This is actually kind of a bonus chapter. I didn't necessarily have to tell the events that occurred during Ponyboy's birthday, but I thought it would be kind of fun and relaxed as opposed to the strong emotions that always set the story to sail. So anyways, read, enjoy, review, and relax, because after this chapter, things will get complex and more emotional :}

Look around you, silly fools. Life is in everything.

-Future from the Past

Eleven

*Dally*

Pony's birthday came around real soon. Soda had already advised a plan—neither of us so much as wished him happy birthday. Pony, of course, tried to lay the hints on us, but we had to act dumb. When he'd say, "Guess what day is it today, Dally?" I'd say, "Isn't it garbage day today?" He soon got the idea that none of us knew, and stayed quiet and sulked. Which wasn't too smart of him, since neither Darry nor Soda have ever forgotten his birthday. But Pony's still gullible.

At six o'clock, Darry piled Pony, Soda, Two-Bit, and me into his van. The look on Pony's face was priceless. He asked us repeatedly where we were goin', and all of us could only try to hide our smiles and say nothing as if we were deaf. Pony stopped pestering after a few minutes, though, because he saw that the city of Tulsa was vanishing a bit and it was becoming more country-like. Pony was always fascinated with the countryside.

The sky was melting into sunset, and when I looked at my hands, I saw that they were practically dipped golden in the light of the sky. All that I could see out the window was an endless, dusty, yellow sand and tall emerald trees and the ink black road ahead of us for miles and miles. My mind flew to Johnny. It would be Pony's first birthday without little Johnnycake around. I sighed deeply and fished in my pocket for a cigarette.

It took us a good hour and a half of a drive, but pretty soon, Darry parked in a dusty lot where a really small plaza was. It looked like a cyclone had attacked the other stores that were around it and all that was left was this tiny plaza and the country side.

"Where are we?" Pony asked for the umpteenth time.

"Relax Pony, we ain't gonna butcher ya," Soda said, throwing an arm over his shoulders.

It took me a while to see it, but in the center of a plaza was a rusty-looking restaurant. APPLE PIE PLUS, the sign read in neon red letters. "Fancy lookin' place," I muttered under my breath to Soda. "It's probably filled with Socs."

"This is the countryside," Soda said. "There is no such thing."

I wondered about this for a moment, and then smiled slightly.

We approached the large wooden door, and standing in front of it was that girl, Felt, and her dog, who was on a long leash tied to a bike rack. He licked Darry and Ponyboy and then actually tried to lick me.

"Aw, he likes you, Dally," Two-Bit teased.

"Eugh," I said, pushing the dog away. Felt reached down at petted his head. Up until then, she hadn't taken notice of me. But now her sightless eyes were pointed directly at mine and she gave me a funny look. I wondered how she knew where I was standing, and it was kind of scary to see those eerie blind eyes meeting mine without hesitation.

"Happy birthday Ponyboy," she finally said, and her eyes diverted a million miles away.

"Thanks," Pony said, startled. "You're the first one to know it's my birthday."

"Oh, you know that's not true," Darry said. "You knew that we knew once we were driving into the country. Don't try and play dumb."

Pony gave a sheepish smile. "But what are we doing here?"

"Pony, do you like pie?"

The place was great, actually. It had a warm, cozy, country style setting with dim orange lights and a live band that played relaxed music. The place was filled with all groups of people; corny families and loud teens and sickly-romantic couple—and real good-lookin' waitresses. They came around with menus loaded with pictures of lots of different pies. I'm talking very different. I'd never tried Avocado-Buttermilk pie with gooey marshmallow on top, but it looked real yummy, so I was hoping to.

We'd ordered three large, random-flavored pies, since none of us were allergic to anything that would be found in pies. They took up the entire table. Just looking at them made my mouth water. One of the pies was a golden color and topped with sizzling vanilla ice cream and crumbs and clusters of what looked like nuts. The second was a dark brown with gooey, fluffy marshmallow that looked as if it had been smoked and wrapped in chocolate. The third was a light cream color and doused in caramel and whipped cream. We all kind of sat there eyeing and sizing up all the pies, wondering what kinds of flavors they were. Pony tried the first bite out of each, and we all kind of followed his opinion and tried the pies. It was fun, and they served beer, so I was all good.

Felt didn't talk too much, and just by doing that, she reminded me of Johnnycake. Occasionally she'd smile or put her word in, but most of the time she stayed quiet and focused on her pies. It was hard to tell whether she was listening or not, since she always had this thousand-miles away look. We were all real polite to her, kind of with the same kind of politeness that Steve's cousin would get, but something about her made me want to tease her and stuff. It was actually kind of funny when she snapped at me when I did.

Towards the end of the night, when we were stuffed, the restaurant was getting a bit rowdy and more social. A bearded man with his front teeth knocked out took to the stage where the live band was. He began rambling on, and I wasn't really listening, until he said there was a contest going on, one that, whoever won it, would get a prize of thirty-five dollars. That caught my attention.

"The only thing that's stopping you from this money is…" the bearded man whistled and all of a sudden, two hot waitresses came on the stage, rolling in with them a table covered with a cloth. "…Pie."

The rules were easy. Beneath the cloth were three plates of cubed pie. Whoever went up would get blindfolded and they'd let them try a cube of the pie and guess the flavor. Whoever could guess all three flavors would win the money. Then the man started calling for contestants.

"I'll do it!" Soda said eagerly, getting ready to stand up.

"Sure, send Soda," I said sarcastically, "because you know he'll sweet-talk those waitresses into telling him what the pies are made of."

Soda snorted. "Why don't you go up then, Dally?"

"Yeah, Dally," spoke Felt suddenly. "Why don't you?"

I glared at her, although I knew she couldn't see it. Then I said, "Yeah right. Like I'm gonna waste my time goin' up there…"

"'Cause you're chicken?" Felt asked.

"You shut your trap," I said suddenly, standing up to lean towards her, but right at that moment, a blinding white light flashed on my face. "What the—"

"You there, son!" spoke the beardless man. "Come on up here and see if you have what it takes!"

"I ain't your bloody son, you old coot—" I didn't even get to finish, because Two-Bit and Soda began dragging me towards the stage. I cursed and swore red and blue, but then, Soda and Two-Bit began clapping their hands and chanting my name and soon the whole crowd joined in. That was the first time I ever felt embarrassed.

"Alright, alright, don't lose your pants!" I grumbled, tossing my cigarette into the ash tray on the table and sitting down. One of the waitresses winked at me before tying the blindfold over my eyes, and then the place got real quiet. I got handed a fork and heard the cloth flip over, and then I poked my way to the first plate of cubed pie and at a chunk slowly. Everything was quiet, and I tried to roll my tongue over the flavor. Cherry and…cherry and…cherry and what?

Peach. "Cherry and peach," I announced in a low voice.

"Say again?" rasped the bearded guy.

"Cherry and peach."

There was a pause, and then the man announced, "Give him a round of applause."

I could hear our table's whistling and chants the loudest and I actually grinned. Maybe I'd actually win this money.

Feeling a little on the lighter mood, I tried the next cube of pie. This one was a little more complicated, and I could taste about three obvious flavors, which I learnt that when put together, make it all the more complicated. I guessed apple, strawberry, and lemon.

"Sorry son, that's incorrect," the bearded man announced, and then without waiting for me say so much as good day, he went right along calling for more contestants. I yanked the blindfold off of my eyes but before I could protest, the man boomed that there was another volunteer. I looked up to see who was going to try to make me seem like a fool if they got them all right, and scowled when I saw that of course, it was none other than Felt. She walked with a sort of serene simplicity and she looked independent even with Soda pulling her through the crowd. I stalked back to the table and saw that everyone was smiling smugly at me, almost like something was funny.

"What's so funny?" I snapped. They only laughed. I watched Felt take her seat as if it was a throne.

"What's your name?" the bearded man asked Felt.

"Felt," she replied with a smile. "And I know you're wondering, so I'm just going to tell you that yes, I am blind."

The entire restaurant found this way too funny, or they were just laughing because they were sorry for her. The bearded man switched the plates of pie and then handed Felt her fork. And what do you know? She got all three correct. She even went into depths on the kind of milk used. So she won the thirty-five dollars. The crowd applauded like crazy, and when the bearded man asked what she was going to do with the money, she said:

"It all goes to Ponyboy."

Later in the night, when Darry was dropping her and her dog home, Two-Bit was praising her for attacking that Soc (I later learned it was none other than Norbert Flynn Sheldon), and when Pony asked her why she risked it, she simply smiled.

"No one has the right to label someone else. We're all born just being beautiful life, and we'll all die being beautiful life. There are no social classes or difference in skin tone. The only people who create those titles are the people themselves. We're born into this world for the moment, and it should last that way forever. We're all born being purely life at its greatest moment"

I'll admit I did think about that for a moment. Was even I born one day to my mom just as, well, life?

As if she read my mind, Felt said, "Even Dallas Winston."

I cracked a smile. Oh, Johnny's girl. I didn't know whether to believe her crazy theories about the world and life, because I'd grown to learn that life is what other people make it for you, but even if I didn't believe the theories, they'd still make me smile a little.

But she can't see that. Thankfully.