Chapter 25
Truths
The group stayed together on base until Soda was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon. Darry had called his boss and got off for the weekend – it was that or lose Darry altogether. He was one of the best roofers Mr. Bolton had ever had working for him, punctual and thorough in his work, always up for any task given him, and usually finishing most jobs ahead of schedule. So, if Darry needed an extra day or so off, Mr. Bolton had no problem letting him have it. He knew Darry would make it up.
Steve had already been released from the hospital and was waiting for his discharge papers from the Army. It would take a few weeks to process the paperwork, and they told him he could complete the paperwork back in Tulsa.
Soda also could go, but would need to return to the local Veterans Administration hospital for four more months to have his injury looked at even after his Army discharge, and he would be getting a small disability check every month for the rest of his life. It wouldn't be much, but any money coming to him was always welcome.
Happily, Sunday afternoon Soda and Darry climbed in the front of Darry's truck while Two-Bit and Steve hunkered down in the open truck bed. Darry pointed the vehicle north and they all set off for home.
XXX
"How was it over there?" I asked him.
"Harder than I thought it would be."
"Tell me about it, Soda. I don't want you keeping that stuff in."
Soda looked at his brother and smiled, at least this hadn't changed.
"Don't worry, Darry. I ain't like Ponyboy, keeping it all in." He was silent, trying to pull his emotions out. "It was hard, though. People dying around me, torn up and mangled." Soda looked over at me, pausing a moment. My expression had to be reflecting the sobering pain I felt at what he was describing to me.
"But I was able to help some of them, which took away some of the horror I felt at what I was going through. I wasn't there long enough to learn who they were and the families they left behind back here... to get to know them before having to tie a tag on their toe. I'm not like I was before I left, I know that much, but I am okay. I really am, Darry, I'm okay.
I felt reassured. I couldn't stand the thought of having another brother devastated by death, where nights would continue to be an endless cycle of blood curdling screams and nightmares between the very few hours of real rest the darkness would give.
"How was Ponyboy, before he left? Was he interested in any girls? Going back to the movies?"
I shook my head. "Sodapop, except for school, he rarely left the house. Two-Bit and I both tried to get him to go out, but he wouldn't. If he went anywhere, it was to the library. I stopped that though when I snuck up on him reading newspaper articles on the war instead of perusing the books section like he usually did. And you of all people should know he ain't like Two-Bit, chasing the skirts yet."
"Did he do anything fun?"
I looked at him. "I would need his definition on what 'fun' means, Soda. If you mean out with friends, movies, dances, eating out or even staying out in the lot way past his curfew just to piss me off, then no.
"I did however, find his scrap book, his artwork – drawings and such." Soda just looked at me, blank. "Did you know he could draw?"
"Darry," he said, in a very exasperated tone, "Pony's been drawing for years. Have you ever paid any attention to him?"
"Yeah, Soda, I knew he could sketch, but I'm talking major talent - type stuff."
"He's probably just gotten better at it."
Something told me Soda was in for a surprise at Ponyboy's art work, probably bigger that I was, and I was shocked when I saw it. His lines were clear, the talent obvious. Maybe Ponyboy was hiding his talent from all of us including himself when he put those scrapbooks behind every stick of furniture in the room.
More silence for a while. I looked at Soda's face, he was trying to figure something out in his head, that or he had a headache. His forehead was all scrunched up.
"When are we going to Nevada?" He finally asked.
"Next Friday, after I get off work."
"Awwww...."
"Soda, you heard your doctor. You need to take it easy. Haven't you had enough catheters stuck up in you yet? You go messing up that kidney and you're gonna lose it permanently!"
Soda cringed, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Please don't say the 'c' word."
Darry smiled at his younger brother, knowing that memory would settle him down some.
"All right, next Friday, but what do we do until then?"
"You rest, eat and let your hair grow back." I reached over and ruffled that flat-top of his, raising a smile out of him, finally.
"What about his school and Social Services?"
Smile gone again. I took a moment before answering these questions.
"I notified his school and they dropped him from the register." Soda looked devastated, and I shared the feeling. We had worked so hard for the last three years to encourage the best out of him, to stay up on his grades, to fight for every single higher grade point he could get, to be on the radar of colleges for scholarships – academic and athletic, and now it was all for nothing. Now they've dropped him... from school, from track, from everything. Even if he came back next year, (if?), I doubt any college would give him the time of day. He'd be held back, made to repeat the year over again. Soda was still looking at me, chagrined. "He's already been gone a month, Soda, even if he came back today, he'd have to repeat anyway." I just hoped he would return so he could finish with the class behind him.
"And as far as Social Services is concerned," here came the final blow, "he's considered a runaway... again. Being that he's sixteen this time, and this is the second time he's run off, they aren't going to help chase him down like they did before. Not that they really did anything before, either. They filed papers to terminate my guardianship upon his return, but nothing gets processed until he shows back up."
"Terminate your... Darry, we'll lose him!"
"Soda... we'll have to find him first before we need to worry about losing him!"
We sat in silence for a long while after that, until a knock on the glass behind my head signaled someone needed a break. I got off at the next exit, and we all got out for a bite to eat, refuel the truck and stretch our legs.
XXX
I let Two-Bit take the wheel when we were ready to roll out again. I wanted Soda to stay in the front, he wasn't in any shape to be bouncing about in the bed of the truck. "No more than 65, got it, Two-Bit? Remember, we ain't parts back here you're delivering, and you screw up my truck - I'm taking it outa your hide." I handed him my keys as I settled in next to Steve.
"Hell, Darry, this ain't no Mustang..." He shut up when he saw my look.
"Don't worry, Darry, I'm in here, too! I'll make him behave." Soda called out the his open window. The engine came to life, and we rolled on out.
XXX
"How's the roofing business, Darry?" I asked.
"It's been steady. There were some bad storms after you guys left, lots of roofs to repair. Boss wanted me in everyday, but I took a day off every now and then."
I was angry with Darry, but didn't know how to say it without him tossing me over the side of his truck, plowing ahead at what had to be 80 MPH. I swear Two-Bit still has a lead foot, looking through the glass, he and Soda were animated in some conversation of their own. However on this side of the glass, things weren't so amicable, at least not for me. I had to let it out, get it off my chest. I was glad Soda wasn't here to hear me.
"How was Ponyboy dealing with Soda being gone?"
Darry looked at me, eyes confused. "I already told you..."
"No, you told us the basics. Two-Bit told me how he wouldn't even ride home from school with him anymore. Pony would never pull away from Two-Bit – not unless there's no one left for him to depend on." I was being cold, I knew that, but I was pissed too. Besides being the youngest, the kid was also the deepest and most vulnerable. I was never able to deal with someone who needed so much attention, so much approval for every thing he did, but he had lost so much so fast at so young an age and in such tragic ways. I knew he needed help when he was whithering away before Soda or I even left. I tried to tell them, appealed to Darry to see it, but he obviously didn't. Ponyboy didn't have "phases" like other teenagers, he had life altering events.
"He depended on you, Darry. I just want to know what you did for him, to help him deal with this bull shit."
Now Darry sat there perplexed. "Steve, Pony was getting better. I never realized you cared for him this much anyway. But he was dealing with 'this bullshit' as you call it, as well as I could have expected him to. Getting that letter is what set him off. And if I had been home, I would have held him down like an anchor before letting him run away. But I was at work, the bills didn't stop coming after you guys left ya know. Believe it or not, I do love him, just as much as Soda. He is my brother, you remember, not just a kid I picked up off the street. Since when have you gone protective over Ponyboy anyway? You never used to be like this."
"Since watching a man in a tree with a rifle take aim on your other brother, firing into his back with a cowards bullet, since holding onto Soda's back as his blood ran through my fingers as my own blood trailed down my leg, and since sitting at his bedside come night and day after he came out of surgery. The only thing he lived for, not me, not you, was Ponyboy. Telling him he had to stay alive for Ponyboy was what got him to respond to me, to squeeze my hand, to take a breath, to live. Those two have a connection I'll never understand, but it's what kept him alive. If that means I have to accept the kid more as an equal, then I'll do it. But I wont stand back next time I see a friend in so much pain he'd rather whither away as if erasing himself off the planet. I'll find him help first."
Talk about hitting Darry where it hurt! That was a one- two punch if ever I had landed one before. Hurt him about as much as when he broke my jaw a few years ago. Both brothers in one answer, how Soda almost died and Ponyboy disappearing in front of us, in front of him!
Aw shit. Darry shifted his gaze out at the passing fields, and pulled his knees up to his chest some, resting his elbows on his knees, feet flat on the truck bed. Was that a tear? Did I actually break the big guy?
"Hey, Darry...oh hell man, I'm sorry." I forgot he had shit to deal with here back at home too.
"You ain't got nothing to be sorry for, Steve. I tried to get Pony to eat even before you both left, and even though it got worse afterward, he turned the corner and was doing better. His grades especially, but he did eat more than he had. I was starting to relax as he and I got into a routine, waiting for the months to pass by and you guys to come home. Then that letter, that *&^%$* letter arrived and destroyed everything. I swear, if I had to bury Ponyboy after having to bury Sodapop like I thought I would have to, my own grave would have been paid for too, because I wouldn't be able to do this anymore!"
I stared at him. The strongest man in the world admitting to me his weakness, his vulnerable side. Darry lived for them both, Soda lived for Ponyboy, Ponyboy lived for Soda. The love that exists for each other were the ties that bind them together, and each feeling the loss of the other had shattered them all apart. Man, if only I had been born in this family, to experience first hand the love they have for each other flowing through their veins. Amazing.
"Steve," Darry had regrouped and was solid again, no trace of him almost breaking evident on his face.
"Yeah, Darry?"
"Thank you, for Sodapop. For bringing him back to me, to us."
I smiled. "That's what I joined up to do, Darry. Working on the birds was just to pass the time!"
Darry looked off at the passing fields. A few minutes later, he cleared his throat and spoke again. "Ya know, Steve, if Ponyboy does call, I know the three words that would get him home faster that anything else."
I thought about it. I love you? Please come home? Fresh chocolate cake? Hookers for free? "What three words, Darry?"
"Soda's not dead."
XXX
Okay. I want lots of reviews..... and don't kill me on my comma's, I already know I fail in that department.