Chapter 13 - Lost and Found

Giving Johnny that knife was either the best thing I ever did or the worst. All these years later, and I still haven't figured out which. He did start going out again, but that blade was always in his pocket. If you watched him, every few minutes he'd brush his hand across it just to make sure it was still there.

As the weeks went by, the Socs got more restless. They were out cruising more and bleeding into our territory. More of us were getting caught in alleys. A couple of 'em nearly got me on the edge of our turf as I was coming out of the grocery store. Lily needed bread for lunches, you know? They rode my bumper all the way to my street until Tim Shepard closed in on their tail. They decided it wasn't worth it and turned off. Candyass pansies. Then it was Pony's turn. He didn't come out nearly as bad as Johnny, but he took it bad enough. Got cut up and bruised a little. He was fortunate. If we hadn't been in the right place, he could have ended up just like Johnny or worse. Now we all looked out for Johnny, but if anyone went after Pony, Darry and Soda'd have 'em strung up in a second. Now you ain't never seen those two fight, Danny, but I wouldn't want to take them on. Not when they've got a real reason to fight at least, and definitely not together. That'd have been a death wish for the poor bastard who gave them that reason. Ever since their parents died, Darry especially had taken his responsibility for taking care of Pony real serious. Soda too in his own way. Now you want to see a real animal in a fight, get Soda real hot. Darry would swing tight and knock you out. Soda'd rip your damn head off.

Well anyway, Pony was kinda shaken up, but otherwise he came out okay. I made him smile a little bit by inflating his ego a touch. I told him that he looked tough with that cut. He needed to feel some strength right then. Darry was full Poppa Bear which wasn't helping Pony just then. That's what I used to call it when Darry got all protective. Half Poppa Bear was good. Full Poppa Bear was when he turned into an ass. Damn. I haven't called him that in years. I think the last time was when his girls were teenagers. Full Poppa came out a lot then if you can imagine.

The next night, all hell broke loose. It started out good enough. I'd kicked around town and gotten half slushed and then snuck in at the Drive-In to meet up with Pony, Johnny, and Dal. Dally'd gotten sprung from prison and needed a night out, and we were happy to oblige. When I got there, I found out that Pony and Johnny'd picked themselves up a couple of Soc chicks. Who knows, maybe it was the wounded puppy look the girls were into. The boys were lookin' a little rough thanks to the Socies. I ended up having a real good time with one of those girls that night. Don't remember her name anymore, but she was half crazy. Just the way I like 'em. Hey, just because Socs in general were a bunch of stuck up icy bastards didn't mean they didn't have some intriguing females. A gal's a gal. Sue me.

As we were leaving, some guys showed up wanting to claim the gals. They were drunker than I was, but we probably still would have lost that fight if it'd come down to it. We were outnumbered, and Johnny and Pony were definitely outsized. The girls stepped in and it didn't come to blows, but we were ready. I even threw Pony a broken bottle. I wasn't thinking, and we were pretty desperate.

That night, those guys came back and caught up with the boys in the park. Some things went down real bad and one of the guys died. Johnny stabbed him, Danny. With the blade I gave him. That's one life I'm responsible for. But here's the catch… as drunk as they were, that guy. No, not "that guy", his name was Bob. Bob Sheldon. Bob was so drunk and out of control that he was gonna kill Ponyboy. Gonna drown him right in the park fountain. Even the other Socs there that night said so. So, one life lost, but it woulda been Pony's instead if Johnny didn't have that blade. It still don't feel right. That whole situation was just fucked up, and there ain't no other way to put it. And that was just the beginning.

The fallout the next morning was huge. Darry called me real early. Couldn't have been past 5:00 A.M.

"Two-Bit?" he said to me, "Is Pony with you?"

"No? Why the hell would he be here? And why the hell are you calling at this time? If Lily wakes up, I'm coming over to…"

"Shut up, Two-Bit. Fuck. You sure you ain't seen him? What about Johnny?"

"No man," I said, "I ain't seen either one of them since after the movie last night. What happened?"

I just heard Darry breathing on the other side.

"Darry? What's wrong?"

"I'm a damn idiot. That's what's wrong. And after I just jumped him for all his 'I didn't mean its'... Come over, will you?"

Well, I went over and the police were already showing up. Missing persons reports didn't get filed that quickly, and Darry sure wasn't the one to tell the police he lost his little brother. Something else was happening. Something bad. I walked through the door and one of the fuzz rounded on me.

"Who're you?" he demanded.

"He's a friend, Officer. I asked him to come over just before you came," Darry replied for me, "I thought he might be able to help."

"You did? What do you know, Kid? Rumor has it that you were with those boys last night. Maybe you helped them skip town too, eh?" The guy was staring me down. He needed a piece of gum too. Or a toothbrush.

"Hey, guys?" I asked looking to the side of him, "Wanna fill me in? Seems like I'm late to the party here, and you know how I hate to miss a party."

Neither Darry or Soda seemed like they wanted to answer, but finally Soda did.

"There was a guy killed in the park last night. Stabbed. People are sayin' Johnny and Pony did it, and now we can't find 'em. They already pulled Dallas into the station 'cause they were all at Buck's some time after it happened."

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I sat down and gave the police a statement and answered a whole host of questions. Told 'em everything I knew about the almost fight, the drinking, the girls… They left and Dallas showed up a couple hours later.

"Where are they?" Darry demanded as he cornered him. That's the state he was in. To get Pony back, Darry was even willing to take on Dally.

"Lay off, Man!" Dal shot back as he pushed past him, "Don't know where they are right now. Alls I know is I heard my name, and they might or might not have been talkin' 'bout me."

"Shit. Texas?" I blurted out. There went me and my dumb ass brain. Spoiler, Danny, they weren't in Texas. You see, that was something kind of amazing about Dally. He could lie without actually lying. I'm good at weavin' a web or two, but with him it was effortless. He didn't actually know exactly where they were at that moment, and I'm sure they had said "Dallas" in some context the last time he saw 'em. Booksmart? No. But no one could accuse Dallas Winston of being dumb. He just sat back and watched us draw our own conclusions. Probably laughing hysterically in his own mind at his joke too.

Well anyway, I was all rarin' to go and try to get Sheila to Texas. She wouldn't have made it, but I was sure as hell gonna try. Soda was the one talked me into waiting. Nothing we could really do for them anyway. When things calmed down, they'd come back and turn themselves in. It's not like they'd really done anything wrong anyway. It was self defense and they'd come to their senses eventually he said. At least I wasn't a complete idiot and listened eventually. When in doubt, listen to Sodapop. He's usually right.

I hung around that house for the better part of a week. Mainly that was just to keep Darry from losin' his mind. What can I say, I'm a delightful distraction most days. Five days after Pony and Johnny went missing, a phone call came in. Darry and Soda were still at work, so I answered their phone. No answering machine, remember? Ye olden days where people couldn't always find you. I figured I could always pretend it was the wrong number if it was a bill collector or something. It wasn't.

"Hello? Is this Mr. Darrel Curtis? I need to speak with him in regards to a Ponyboy Curtis."

"Yes, Ma'am, this is Darrel," I replied without thinking. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Your brother is in South Tulsa County General Hospital. He's fine, just some minor bruises and smoke inhalation, and he needs his guardian to come and pick him up."

"Well don't that damn it all... Sorry, Ma'am. We haven't heard from him in five days. What happened?"

"The police and your brother can fill you in more. All I can tell you is that he was involved in a fire. Can we expect you soon?"

"Yes! We'll be there. Wait, Ma'am. Is there another boy? One that came in with him. His name's Johnny. Johnny Cade."

"I'm not at liberty to give out that information, Mr. Curtis. It's against hospital policy."

"Please, Ma'am," I begged, "He's family too. He ain't got the last name, but he's family. Please."

There was silence for a few seconds on the other line. I guess I was convincing because then I heard, "There were two other people admitted to the burn ward this afternoon. That's all I can tell you."

"Wait... two?" I tried to ask, but she'd already hung up.

I pushed Sheila hard to get to Darry's work site.

"Darry!" I yelled, and barely let her stop before I ran out, "They found them!"

He cried. Darry Curtis cried.

Then he threatened me that if I told anyone he'd cried, he'd come beat the daylights out of me. Feel free to tell him I told you. See if he feels the need to come make good on that threat.

Pony was fine. Pretty worked over, sure, but overall he'd be alright. Johnny didn't come out so well again. That kid had some of the worst luck. Never could catch a break. He took a burning beam across his back and he was crushed and burned over most his body. A body shouldn't live through that. Dallas was the other one the lady on the phone had referred to. He wasn't too bad off, but he did have some pretty good burns that you know had to hurt like hell, so they wanted to keep him. Unfortunately for them, Dallas Winston didn't like to stay put when you told him to. Pretty much gave them hell the whole time he was there.

What had happened was that Dallas had hidden the boys up in some old church to get 'em away from the cops. While they were up there, they decided to do a little redecorating and lit the whole damn thing up. Some little kids got caught up in it all, and the guys felt they had to save 'em. After all, it was their fault. We've always kept that pretty quiet. All the kids ended up alright, and it wouldn't have done any good for them to come after Pony and Johnny for it. Between the guilt and the injuries, the price those two were paying was already high enough.