Chapter 12
Ashley's Impromptu Visit
XXX
"I'm going, momma. Don't try to stop me." I threw in a few more blouses and another skirt in my suitcase, along with the few pair of long pants that I wore on occasion. Ponyboy had given me the impression it was a rougher neighborhood and I hopefully wasn't going there unprepared. "I need to be there with him. I love him and he needs me."
"Ashley Marie Benning, young lady this is insane! I know you love him... we love him too, but you can't just go down there!"
"Watch me!" I had my bag packed and had Ponyboy's car in our driveway, ready to go. I was eighteen and was leaving, my parents wishes be damned. I had sat by the phone all afternoon waiting for Darry to call me back and with each hour that passed I grew more and more worried. Then I grew angry. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and booked a flight out to Oklahoma City, seeing as all the flights to Tulsa were done for the day. I'd arrive around midnight and would walk to Tulsa if I had to, but I couldn't sit here any longer. I grabbed my purse as my mother followed me down the porch steps.
"You haven't even given them a chance to find anything, Ashley! It takes time to find someone when there's been a disaster..."
"Mom, I have to go. If it were daddy, you'd have already been gone! When they call, tell them I'm headed down there and will arrive in Oklahoma City around midnight....if I don't see anyone then I'll grab a cab and get to Tulsa on my own. I have their address."
My mother stood on the porch not saying a word. I could tell she was scared that something was going to happen to me just like it had to Ponyboy, but I had to go. "I love you." I said simply, then started Pony's car and headed off in the direction of the airport. I'm coming, Ponyboy, just hold on!
XXX
The lights were on at my house when Two-Bit and I pulled up. Someone was here. It only took me about four strides to get from the sidewalk to my front door, hoping all the while Pony would be there eating cake and laughing at my worry lines. I stepped inside to see Soda and Patty sitting at the table leaning over a map of the Harlow Creek area of the Osage Indian reservation. As soon as I came in they looked up at me.
"Well?" We all asked each other at the same time.
"Did you find anything?" I asked Soda, joining him at the table.
He shook his head, turning back to look at the map. "We searched at least three miles to the east, other teams also made a perimeter sweep. No luck. All we found was lots of debris."
"How'd you do?" Patty asked.
"Found Shelly at Tulsa General. She said Pony was on the plane and had helped rescue a lady and her kids, but he hasn't been seen since."
"Who's Shelly?" Soda asked looking up at me.
"She's the stewardess from the flight we took when we came home." I said said simply, going into the kitchen for a drink and hopefully avoiding any other questions.
"You remember her from THAT long ago?" Soda wouldn't let it go.
I sighed. "Soda, we've been seeing each other since that night."
He dropped his pencil and stared at me, disbelief written all over him.
"Look, I have neither the time nor the desire to get into my relationship with this woman with you right now. Point is, Ponyboy somehow made it out alive. He's hurt, too. The woman he saved said he was bleeding. Two-Bit and I checked both hospitals and he ain't in either one of them."
"Now what?" Soda asked, picking up his pencil again and looking back at the map.
"How the hell do I know?" I snapped. Damn, I was getting a headache. I went into the kitchen for some aspirin or Tylenol... anything I could find.
My front door opened as I plundered the cabinets, finally finding the little bottle towards the back behind the soup cans. It always amazed me how Soda put up the groceries. One day I was gonna have to clean out all the cabinets and see what I really had in my house. Steve's voice drifted around my doorways.
"Anyone have any luck?"
"In a roundabout way, we know he made it out of the plane. We just don't know where he is now." Two-Bit explained. "You see anything?"
"Yeah, I saw a wrecked plane." Steve came into the kitchen and stopped by my side. "You okay, Darry?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Steve. He made it out alive. He's hurt but he made it. Now we just have to find him." I looked at the clock. It was just after ten at night and I suddenly remembered something.
"Shit." I muttered as I headed to the phone. Cursing was rare from me, but I was too tired and frustrated to worry about my own manners.
"What's wrong now?" Soda looked up at me.
"I gotta call Montana." I dialed the number I had taped to the phone and after a few rings, Dr. Benning answered.
"Hello, sir. This is Darrel Curtis calling. Ashley called earlier and told us of the crash, I promised I'd call to give her an update. I hope you don't mind the lateness of the hour."
"Darry...I'm glad you called. First, did you find Ponyboy?"
"No sir, not yet. He made if off the plane... at least that's my understanding of it from witnesses, but we haven't found him yet. Things are still sort of a mess down here. As soon as it's daylight I'm going back out again."
"If it's at all possible, can someone go to the Oklahoma City airport an pick Ashley up? She got it in her head to go down there and look for Ponyboy and took off before I could get back from some errands. I swear that daughter of mine is stubborn at times."
"She's on her way here?" I asked, unable to mask the surprise in my voice.
"Yes...she is. Bought a ticket and already flew off before I got to the airport to stop her. She gets a bit headstrong at times. There are no other flights out that way tonight or I'd go myself. She'd due to land in Oklahoma City around midnight. I know it's asking a lot..."
I looked at the clock again and shook my head. "It's fine, sir, we'll go pick her up but I have to go now if I'm going to get there on time."
"Thanks, Darrel. Have her call me in the morning if you can, and good luck finding Ponyboy."
"Yes sir, thanks." I hung up the phone and made sure I had my wallet and keys.
"Now what's going on?" Two-Bit asked.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, disbelieving what was happening.
"Darry?" Soda asked, getting up.
"Seems Ashley is on a plane headed to Oklahoma City and I need to go pick her up. I'll be back in a few hours. Soda, if you don't mind, would you go throw some fresh sheets on the bed in your old room?" I headed out to the truck as he put down the pencil and headed down the hall.
XXX
I sat at the receiving gate watching the plane taxi in. It would figure that brother of mine would find someone who was both as headstrong and as difficult as he was. I couldn't help but smile at the situation. I wasn't quite used to this, having a lady staying in my house but I wasn't about to stick her in any of the hotels in the area...knowing those hotels usually rented rooms by the hour. I wasn't gonna dump her across town either in one of the classier places, and I sure wasn't gonna have her stay at any of our friends places either....there was a reason they all came to my place to cool it for the night. Any way you looked at it, she was coming home with me... but I doubt any amount of cleaning was gonna put my place in the league of what she was used to. I just hoped she wouldn't turn and run from Ponyboy when she saw where his roots had been planted.
She saw me before I saw her. "Hey Darry, I take it my parents called you. Have you found him yet?" She asked
"No, we think he did make it off the plane though. You really shouldn't have come...I'd have had him call you as soon as we found him."
"My place is here, with him. Don't start sounding like my father. I can stay in a hotel if I'm in your way. I didn't fly here to be a bother to you or Soda."
"No...I have a room for you at my place. And you are welcome anytime, Ashley. Lets get your bags and we'll head out."
XXX
Tulsa at night looks darker and more ominous than Tulsa in the day. I've lived in this city my whole life, just perhaps not always in the same house. Dad bought it after Pony was born, mom and dad insisted we needed more space. To me at that time he was just my baby brother, small and, well... stationary. As all babies are. All they really need is a bottle and a crib, and a fresh diaper or two. Mom kept him in her room at night while me and Soda shared in the other bedroom. But one day he started crawling and that was that. Mom put her foot down and dad caved, and we moved to my house...or the one I inherited from their estate when they were killed. In the years that have passed since we moved here, I've seen Tulsa go from a spiffy place with good lawns and well maintained streets to the conditions it's in now, and especially on my side of town where the lower income folks stay. I've gotten used to it and it really doesn't bother me, but one look on Ashley's face as we drove closer and closer to my doorstep told me this was not exactly what she was used to.
"May not be much to look at, but it's what's in a home rather than the four walls it's made of." I tried to explain as I pulled up to my driveway.
"It's fine, Darry. Really." She yawned, getting out.
The front door opened and Soda stepped out. It was almost two in the morning, I know he had to be beat.
"Welcome to Curtis central, Ashley, where everyone comes to stay." Soda softly said, pulling her into a quick hug as she tiredly made it to the landing on the porch. "I've got your room all ready for you, and no one's gonna bother you either. All the guys have cleared out for the night."
"Thanks, Soda. It's good to see you again. Any news on where he is?"
"No, but we'll find him. We'll start again first thing in the morning. It's late, let me show you to your room. Feel free to come and go as you please. Our home is your home."
Her eyes looked at him, imploringly. "He's out there, somewhere." Her voice never wavered, but her look gave it away. Fear and worry. Man, she loves him so.
"And we're gonna find him. We will. He's smart, and knows how to survive. We just have to wait until morning." He held her hand and guided her inside. Soda was putting on a brave face for her sake because I knew deep down he worried like me that he was hurt ...or worse. But I wouldn't accept that yet. Not until I had reason to.
Soda gave her a very short tour of the house but once he showed her the room she was to stay in, the room both my brothers used to claim as their own, she lay down and damn near fell asleep fully dressed as Soda talked to her from the doorway.
"Soda...she's asleep. You can hush it for now." I went in and took her shoes off, noticing how small her feet were. I pulled the blanket over her and closed the door.
This day was done. Finally. But according to the clock it was already tomorrow, and in a very few short hours we'd either need to find Ponyboy or begin to search the morgue for him. As I settled into my own bed, uncomfortably dressed in way too many layers of clothing, I could feel the temperatures falling outside. I knew if he wasn't in a shelter, if he hadn't made it to some sort of safety by now.... he may not make it through the night.
CLR
