Chapter 10

Sodapop walked up and down looking all over for Sara, and he couldn't find her anywhere. After searching for almost 15- 20 minutes he knew what he needed to do. He turned around at the area of the field events where he was certain he would find her, to head back towards section G of the grandstands. On his way back he kept his eyes open for any little girl that walked passed him. Soda was kicking himself for not paying more attention to what she was wearing today. He made a mental note to start paying more attention to stuff like that, just in case something like this ever happened again. As Soda was heading up through the tunnel to section G he heard the announcer on the PA system announce The names of the runners for the next race. "Lane 1, Ryan Mallet, Porter Consolidated High, Porter. Lane 2, Jerrod Mayo, Chelsea High School, Chelsea. Lane 3, Ponyboy Curtis, Will Rogers High, Tulsa. Lane 4, Shane Vereen, Bixby High, Bixby." Soda tuned out the rest of the names of the runners in the race to try to decide what to do. He really wanted to see Pony race, but knew that he needed to get back to Darry. Sodapop paused for a minute after he heard the gun shot to signal the start of the race. Soda noticed that Pony was slow off the block. Pony seemed to be struggling to keep a steady pace with the other runners. Soda started cheering for Pony. "Come on Pony! Keep up! You can do this!" Soda was yelling at Pony to help motivate him to kick it in gear a little. Soda started to move towards the bleachers to go tell Darry about Sara when he noticed that Pony was grabbing at his side. Soda rushed to the stairs leading down to the field, but was stopped by an attendant that was keeping people off of the track.

"Sorry, Son, you cannot go any further." The older gentleman held out his hands to stop Soda.

"But, that is my brother down there. He looks hurt." Soda pleaded with the guy as he noticed that Ponyboy was now dropping out of the race. The man looked over and saw Ponyboy walking over to the side of the track where he was being met by Coach Taylor. "Ponyboy!" Soda yelled to get Pony's attention.

"Son, you need to wait until the race is over. Once the runners cross the finish line I will let you get to your brother." Soda was ready to protest again but suddenly felt a strong hand grab his shoulder. When Soda turned around he noticed a very worried Darry.

"Darry, Ponyboy is hurt." Soda eyes focused on Darry's etched face.

"I see that, Soda. But what I am more concern about right now is why Sara isn't with you?" Darry now had both of his hands square on Soda's shoulders looking him straight in the eyes.

"Oh, shit, Dar, I was on my way to come tell you but then saw Ponyboy get hurt."

Darry cut off Sodapop's sentence. "Soda, where is Sara?" Darry's voice rose with a crack in it.

"I lost her, Dar. I sent her into the ladies room and went to get her a Pepsi and fries for being good, and when I was finished she wasn't in the bathroom anymore." Soda felt like he was going to hyperventilate. Between not being able to find Sara, and now seeing Ponyboy hurt, he didn't think he could breathe.

"So the ladies room was the last place that you saw her?" Darry asked looking towards the tunnel.

"Yes." Soda managed to get out. Darry looked back down on the track and noticed that Ponyboy was being checked out by someone other than Coach Taylor.

"I can't believe this is happening. We need to go try to find her!" Darry paused and looked back towards Sodapop. "Soda, when this man lets you down on the track, go and find out what is wrong with Ponyboy. I am going to go hunt around, and maybe try to find someone to announce her name over the PA system. This might help us find her." Darry dropped his hands from Soda's shoulders and started for the tunnel. He took a few steps before turning back around towards Soda. "We'll find her; just don't say anything to Pony though."

"Ok Darry." Soda said turning his attention back down onto the field where Pony was now sitting up on a table.

Darry quicken his pace and was down in the tunnel heading towards the ladies bathroom. He was keeping his eyes up looking for a small little girl with auburn hair to her shoulders pulled back in a headband. Once he hit the concessions stand and the bathrooms he kept scanning all around trying to figure out where she might have gone. He remembered hearing her talking to Soda up in the stands about how great it was watching the field events so he started heading down in that direction, hoping that she might be there. As he approached the section of the grandstands he noticed a staff member with an orange shirt on that read "staff" on the back.

"Excuse me, Sir?" Darry said approaching the man.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I am looking for my sister, I was wondering if you have seen a little girl about this tall, with auburn, red hair to about her shoulders, wearing a headband, with blue eyes?" Darry was trying his best to describe Sara to the man.

The man was hesitant for a moment before speaking. "I am sorry, Son. I don't recall seeing a little girl fitting that description. How long has she been missing for?"

"At least 20- 30 minutes I would say. My brother sent her into the ladies room and he went to get a Pepsi and fries and he never saw her come out of the bathroom. I was hoping that she would be down this way because she enjoyed watching the field events. I am starting to get nervous." Darry openly admitted to the staff member.

"Understandable. How old is she?" The man asked fishing out a notepad from his pocket to write something on.

"She will be 6 in 4 days." Darry was starting to pace a little still keeping his eyes up and scanning the area for her.

"Wow, now I really understand your concern, Son. Her name?" The man asked still writing things down on the little note pad.

"Sara." Darry said quickly. "Sara Curtis."

"And you are?"

"I am her brother, Darrel." Darry caught a glimpse of Sodapop running across the track to see Ponyboy and Coach Taylor.

"Well, Darrel, why don't you come with me and we will try to get a search team going." The man started leading Darry away from the area of the field events. "Try not to get too worked up just yet. We'll get a search team going, and if we don't have any luck with that we'll do a PA call for her. 9 out of 10 times this leads us to finding the child. My name is Carl."

"I hope your right." Darry huffed and fell in step with Carl.

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"Ponyboy." Soda spoke as he rushed up to where Ponyboy was being examined by someone other than Coach Taylor.

"Hold up there, Sodapop. We need the trainer to finish looking Pony over." Coach Taylor stepped in front of Soda to stop him from getting any closer to Ponyboy.

"I want to talk to my brother, Coach." Soda tried to squeeze by Coach Taylor.

"First, I think you should tell me what exactly happened to Pony last night?" Coach Taylor wasn't looking to please with Soda right now.

"What do you mean?" Soda was trying to hear and see what was going on with Pony.

"I noticed the bruises on Pony's face when he first got here and he told me that he just had a misunderstanding with some guy last night. But now it seems like there is a little more than just bruises." Coach was looking straight at Soda hoping for answers on why his star runner just dropped out of a race that he should have taken one of the top three spots in.

"I don't know what you're talking about, other than what Pony told you." Soda couldn't possible tell Coach that there was a rumble last night. This information would cause more trouble for everyone involved, Greasers and Socs.

"Don't play dumb with me Sodapop Curtis. Just because you dropped out of school, I know you are a lot smarter than that." Coach Taylor was trying to pull some kind of information from Soda.

"Soda?" Pony called out.

Sodapop pushed passed Coach Taylor and rushed over to Pony who was sitting on a table. "Yeah Pony, I'm right here. Are you ok?" Soda was yet again stopped by another adult when he approached Pony.

"Are you family?" The man asked.

"Yes, I am his brother. Is he ok?" Soda glanced over at Pony who looked very uncomfortable sitting up on the table.

"I'm Jerry O'Connell and I am the athletic trainer on sight. Are you Darrel?" The trainer asked Sodapop.

"No, I am his brother Sodapop, our brother Darry is taking care of something right now. He sent me down."

The trainer looked a little uncertain but decided that Sodapop would have to do. "Ponyboy seem to have a broken rib. I am surprised that you couldn't tell that. His right side rib cage is quit bruised. Please come see for yourself." Jerry moved over to Pony who had now put his shirt back on. "Pony, can you please lift your shirt so your brother here can see your ribs?" Jerry had a certain tone in his voice that made Ponyboy do exactly as he was told. Pony's eyes slowly rose from looking down at the ground to Soda who was now standing right in front of him. Once the two boy's eyes met, Soda could see the pain that Pony was in. Pony slowly lifted his shirt so the Jerry and Sodapop and now Coach Taylor could see.

"Oh, Pony!" was all that Soda could get out once he noticed the dark bruising around Pony's right side. "Why didn't you say anything?" Soda was feeling guilty, for he knew last night that there was something wrong with Pony. He should have been a better brother and made a point to look him over completely instead of just taking his word that he was fine.

"I hate to say this, but your brother should have never been racing today. He needs to be resting those ribs, and running is certainly not the way to rest them. I heard that he had one more event, but as the medical person on staff here, I am pulling him from that race." Jerry turned back towards Pony and could see the disappointment in his face. "I am sorry Son. But you took a big enough risk running the first two, and I can't allow the next one. There is always next year." Jerry patted Pony's shoulder and turned to Soda and Coach Taylor. "Coach my recommendation is to get this kid home, the sooner the better."

"Thank you, Jerry. I will send him home right now." Coach Taylor shook the trainers hand and turned towards Pony. "Ponyboy Curtis, that had to be the dumpiest stunt ever. What were you thinking? You should have spoken up. Pack your bags and get on out of here. We will finish this conversation on Monday, in my office during your lunch hour. Is that clear?" Coach Taylor was laying into Pony just like Darry would have if he was here and not dealing with Sara at the moment.

"Yes, Coach, I hear you." Pony was struggling to get down off the table. Sodapop was at his side trying to make things a little easier.

"Good, then. Have a safe ride home." Coach Taylor stormed off towards where Anderson was standing waiting for his race to begin.

Sodapop was helping Pony with his bag not sure what to say. Soda had so many emotions running through him right now he felt like he was going to burst. But finally Pony broke the silence between the two.

"Are you mad?" Pony said in a low, soft voice.

"Yes." Soda couldn't help but answer. For he was mad at Pony for not telling him or Darry that he was hurt. And he was also mad that Pony put himself in jeopardy of doing even more damage to himself.

"I'm sorry, Soda. What do you think Darry is going to say?" Pony was leaning on Soda as they tried to hurry across the track before the next race began. Soda didn't know what to say, for he couldn't even imagine what was going through Darry's mind right now. First, Sara missing and now Pony hurt, God only knows what Darry was going to say or do. After a minute of not responding something must of clicked in Pony's head. "Soda, where is Darry? And Sara?"

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"Mike, this is Darrel Curtis, he has lost his 6 year old sister. Can we do an all call over the PA system for a code red?" Darry was now standing up in the announcer's booth with Carl, the staff member that he had inquired about for help.

"What's a code red?" Darry asked Carl, knowing that just the sounds of it, was scary enough.

"A code red is to alarm all staff members that there is a missing child. Any available staff members will meet outside of the booth and we will give them all a description of your sister. They will all go and comb the grounds for her. After 10-15 minutes we will then do an all call for her. We try to space it out so not to alarm any of the participants and guest." Carl explained to Darry.

"Ok. But I feel that's a lot of time being wasted. Why can't we just do an all call now for her? I am certain that if she hears her name she will come running." Darry tried to convince Carl.

"I understand your concern, Darrel, I do. I have a daughter that is 6, and I can only imagine what you must be feeling, but this is protocol and we need to follow procedure first. Mike, are you ready?"

"Sure, now might be the perfect time for we are just about to announce the next runners." Mike cleared his voice and picked up the microphone and with a serious voice spoke loud and clear, "Attention Staff, this is a Code Red. I repeat this is a Code Red." As Mike shut off the microphone, Darry couldn't believe how fast orange shirts came rushing towards the announcer's booth. It only took a few minutes before Carl had 7-8 people standing outside of the booth waiting for further instructions.

"Darrel, lets step outside so Mike can get started with the next runner." Carl placed a hand on Darry's shoulder to escort him out the door. "Carl, we might be back in 10 minutes to try an all call for her."

"I'll be waiting. Good luck."

Darry and Carl stepped out to the crowd of staff members. "Thank you all for coming so fast. We have a missing 6 year old girl. Her name is Sara Curtis. She is about 3 feet 6inches tall, she has blue eyes, red-auburn hair, was last seen with a headband in it. This is her older brother Darrel Curtis. He believes that she was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a pink t-shirt. She was last seen entering the ladies bathroom at the concessions stand F-G. The plan is to scan the area for 10-15 minutes. We will all report back her at 12:55. If you find her please tell her you are bringing her to see her brother Darrel and report back to the booth." The staff quickly agreed and they were off before Darry even blinked.

"I can't believe this is happening." Darry said taking a deep breath. "I am supposed to be watching my brother compete in State's and he had dropped out of the race and my little sister is missing. There is never a dull moment in my life, I swear." Darry had pushed his hands deep down in his pockets and was pacing back and forth outside of the booth.

"I know this might be a bold question to ask, Darrel, but where are your parents?" Carl was trying to put things together just in case this search was a failure and he needed to have more information on Sara.

"My parents died about 5 months ago in a car accident. I have legal guardianship of my siblings."

"Oh, I see. Where is your brother now?"

"He is with my other brother." Darry knew that he probably should go and find them before any more damage was done. "Actually I should probably go and get them, so they are not worried too much."

"Maybe we should wait just a little longer until we find out what the search team comes up with first. Another few minutes won't hurt none. Tell me about your sister. Having a 6 year old myself, I can't imagine what that must be like for you raising her on your own." Mike continued to try to make small talk with Darry so that time wouldn't seem like it was standing still.

"Well, she is a handful that is for sure. I never realized it before, you know because she wasn't my responsibility, she was just a normal little sister, bugging me and following me around everywhere. But now, now she is constantly in my head. I don't think there is a minute that goes by that I am not thinking about her. It's always one thing or another with her. Breaking up a fight with her other brothers, or who is going to watch her while I work. To things like needing something for school or needing new clothes. You must know what I am talking about?" Darry looked over towards Carl and just let out a big heavy sigh. "kids. I don't ever remembering pulling stunts like this." He said.

Carl just let out a chuckle. "I think we all say that at one time or another." This comment from Carl actually made Darry let out a little laugh too.

"You're probably right about that." Darry responded while he continued to pace.

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Sara had lost all sense of direction right about now. She felt like she had walked around the stadium a hundred times, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what section they were sitting in. She had walked by that ladies room so many times in hope that Sodapop would be there waiting for her, but no such luck. As Sara was heading pass all the concession stands her stomach was starting to feel all queasy. Sara wasn't sure if it was from the smells of the food making her hungry or because she was starting to get real scared. This had never happened to her before. She had never gotten lost, not even at home or in the neighborhood, there was always someone around that kept an eye on her. Sara had now ventured out to the front of the stadium where they had entered when they had first arrived. She was now standing at the front gates looking out into the parking lot. Sara's heart was beating so fast and she was starting to become sweaty, not because it was real warm out, but because she was truly scared and didn't know what to do. The one thing that she was certain of was that Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy would eventually have to return back to Steve's car. So Sara thought what was best was to head back to the car, they would surely come there looking for her she thought. Sara slowly walked through the many cars and buses and finally found where Darry had parked Steve's car. Sara felt a little relief overcome her when she arrived to it. She reached for the door handle hoping that Darry didn't lock the doors. They never lock the doors at home, but this wasn't home and it wasn't Darry's old pick-up truck. As Sara pulled the handle she was happy to find that Darry hadn't locked it and Sara climbed on into the car. The sight of her blanket and pillow and teddy bear was a welcoming sight.

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The staff members looking for Sara were all starting to gather again outside the announcer's booth and Darry knew that things were not looking good when the remaining few had gathered.

Each staff member gave Carl a shake of their head to let him know that they hadn't seen Sara. "Ok, then, we'll do an all call for her." Carl entered back into the booth and spoke with Mike.

The next thing that was heard throughout the stadium was, " Excuse me, can I have your attention please. Would Sara Curtis please come to the announcer's booth. Sara Curtis?"