The next week was Anna's family's turn to pick us up. Things were going smoothly with the new plan and on Thursday we saw her Dad's car pull up and ran out to the car. I was surprised to see that it was neither Mr. Harvey nor Mario, the busboy who had once been sent to pick us up.
Anna jumped in first. "Hey Ali," she said. "Scout, this is my sister Alison."
"Hi," I said. They looked alike, as sisters would, but different. Alison seemed older than nineteen. She just seemed very… put together. She was naturally pretty, and didn't appear to even be wearing any makeup, except maybe some mascara. Her hair was longer than Anna's, and darker, and she had it pulled back loosely in a low ponytail. Her features were softer and less exaggerated than Anna's, though both of them were attractive in their own way.
"Hi, Scout," Alison said. She was far more soft-spoken than Anna.
She pulled away from the curb and she and Anna were immediately involved in a conversation about the goings-on at the pizzeria.
I gave directions from the backseat about where to go. As we turned the corner into my neighborhood the front left tire hit something and it was obvious that the tire was going flat. We rolled to a stop a block or so from the house.
"That's OK," I said, "my brother Soda knows all about cars. He'll know what to do."
We walked down to the house and I found myself silently hoping that it was presentable. I walked up to the door and peered in, relieved to see that it was just my brothers, nobody else from the gang was over.
I opened the door and everyone looked up.
"Hey guys… Darry, you know Anna, but Anna, these are my other brothers, Soda and Ponyboy."
"Hi," she said.
"And, this is Anna's sister, Alison." Everyone's gaze shifted to the doorway. She blushed at the attention. I couldn't imagine Anna ever blushing.
"Soda, we had some car trouble," I said. "It's just a tire, but…"
"Where is it?" He asked.
"Down the street," I said.
"I'll show you," said Anna. I wanted to laugh. She had never met Soda and was clearly interested, but I knew she was too young for him; plus, he was really into Sandy. I had never seen him so into a girl as he was with her.
Darry went up to the door and introduced himself to Alison.
"Come on in and sit down." He ushered her in. "Don't worry, Soda can fix anything."
"Don't say that just yet, Darry, I ain't even seen what's wrong yet." Soda headed out to take a look. Anna followed.
"We really appreciate your family helping out with picking up Scout," Darry said to Alison. "It's a big help."
"Well, I can't take too much credit," Alison replied, "This is only my first time doing it. My Dad couldn't get out of the restaurant, so he had the day waitress stay late and sent me."
"You know, we don't have to stick to the schedule exactly," Darry said. "If something comes up, you can always call and Soda or I can go get them. Here, let me give you my number." He jotted down our phone number and Alison put it in her pocket.
"I'll give you ours too," Ali said, and added, "I'll give you our home number but this time of day we're pretty much always down in the restaurant, so you probably want to call there."
Darry looked at the paper and I thought I saw a slight smile as he put it in his wallet.
Just then Soda and Anna came back in looking for Darry. "The jack's all rusted up, Darry. Can you come down and see if you can budge it?"
"Scout, could I use your phone? We better call our Dad if we're gonna be here much longer. He worries…" Anna said.
"I know exactly what you mean," I said and stuck my tongue out at Darry.
"That's what fathers and older brothers are for," he said. "Go ahead, Anna," he said, motioning to the phone, "Knock yourself out."
"Pony, you might hafta come too, I don't know if Darry can get it but maybe all three of us can," Soda said.
"Mind if I watch?" Alison asked. "I guess I should know how to do it in case I ever have to," she said.
"A good-looking girl like you should never have to change her own tire," Darry said as he was holding the door for her, and I nearly died. Was he actually flirting?
The second they left Anna was all over me. "Oh my God, Scout! Why didn't you tell me your other brothers are gorgeous too!" That Sodapop, he's adorable! Even Ponyboy's a looker!"
I laughed. She had never mentioned she thought Darry was attractive in the first place. "You're too young for Soda, Anna. He'd never date you. And you don't want to date Pony, he's too weird."
"I don't know, I wouldn't throw any of those boys out of my bed!" she said as she dialed.
"Anna!" I didn't want to think of any of my brothers in her bed.
"What?" She started to respond, then "Oh, hi, Dad."
She told her dad about the car trouble and after telling him about a hundred times that they were both fine and no, he did not need to come get them and Scout's brothers could handle it, and yes, they'd call again if it was going to be too much longer, she finally hung up.
"Dear Lord," she said. "It's just a flat tire. You'd think we were stranded in the middle of New York City or something."
"Darry's the same way," I said. I wished he had been there for the conversation, he might have realized how ridiculous it sometimes sounded on my end.
"Let's go see how it's going," I said. We walked down the street to find Darry and Soda removing the spare tire from the back of Anna's Dad's car. Alison had leaned against the fence surrounding the house where the car had come to a rest, as did Pony, smoking. Darry had rolled up his sleeves and I was sure it was to show off his muscles. Anna and I went over and leaned on the fence between Pony and Ali.
"So who unstuck the jack?" I asked.
"Who else? Hercules." Pony said.
"Good Job, Dar," I said. "Way to show the metal who's boss." I turned to Pony. "I see you're making yourself useful, Pone."
Pony sneered at me but Darry cracked a smile as he cranked the jack up another notch and set to work loosening the lugs. Soda came over with the spare and together they eased the flat off and attached the spare. Darry tightened the bolts as Soda put the flat into the trunk.
"That oughta do it," said Darry, standing up and handing Soda the folded up jack to put into the trunk.
Alison stepped forward. "Thanks a lot, I mean, I really appreciate it, Darrel. You too, Soda."
"Call me Darry," Darry said, "and it's no problem. Us Curtis boys live for aiding damsels in distress."
Oh my lord, I thought, he really does like her. I had never seen Darry so flirty. It was weird! In a good way, I thought, but… just weird!
"Well, I want to make it up to you. What do you say some day next week, instead of just dropping off Anna, you guys all come in for dinner? All four of you. On the house."
"That's really not necessary. It's no big deal. You don't have to make anything up to us." Darry hated taking free stuff.
"I want to. And my Dad will insist on it when he hears how you all helped us out. What day is best for you?"
Darry looked around at us, looking for an answer.
"It's up to you, Dar," I said. "You're the driver."
"Thursday?" He suggested.
"Thursday it is then," Ali smiled. "We'll see you then," she said, and climbed into the car. "Come on, Anna, Dad's probably about to call the cops to look for us."
"OK. Bye, Scout, bye guys. Thanks." Anna ran over to the passenger side and jumped in." Alison pulled away and waved. I saw Anna reach over to honk the horn.
Darry just watched them drive away. I totally expected Soda and Pony to jump all over him, teasing him about his new crush, but nobody said anything about how he had acted. Pony threw down his cigarette and stomped it out.
"Man, I'm starving," Soda said. "Who's cooking?"
I couldn't believe it! Nobody was going to say anything? The three of them turned and headed for home.
"Coming, Scout?" Soda turned to me. I guess either nobody but me noticed, or nobody else cared. I ran to catch up with Soda.
"I'll cook," I said, "I'm the reason we're so late to eat. What do you guys want?"
"Something fast." That was Soda.
I ended up just making hot dogs and beans with cornbread and butter. My brothers ate like they hadn't seen a meal in weeks. I just stared.
"I guess changing a tire really works up an appetite, huh?"
Pony turned, "Sheesh, Scout, we're just hungry."