Aw, lay off him, Darry," Pony grinned. "It ain't like its some big secret, or nothing. Let me wash up and we can head out of here."
I nodded and decided to wait for him in the truck. Sometimes Steve and I butted heads, and I truly wasn't in the mood to be toyed with. I'd pulled almost every muscle in my back earlier in the morning and I could feel things starting to tighten up where they shouldn't. A long, hot shower and an effortless pizza dinner were the only two things I had on my mind.
Pony was at my door, then, dripping from the rain.
"What in the world are you doing, standing out there in the pouring rain?" I demanded. "Get in the damn truck before you freeze to death."
Pony bit his bottom lip, wiping some drops off his brow.
"I called Maggie at the rec center to let Soda know we're on our way," he started.
"Well, good. Let's go get him," I urged him, not understanding the issue.
Pony finally met my eyes. "He ain't there…"