Autumn Leaves

Chapter 36

Dinner And A Movie

XXX

"I'm sorry," I finally said, forcing myself to leave the fork alone that I'd been nervously turning over and over, unaware I was doing it until I caught her humored eyes watching me. "It's been ages since I've been out with someone who's main interest wasn't cars."

She smiled, laughing a little as she squirmed some in her chair.

"Now that's hard to believe. You've honestly not gone out in how long?"

I looked at her, sitting up a bit taller as I calculated it in my head. "Um, maybe two years? Definitely not since my folks passed on. You?"

The waitress arrived with the plates. We waited for her to leave before resuming our conversation.

"Oh goodness, not since nursing school. I had a boyfriend back then, but he didn't understand how serious I was about my studies. It was a lot of work for me but I dived in head first, determined to be the best I could be. I didn't realize how I kept brushing off his calls and repetitively forgetting our dates; then one day near graduation I looked up and he was gone. He was a nice guy, I hope he's forgiven me my absentmindedness."

"He should have understood." I mused. "College isn't easy."

"Have you gone?" .

Now I was embarrassed. "No," I sighed, "I haven't. I'd planned on it right after high school, but my folks were killed and my kid brothers needed me. I was the only thing that stood between them and foster care. I couldn't do that to them. Even now, as hard as we sometimes have it, I still think I made the right decision."

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. What would you major in, if you could go right now?"

I smirked. "Engineering."

"Said like a man with determination. When are you going to go?"

"One day, after Ponyboy is off on his own. If I'm not too old, broke or incapable. Just not right now."

"And Sodapop?"

I looked at her, unsure.

"If I'm asking questions that are too personal...." she said, backing off.

"No, it's not that. Soda... Soda quit school. He said he wasn't smart enough, and maybe I pressured him a bit too much, expecting high grades when I should have realized he's not like Ponyboy and me; but he might have made it. Barely, but there was that chance, until he gave up. He gave me every excuse in the book and made a few up along the way as to why he should quit. I argued with him until I was blue in the face, but he did it anyway. He threw in the towel not long after our parents died, taking a full time job at the DX to do the one thing he loves to do and is good at – work on cars. He's a good mechanic. In the end, he was right – we'd needed his pay to get by."

"The same DX that blew up?" The look on her face was shock, but settled back after I shook my head.

"Nope, it was another station in the DX chain that his boss had him at that day. His station is still going."

"And how's he doing now, since getting out of the hospital? I'm asking not as a nurse, but as a friend."

"He's doing better. Gets tired fast, gets winded easily. His knee bothers him but he won't let on. He's doing that rehab stuff, doing laps in the pool which helps his leg and his lungs. He'll be fine, in time."

"I know he will. I remember how stubborn he was." I looked at her sharply, but she grinned and shook her head. "A good stubborn, I meant. He's a good kid. Both your brothers are."

"Thanks." I finished my dinner and got the waiters attention for the check. It came, I paid, and before long, we were standing in line for The Miracle Worker.

As the lights went down in the theater, I settled in for a long, boring show. Anne Bancroft may be eye candy to some guys, but she just wasn't high on my list of exciting women. Besides the whacks Patti Duke gave everyone during her blind and mute temper tantrums, there really wasn't a whole lot of action. It was surprising when I felt eyes on me and turned to see Michelle smiling at me in the dark.

"What?" I whispered.

"Are you always this stolid?" she whispered back.

I looked at her, confused. "Pardon me?"

She snickered. "Sorry, I mean, relax... have some fun. Blink maybe."

I grinned. I reached over and took her hand and smiled. Fine, if I had to see this, at least it was with someone who could make it worthwhile.

Two hours later the lights came back up.

"Was it that bad?" she teased.

"It was okay. Patti could have whacked a few more people in it though."

"Darry!"

"Come on, lets go."

I walked her to my truck and turned on the heater.

"This was fun. I had a really nice time. One day, I hope we can go out and have you enjoy it. What kind of stuff do you like to do?" She asked as she settled in next to me.

"I like to ski, but haven't done that in a long while either. Too busy."

She smiled at me, understanding in her eyes. "While you're trying to give your brothers a life, don't forget to give yourself one, too."

"Good advice, I'll have to remember it."

I headed towards her apartment, located in a real nice part of town. I recognized it, having done work over here before.

"See that building over there, the one with the small hedges?" I pointed as we neared.

"Yes, what about it?"

"I roofed it a couple of months ago."

She looked at the roof appreciatively. "You did? Ya know, I think I remember it. Trucks all over the street, blocking traffic forever and a day!" she teased again then settled back. "It looks good. You do good work."

"Thank you. I may not know how to save lives or nothing that important, but I can keep a roof from leaking. Help keep houses warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. That makes a difference, at least to the people inside it."

"Of course it does, Darry. And it is important. It takes skill to know how to do that right. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to do that."

I pulled up in front of her place, got out and opened her door to walk her to her apartment.

"Want to come in for a while? Warm up some?"

I debated it but shook my head. "No thanks. I've had a really nice time, movie and all. I'd, uh, I'd like to see you again, another time, if that's possible."

"I'd like that. I'd like that a whole lot."

"Great. I'll call you in a few days, when I have my schedule nailed down better." Kiss her or don't kiss her? Damn, I was out of practice.

"Night, Darry," she crooned as she went inside and closed the door.

Too late, you idiot. "Night." I headed back to my truck and headed home.

XXX

"Darry home yet?" Pony asked as he came in, backpack thick again.

I looked at the clock, 11:25. "Nope. He's out on a date, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right. How was the pool?"

"Not bad. Tiring, but fun at the same time. Maybe you can come with me, you're a good swimmer, you can be my lifeguard!"

"Oh, well … can't. Not with all my homework and stuff. Thanks though." He headed off to his room, shut his door and flipped on his radio, the volume kept low. It occurred to me then that the time, anywhere between eleven and eleven thirty, was getting predictable.

"Hey Pone..." I said as I barged in his room without knocking, "where've you been hanging out at lately?" I'd left for the pool between three and four, but not once have I seen him at home after school let out. Even on non-practice or game days, which was weird.

He finished doing whatever he was doing in his closet and shut the door, stripped off his shirt and jeans and slid on his sweats. "Nowhere. Just studying at the library and practicing my jumpshot. End of first term is coming up and I can't get any studying done around here, it's too noisy."

Too noisy? Who the heck is home? Something about the way he wouldn't look at me in the eye anymore made me uneasy.

"Library closes at ten, kiddo." I reminded him.

"Well the basketball courts don't close, and the lights stay on until midnight."

I rolled my eyes in disbelief that he'd expect me to buy that story. No one stays out playing basketball in the cold, dark Tulsa streets alone. Still, I let him carry along.

"How was your game yesterday?"

"We won. 71 to 68. Nearly lost, but Jackson managed a few key three pointers. Too bad you couldn't be there."

"Yeah, I hate missing your games. You ain't peeved that we ain't able to show up, are you? I mean, I want to be there, but if I don't do this rehab thing I'll never get my knee back in shape, and if I don't get my knee back in shape I won't get cleared to drive again. Besides, Darry's got to have the truck so he can put in the extra hours at both his jobs."

He pulled some papers out of his notebook and headed to the living room, sat down at the piano and lifted the cover. I followed him. "Nah, I know everyone's busy. It's fine."

I watched as he started playing Adeste Fideles without any hesitation, startling me some. It was rare that any of us caught him playing, let alone having him just plop down at the piano like this. He hadn't played - that I knew of anyway, since last summer at that fancy restaurant in Hollis. He wasn't rusty like I thought he'd be, either.

"That's pretty good, Pone." I said absentmindedly while I watched.

"Thanks," he mumbled, concentrating hard on the sheet music in front of him. I watched as his fingers navigated the keys flawlessly, his eyes rarely looking down. He shook his head. "I've got to tune this tomorrow, more keys are out than in."

"You remember how to do that?" I asked skeptically. Even I didn't remember the last time the piano was tuned up. I could tune anything with an engine, but a piano was out of the question. Considering the fact that Pony rarely played anymore and neither Darry nor me touched it, I was a bit more than skeptical.

"Yeah. I can do it. I saw the tuner in the closet. I'll get it tomorrow."

Uh huh.

He moved from one Christmas song to another, never really stopping but blending and merging the notes from one song into another in a solid stream. I was amazed, his fingers never stopped going. Even out of tune, it sounded great.

"How do you do that?" I finally asked, totally mesmerized.

He laughed. "What? Play? Oh c'mon Sodapop, you know the answer to that. Mom taught me, remember?"

"Yeah well, you've gotten considerably better since Mom and you... I mean, since she was here." I said, tripping over my words some. I knew Pony was still real sensitive about our folks.

He smiled. "Thanks, Soda."

His fingers flew up and down the keys for another twenty minutes straight then stopped. Headlights shined on the windows as a familiar door creaked open and shut outside. Pony got up, took the sheet music with him and closed the cover over the keys. He stretched as he looked at me.

"How is your knee, anyway?"

"Oh, fine. Sore, but better."

"What are you guys still doing up?" Darry asked as he came in.

"Just hanging out, listening to tunes and stuff. How was your date?" I winked at Pony, who had turned to look at me, an odd look on his face that faded away as Darry hung up his coat and pulled off his shoes.

"Well, the movie wasn't anything I'd recommend, but the food was good and the company even better. And that's all either of you are gonna weasel out of me about that, so don't bother to ask."

"What movie did you see?" Pony asked as he crossed the living room and sat down.

Darry rolled his eyes. "The Miracle Worker."

"Sucker!" I said with a sneer. Pony's response was a bit different.

"Oh yeah? The one with Patti Duke and Anne Bancroft? I thought it was pretty good. It's gotta be hard being a sighted verbal actor having to play a deaf mute. You have to rely totally on your acting skills and pray your performance meets expectations."

Darry just looked at him while I sat there amused. Obviously Pony thought more of the movie than Darry did, but then again, it was sort of expected that Pony'd know more about any movie playing. The kicker was that none of us had known he'd gone off to the movies in months.

"Ponyboy, when did you go see it?"

"I didn't. I saw the preview back when Two-Bit took me to the MegaMall, then I went and read about Helen Keller in the library. She's met many presidents and even graduated from Radcliffe. Ya know, she still lives up in Connecticut."

I almost laughed. Darry's expression was floored. Totally speechless. Leave it to Ponyboy to find out stuff like that in the library.

"You finished your report yet?" Darry finally asked.

"Not yet. I still have to type it, but I have the draft done."

"Lordy, Pone. You had all day. What did you do?"

"More research, studied for some tests coming up, worked on my jump shot. Ran a bit. Nothing major."

Darry glanced at me, I had to shrug. "Well, fine. It's late. You guys eat dinner?"

"I had a sandwich. Pony?"

"I had a sandwich too, I just took it with me to eat at the library. I ain't hungry."

"Uh huh. Well, I can lead you to water, but I can't make you drink. Okay, guys, I'm tired and I got to work tomorrow at the warehouse. I'm going to bed."

"Night, Darry." I called. Pony echoed my words.

Everyone headed off into a different direction, Darry to his room, Pony to the bathroom and me to turn off all the lights. As I sank back in bed a few minutes later, Darry softly knocked on my door.

"Yeah?"

He came in and shut it, then spoke real low. "I just wanted you to know, I froze my account today so if you need any money, you won't be able to get it from my account. I have enough cash to pay the bills and stuff until they get the mess straightened out at the bank. There was another mix up, another $22 got deposited this week. I took enough out to get us by; you need any?"

"I can use five dollars if you can spare it, but don't if it's gonna put the bills in jeopardy. You gonna tell Pony?"

He shook his head. "No. Ain't no reason to worry him about it."

"Um Darry? I didn't want to bother you with this, but what are we gonna do about Thanksgiving?" I hated to ask, knowing the holidays were always a rough time for us – financially and emotionally.

Darry sighed. "I dunno. It's gonna be slim this year. Real slim. We'll make do. At least we're together. All of us. I'll take that over any present or meal."

I understood what he meant. If the station hadn't blown up, I would be in Vietnam. It almost made me sick to think of it. Darry wouldn't watch the news anymore either, the reminders of what nearly was were still raw. I nodded, not finding any words to say.

"Night, Soda. Sleep well."

"You too, Darry."

XXX

Calla Lily Rose