Chapter 26:

Ponyboy's POV:

We begged the nurse to let us see Johnny and told her she had already let us in once when he originally injured his back. She couldn't argue with her past decisions and decided to let us see him. I also think it was because Dally scared her a little, but I can't know for sure.

When Dally opened the door we saw Johnny. He looked pale but not as bad as when he was jumped by the Socs, or the day after the fire. He was lying flat on his stomach with his arms forming triangles so his hands rested under his pillow while he slept. He looked peaceful, but not enough to convince me he was okay.

Dally ran over to Johnny and kneeled right next to his sleeping face trying not to look urgent. He still wanted to look cool after all. I just grabbed the clipboard at the end of his bed to see if it stated what was wrong. I wasn't going to leave until I knew.

Johnny Cade

Height:5' 9''

Weight:130 lbs

Previous Diagnosis:Fractured Vertebrae (major)

New Found Symptoms:

Pain (waist down)

New Diagnosis:_

This one thing I needed was a new diagnosis and they didn't write it down. I just shook my head.

The doctor came strolling in and noticed we were in the room. I put the clipboard down before he could see I was looking. I didn't know if he'd be angry I was reading it without being a family member of Johnny's, but I wasn't itchin' to find out. He didn't seem to care that I was there, but when he looked at Dally he sighed to himself. 'Someone' has a good memory of Dally. I thought sarcastically.

"Hello boys" He exhaled. He sounded annoyed. His tone said: 'I'm gonna try my hardest to leave ASAP' but Dally and I weren't going to let him leave without an explanation for Johnny's pain.

"Could you tell us what's wrong with him?" Dally asked, still kneeling next to Johnny.

"Well there's nothing wrong per say…" Now he's just playing with us

"So why'd he have pain?" I joined the conversation

"Well, we ran some tests, and miraculously, your friend seems to be regaining feeling in his legs" Woah.

"How is that possible?" I asked. He sighed again, like he was dreading my question. He looked down at the papers in his hand.

"Well," he said, "that's the million dollar question isn't it?" I was confused. Wasn't he supposed to know this stuff? "We've all been trying to figure out what happened to your friend but we have no idea. It seems his body had a few nerves undisturbed by the injuries caused in the fire. Now, somehow, all the signals from his waist down are being transmitted through the lasting nerves. His body adapted significantly to the situation."

Being a Greaser, you start to give up on miracles at a young age. Never any breaks means never any good luck. It was hard to believe that that had finally changed. Dally looked at the still-sleeping Johnny and then back up at the doctor,

"So, will he be able to move-"

"We haven't gotten that far in our tests yet" the doctor cut him off before we could raise our hopes, "Johnny here seems to be in too much pain to even attempt to stand up and try physical therapy. But after a while we might be able to try" I couldn't tell if he meant 'try physical therapy' or 'try to walk' but either way I was still amazed, "Look boys, I've got to run some tests on Johnny soon, so I'll leave you three alone for another couple of minutes but I got to get these done before 8:00"

"Okay. Thanks doc" I said as he closed the door. Dally shook Johnny's forearm trying to wake him.

"Johnny? Johnny man, it's Pony and me. The doc said the pain is a good thing. You can feel your legs again" Johnny stirred, opening his eyes slowly and then surveying the situation.

"Hey guys"

"Did the doctor tell you about your condition?" I asked. I didn't want to fill him in on stuff he already knew when he was so tired.

"Yeah. Tuff enough. They got me back on that nasty pain medicine though"

"Yeah," I played with my shoelaces with my other foot, looking down, "I heard it makes you real tired" I remembered the night before, and I shivered. I couldn't tell if Dally noticed, but I knew Johnny didn't.

"Yeah but I'm glad you guys came," he yawned, "It's real nice of ya" He shut his eyes again.

"We'll be back later okay Johnny?" Dally promised, "The doc needs to run some tests"

"'kay" He was already back asleep when we left the room. We went out into the parking lot, and I chose to sit in the back seat of Dally's car. He started to drive the minute I closed the car door.

"You hungry Ponyboy?" He looked at me in the car mirror.

"Eh," It was true. Despite the good news, I was still bothered by the whole situation. Why couldn't I hear Johnny scream? Why did everyone else wake up except me? Why wasn't I there to help him to the hospital?

"You sick or somethin' kid? First you got the shakes in the hospital and now you ain't eatin'" So he had noticed. But he was wrong, I wasn't sick. I was just so confused. If he was screaming, why didn't I hear it?

"No"

"Well Darry'll kill me if he finds out I didn't feed ya like I promised"

"M'kay" He pulled into a near-by drive through and bought some food for us. When we finished, he dropped me home. I got out of the car and started up the front steps,

"Now Ponyboy," I turned around, "I don't want you walking to that hospital by your lonesome. Call me or Two-Bit if you need a ride after school or somethin' you hear me?" I nodded. "Good"

Now it was time to tell everyone the big news.