Disclaimer: I do not own the outsiders :(

All in a Day's Work

Soda's P.O.V.

When I walked downstairs from mine and Pony's room I wasn't surprised to see Darry cooking breakfast and Two-Bit playing 'airplane' with Pony in the living room. Dally was gone -no surprise- , Steve and Johnny sat at the dining room table reading the newspaper, or at least trying to. The smell of bacon drifted throughout our tiny town house.

"Mornin'" Steve said gruffly.

"Morinin'.. Hey Two-Bit watch it. You're gonna drop that kid and give him brain damage or something." Two-Bit was circling the living room holding Ponyboy over his head making what was supposed to be airplane noises.

"No I ain't." Two-Bit said. He mock-fumbled Ponyboy in his hands and shot me a wild grin. I shot him a warning look.

"Hey there Johnnycakes, haven't seen you around much." I said, trying to keep from worrying about Two-Bit dropping Pony. He'd really get his two-bits worth if he did.

"Yeah," Johnny paused. "I gotta sneak out the house nowadays and it's been mighty difficult since the old man got laid off and is now home all of the time to fight with mom, you know how it is…" He was staring at the comic section where a cat and a dog were having a conversation, I don't get why everyone thinks those are so funny.

"Come and get it!" Darry shouted. Johnny, me and Steve raced to the kitchen but Two-Bit stopped behind us to carefully put Pony in his high chair. That's when I noticed that there were bruises circling around Johnny's neck. It looked like somebody had tried to strangle him. Somebody probably had. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

"Where's the cake?" Two-Bit asked, searching the icebox.

"There isn't any." Darry said promptly scooping an egg onto my plate.

"You're joking." I said. This was an outrage. Where's the cake?

"No I'm serious." Darry said.

"Well why not." Two-Bit said. "Where's the damn cake?"

"We're out of flour, relax I'll pick some up after work." Darry was trying to hide a smirk at how childish we were being.

"Well what's Ponyboy gonna eat?" Two-Bit was really concerned.

"Applesauce." Darry said as he scooped some mushy apples into a bowl. "Want some?" he waved the bowl underneath Two-Bit's nose.

"No thanks man," Two-Bit scrunched up his nose in disgust. "I personally would not want to eat something somebody else already chewed."

We ate our breakfast quickly because we all had to get to work. All except Two-Bit and Johnny, they were staying home to watch Ponyboy.

"Hey uh, where's Dally?" Johnny asked between bites.

"Met some girl, probably with her." I answered scarfing down the last of my toast.

"Probably just another fling." Two-Bit said.

"Not likely by the way he was acting." Darry remarked. "Oh man look at the time we gotta go Pepsi-Cola."

"Alright, alright." I scrambled upstairs to find my DX shirt and a pair of jeans. I returned minutes later and Darry and Steve were already in the truck.

"Bye baby." I went over and kissed Pony on the cheek. He smiled his semi-tooth smile and said,

"I wuv you 'Oda."

Pony made it hard for me to leave everyday, but Darry needed help with the bills so I had to miss Ponyboy for 8 hours a day so that he could eat.

Johnny chuckled and said, "Don't worry Soda he's in good hands. Now go you're gonna be late for work."

"Bye Johnnycakes." And I was out the door

XXX

The day went slow. Which was surprising considering it was Saturday. So Steve and I played a couple rounds of poker and close to the end of the day I owed him a pack of cigarettes and he owed me 20 bucks so it was a productive day.

Close to closing time a couple of socie looking guys brought this tuff mustang that needed an oil change and some work on the muffler.

I told Steve that I would take this one because I could see how he was getting worked up.

I slid under the car and I was almost done with the muffler when sudden darkness passed over me and all I could hear was ringing in my ears and someone say "Glory Soda!" I believed the voice was Steve's but I couldn't tell.

I felt a warm liquid run down my face. I reached up to touch my forehead but couldn't the bottom of the car prevented me from moving. Still, the only thing I could see was black.

I remember thinking, Goddamn it I'm stuck, right before I lost consciousness.