"I need to leave this town."
I hadn't said much since I walked in. All I said to her so far was, "Hello. May I come in and have a glass of iced tea?" She obviously wasn't expecting anything too deep.
Iris put her glass down, "What?"
"I can't stay here," I further explained, "Most everyone knows about me and Two-Bit, and now that we're responsible for getting Darry hurt we shouldn't stay and cause more damage."
She was taken aback, but she understood where I was coming from. Two-Bit had gotten assaulted, Darry had gotten attacked, and soon enough, one day, Myrna and Trevor would find out, then God knows what would happen next.
She placed her cheek on her hand, "Sweet, I don't know what to say. I hate that something as simple as whom you love has caused you all this destruction."
"I'm lucky enough that I have friends like you guys, Iris," I sipped my iced tea, "I was surprised on how on board you were with my relationship with Two-Bit."
"Well, it was a shock," she mentioned, "but I grew up with a black man, which was obviously unaccepted in my childhood…but I loved that man," she sighed, "I really did."
I smiled, "What happened?"
She took a moment. Then, she adjusted herself in her chair, "My mom never really loved my father, but he asked her to marry him, thus she did. After I came along my father worked all the time, my mother being a housewife. I was three the first time I saw the black man. I had never seen one before, but mom hired him to be the gardener, since she had so many other things to worry about. He was like a father to me, Sweet. He'd play with me, he'd cuddle me, he helped teach me to walk, all of this just because he could. Most people who would've seen us would think that he kidnapped me or was planning to molest or kill me, but no. He simply loved me.
"He loved me the way my father never could've, and by the time I was eight he was beating on my mother. Then, out of the blue, the gardener jumped in front of her and fought him off, killing him in the process.
"The police figured it was a black man that wanted to rape my mother and my father interfered, the 'crazy nigger' killing him in a rage. My mother fought for the longest time to change the police's mind, but they never listened.
"Thus, she raised me with a lesson: People are people, and love is love. You can't control whom you love and you can't really control what color their skin is. You can't control their gender either.
"Sweet, love Two-Bit," she grabbed my hand, "No matter where you go, whether it be Maryland, Tulsa, Alaska, Australia I want you to promise me that no matter what anyone says that you will love whom you love and you will follow your heart. Understood?"
I nodded, smiling at her.
Iris Patrick Curtis understood me because of personal experience. She knew the area of which I was coming from. She knew the feeling of disapproval being shot at you from every corner. She knew the amount of hatred people felt toward love. She knew of hate.
She stood, "I haven't thought about him in years," she picked up our glasses, "I'm gonna get us some more tea."
She left to the kitchen, me leaning back in my seat at the dining room table.
Should I leave? Should I stand my ground? What if they attack again? What if word spreads faster than it did in Tulsa? What if they kill us?
I didn't know what to do. With a secret like this I didn't know if I could be safe anywhere.
There was yelling outside the house.
Iris came back into the room, "What's that noise?"
I heard Darry's voice.
We headed toward the door.
I heard Pony's voice.
We opened the door.
Pony was simply supposed to bring Darry home from the hospital, but obviously something had come up.
"It's none of your business what I did when I left!" Pony cried. Some people stopped to watch from across the street.
"If you had sex with Cherry, Ponyboy, you need to get tested." Darry looked up at his brother.
"I am not getting tested for a disease that she doesn't even have!" Pony defended, louder than before, "She does not have HIV!"
"Yes she does, Pony!" Darry shot back, "She has HIV and you know it! She lied to your face about it- my god; you had to find out from gossip in Tulsa when you went down there two years ago. Gossip! She didn't even tell you herself!"
"You answered your own question, Darry," Pony huffed, "Gossip is gossip. She doesn't have it!"
"Marcia saw the test results herself and showed them to me," Darry stated. There was a tense pause, "She has HIV."
Pony stared at his brother, his nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, fists balled and eyebrows arched. I know he didn't want to believe it. He loved Cherry. He loved her with every fiber in his being…
But it was true. She had lied to him. She put his life on the line.
Pony quickly glanced at Iris and me, soon turning and getting in his car, driving away faster than even Steve could drive.
Iris ran over to Darry the moment after Pony left, Darry nodding in reassurance. She rolled him into the house, me smiling at him. He smiled back, says 'hello', and I excuse myself back home.
I pull out a Payday bar, munching on it as I walk home.
When I arrive, though, I see someone sitting on the steps I did not expect to see, her gaze at her shoes.
"Myrna?" I put the rest of the bar in my pocket.
She looks up; she had been crying.
I walk over toward her, her bolting into my arms, "Myrna what…what happened?"
"He had to go with that Wallace Dimson!" she sobbed into my chest, "He had to go!"
I separated from her and looked into her eyes, "What are you talking about, Myrna?"
"Trevor's been beaten!" She screamed.
I was not hearing this.
"And now they're in jail."