DISCLAIMER: SE Hinton's everything... not mine
Darry took a sip of strong coffee and grimaced slightly. His head was throbbing. I'm not used to drinking beer so much anymore.
He leaned into the fridge and took out the eggs, set them on the counter and leaned over to pick up the remnants of the loaf he'd bought the other day. He felt his mouth turn up in a grin. This is maybe gonna be the last time we have to eat stale bread.
He took another gulp of coffee and cracked the eggs into the hot oil, watching the whites bubble up yellow at the sides. It was going to be a busy day.
He leaned over the doorway and called into the living room, "Soda! Pony! C'mon breakfast's up."
His calls were met with silence. Darry grimaced. "Sodapop – c'mon!"
His brother appeared at the door, stripped to the waist and yawning, a moment later. Soda rubbed his eyes with his fists. "You're actually gonna go to work?"
"Sure I am – you too." He lifted up the frying pan and slid the eggs out onto waiting plates.
"No chocolate cake?"
Darry smiled, "I didn't see you at home to make any little buddy."
Soda yawned. "Eggs are good I guess." He opened the fridge to get out the grape jelly and some milk and sat down.
Darry sat down at the head of the table and spun one of the plates towards him. "Is Pony up?"
Soda shook his head, "he was tossing and turning all night."
Darry looked up sharply. "He have a nightmare?"
The younger boy shook his head, "nah. I think he just wasn't tired."
Darry took a big bite out of his egg sandwich. "Leave him then, I guess."
He felt his brother's dark eyes on him and looked up. "What?"
Soda grinned widely. "It's you. You've not stopped with the goofy grin all morning."
- - - - - - - - - -- -- - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -- -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Darry, can we have this one?" Soda bounced into the driver's seat of a shiny new red Mustang, and put his hands on the wheel as though to steer it. "It's tuff."
His brother groaned as he watched Soda leap out of the car and bound across the gleaming white floor of the indoor car showroom to look at the inside of a yellow Corvette. Steve was two cars away calmly looking under the bonnet of a different new Mustang. Two-Bit was looking at a display at the front in a manner that was making Darry suspicious – and the sales staff nervous. Only Pony was lagging behind, leaning against the outside of the glass front door to smoke a cigarette. But then his younger brother never had been that much into cars.
"Can I help you sir?" The salesman with the skinny black tie pulled tight around the white collar of his shirt, had developed an edge to his voice.
I don't blame him, Darry thought, In fact I don't think I'd actually let us through the door.
"Yeah – I'm, eh, looking for something new, maybe a Mustang, or, a – " Darry searched his brain for something a bit more responsible, "a Cadilac, maybe?"
The salesman couldn't have been more than twenty five and Darry knew he could pass for that to strangers. But now he looked him up and down openly. "Uh huh."
He looked at the man coldly. It's not like the place is hopping for a Saturday morning. "Yes." Just behind him Soda –now seated in the yellow corvette - was making loud engine revving sounds. Great, I just love shopping with my brothers.
The seat of the Mustang was cold against his bare arms, and the smell of leather unfamiliar. He glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Soda and Steve emerge behind the car. He reached out to feel the steering wheel and an odd, cold feeling washed over him.
"Cool Dar – you gonna get a Mustang? This car is cool, man. Real tuff."
Darry smiled faintly and leaned his elbow out over the side of the driver's door. The empty feeling in his stomach stayed. He stood up abruptly and pulled open the door. "You know what? I'm gonna keep the truck, for now."
"Oh no!"
He smiled at Soda. "We don't need to do everything at once you know." He nodded briskly at the salesman. "How much for the yellow Corvette?"
- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - -
Darry was relieved to see Soda had stopped doing sequences of no handed cartwheels down the street and lagged back, after his older brother reminded him about the outcome of his last feat of public gymnastics.
They were heading for the Brown-Dunkin department store. Darry grinned. His jaw muscles felt sore from all the smiling he'd been doing lately, and his grin increased when he thought about the balance in his bank account. The lady at the lottery HQ had arranged for them to get an advance – on their terms - with the rest of the cash to arrive the following week. He watched as Pony – dressed in faded old jeans with the leg cut down the side to allow for the cast - loped ahead with Two-Bit. He felt like a sugar daddy. They deserved to be spoiled for a bit. Hell, I do too.
- -- - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Soda and Steve had paused at the windows of a travel agents. "Oh yeah – Dar!" Soda called back up the street to where Darry was slowly following the others, with the same giant goofy grin he'd been flashing all the time lately. He waited for the older boy to catch them up, his excitement spreading through his legs so making it impossible to stand still. "Why don't we go to Hawaii Dar? I've always wanted to go to Hawaii. We can lay on the beach and sun ourselves and get the soccest of girls to come over-"
Darry laughed at his brother's dreamy face and kept walking. "Uh uh? And what about school? Pony starts back next week – and you have to go back to work some time."
Steve walked backwards to give Soda a wide eyed silent, "You didn't tell him?"
Soda shifted awkwardly. "Uh, about that Dar-"
His brother walked back and fell into pace beside Soda. "Soda f you want to quit your job, that's fine by me. But you better have something to go to first." He walked quietly for a moment. "Pepsi I was thinking. You know I spoke to the University of Tulsa and it looks like they'll have me. And with Pony back in school, maybe you should go back too."
Soda turned back and frowned at his elder brother. "No way." He let out a sudden whoop and did a quick no hands cartwheel accidentally-on-purpose kicking Steve on the way down. He ran without looking across the road, Steve in hot pursuit, and heard Darry call after him. "We'll have to talk about this eventually Soda."
-- - - -- - - - - - -
Thanks for all your help - due to helpful review have been fiddling with this and ch13 to try to make it less bitty... i was in a bit of a rush when put up last chap - as am now... life is encroaching!
Please R&R!
Baie dankie!