Pony's POV
Chapter 13
Through the week I worked very hard on two things. They were working on the project and not fighting with Darry. Both of them helped to complete the other. Soda, during this time, would always get very nervous if Darry and I ever started to talk, but I finally told him that we were serious about our promise to not argue. He then relaxed a little. I told Darry to do the same thing, and after that, Soda finally realized that we meant business. My theme also came along nicely, as did the rest of my schoolwork. On Thursday, I handed in my huge theme paper. It was so many pages long, that when Mr. Syme received it, he just stood there for a second before saying, "You really wrote that?"
"Yeah," was all I could think of to say to that.
"I'll try to have it graded by Wednesday, but no promises." He continued to mutter something under his breath like, "Goodness gracious. He was serious about it being longer." I was feeling pretty good about my chances of getting the C grade, since Darry and Soda even read it and both of them said it was good. If Soda says that if a piece of writing is good, it must be God's gift to earth; Soda hates that stuff. So in general things started to go pretty nicely after I had come up with my essay idea. Then one day, something shocking happened. I came home from school and I heard Darry talking in the kitchen, no, arguing, and there was another voice that I didn't know, arguing too.
"Mr. Curtis, this is only natural. That child has gotten into too much trouble and you appear to not be doing anything of consequence. This is done plenty of times and you have no right to get special treatment."
"No, you are wrong. This family will not be broken apart. There are many people in worse situations, but they have parents, so they get to stay there with their family. You can't be serious." I dropped my books with an incredibly loud thud. They were coming to take us away! They couldn't do that! Not now, no, it wasn't right. Darry and the stranger both looked up at me the instant of the books crashing. I yelled,
"You won't take me away! Soda and I are staying! You have no right to do this! Who do you think you are? I'm going to warn Soda!" Then I ran out the door and a full mile to the DX. I had run it in less than six minutes and was completely unable to speak for at least thirty seconds after I stopped running, my throat was so dry. However, I was able to make Soda understand that I was bringing bad and serious news. Even though it was only thirty seconds I had to gain the ability to speak, it seemed forever. There was an element of hurriedness to life now that made each wasted second seem like a lifetime was thrown away. I was crying as I told Soda the news. He just dropped his jaw and then told the owner of the DX that he was leaving early, threw on his jacket, and ran with me back home. I was much faster, and kept pulling him along so we could arrive together. We did, and burst into the kitchen with such speed that I had nearly tripped over the books that I had dropped on the way in. Soda looked over at Darry, who was wearing that pleading look that I was so scared of, and finally said,
"We can take it to court, can't we Darry?"
"We're going to have to, little buddy." The man was getting very angry with all of us.
"You listen here! If you condone this kind of behavior in your house, then there is no way you'll win this case! Fine, take it to court. It'll be hell on your wallet and a lot of time to handle, and you'll still lose! See if you don't!" He then got up, slapped a piece of paper on the table, left, and slammed the door. All of us just looked around, too spellbound to move, or too scared of the contents of the paper. I finally reached down to pick it up. It said the name of the person to contact and a number to call. I gave it to Darry without saying a word. He took it, quickly read, and then sighed.
"Guess you know the news, Soda?" Darry said, trying to smile, and failing. Soda nodded gravely, his eyes with a rare lack of sparkle that startled me. I then said,
"Sorry for losing my head like that, Darry. I was scared."
"No, it's okay. Where will we ever get the money to go to court, though? I can't see that we'll ever have enough in the near future. It's a lot of money." I said,
"Maybe I could work part-time at the DX with Soda to make more money for the case." Oddly enough, Soda piped up with a reason not to use this idea.
"Pony, would it look good to have you also working to support this family when we're in trouble for not having a stable enough family? It would make us look bad."
"It would make me look bad, not you," said Darry. "No, don't work at the station, Pony. I'll take care of it. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of it." His eyes took on a look that was reminiscent of Dally's wild look. I almost jumped with surprise in seeing the look on Darry, but Soda said,
"Really, Darry? You think we can win it?"
"We will win it, Pony, now get to your homework."
"I don't have any. Could I go for a bike ride around the neighborhood? Maybe I'll think of an idea for money then." I sometimes think of good ideas riding my bike.
"Sure. Just make sure that you're in by five. And if you see a Soc come back immediately."
"Okay, Darry. I'll be in at four-thirty. I'm not a marathoner." I then rode around. But then I forgot to use my head. I ended up in the Socs' section of town. Cherry was out on a walk. I almost ran her over, being completely in a daze, but she was a little more aware of her surroundings, and sidestepped me neatly. I then stopped to apologize for my obvious stupidity. She spoke first, though, astutely noticing,
"You don't seem yourself today. What's wrong?" She seemed happier than normal, exactly opposite me, and clearly wasn't worrying about the fact that I almost killed her with my bike. I wasn't in the mood to dodge questions, and so I just told the truth. Cherry seemed shocked.
"But why, Ponyboy? You're a hero; you've obviously been brought up well. This makes no sense. They can't just do that!"
"That's what I thought, too. But they can, and they are. Cherry, we're taking it to court."
"Good for you!" She said with conviction. Then I remembered the big issue over that, and blurted,
"But we have no money to, and we won't ever be able to make enough in time to press the case!" Cherry looked at me with a "but isn't it obvious?" kind of look and said,
"Pony, I could help you with that. How much do you need? My family heard about you in the papers and would be more than willing to." The hard, cold, look on my face silenced her. There was no way that we'd take her money. We don't want your charity... Wouldn't you help me if you thought you could? Yes...
"Listen, Cherry, I'd have to run the idea by my brothers, want to pop by and see what they think of it?"
"Sure!" She smiled. I liked smiled too. I felt certain now that the case was ours. All we had was the money, yet I felt the rest would fall into place somehow. It had to. It meant that much to me. To us. I led Cherry to our house silently. We really didn't have much to say, and I think that Cherry was thinking of what to say to my brothers. We arrived back at four twenty-seven. I grinned at the clock at finding that my promise had been kept. Then I found Darry in a back room poring over some papers. He picked up one paper angrily, crumpled it, and threw it across the room. He then looked over at me and sighed.
"What do you want, Pony? I'm really busy."
"I know, Darry. I found a way to solve our monetary problems. Here she is." I then stepped out of the doorway and allowed Cherry to walk through to talk to Darry. I was kind of nervous about what Darry's reaction would be. Cherry stuttered a little as she began her explanation.
"Darry, Ponyboy and I ran into each other, um, and he told me about this.predicament that you have and my family would be more than willing to help out. They saw the article in the paper and think that Pony and Soda should definitely be allowed to stay with you. Is that okay with you?" Darry looked angrily at the floor, looked back up, and opened his mouth to say something. He then glanced over to the pile of papers and said,
"Agreed. We'll pay you back in two months." Cherry and I looked at each other with relief and astonishment.
"Let's go tell Soda!" I said quickly, and raced to our room where Soda was pacing around, trying to come up with an idea as well. He said something about working overtime when I came in with Cherry far behind me. I forgot how fast I could run. I said, "Soda! Listen to this; we got the money for the case! We can go to court now! I found a way to do it." At that moment Cherry came in and finished the explanation. Soda looked relieved and also at the same time disappointed. But he probably realized that our family was far more important than our honor. He said,
"Okay, it sounds good to me. When will we pay it back?"
"Two months," said Darry, who then explained to Cherry that they'd need to talk to her parents to work out the deal. Darry then left with Cherry to finalize our plans. I would have gone, but I didn't want to be there for a conversation about how bad off we were. So I stayed behind with a stunned Soda. He said,
"We're really going to borrow money from a Soc? We'll look so bad."
"Look, it's our honor or our life together. So we'll have to take the shame. It's going to be the least of our worries for a while. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. I just wish it was the most of our worries. Like Two-Bit's switchblade." Soda smiled weakly, but the memory of that incident brought back only worse memories with it, so the smile faded rapidly.
"So how are we going to argue our case?" I said, changing the subject. "Maybe we could say, well, I don't know! We just can't leave. It's not fair. We have a better home life than so many other kids, yet we are being banished. We need to say why we should stay with our family. This is so bogus."
"You think I don't agree with you? You sound like you're trying to convince me!" said Soda. "Look, Pony. We'll say or do whatever we need to do to win this case, okay? It is so bogus that we have to do it, but we do! So we will." We fell into an uneasy silence. Both of us were so angry, and we knew that if we tried to talk we'd blow up at each other for nothing. Finally Darry came home, and Soda and I jumped up at exactly the same moment to greet him.
"How'd it go Darry?" demanded Soda excitedly. The amount of tension that had built up in the air during the long silence was all being burst out.
"Well, one problem about our going to court has been resolved!" He announced cheerfully. "I have a feeling that from here, it will be smooth sailing. Truth is on our side."
Chapter 13
Through the week I worked very hard on two things. They were working on the project and not fighting with Darry. Both of them helped to complete the other. Soda, during this time, would always get very nervous if Darry and I ever started to talk, but I finally told him that we were serious about our promise to not argue. He then relaxed a little. I told Darry to do the same thing, and after that, Soda finally realized that we meant business. My theme also came along nicely, as did the rest of my schoolwork. On Thursday, I handed in my huge theme paper. It was so many pages long, that when Mr. Syme received it, he just stood there for a second before saying, "You really wrote that?"
"Yeah," was all I could think of to say to that.
"I'll try to have it graded by Wednesday, but no promises." He continued to mutter something under his breath like, "Goodness gracious. He was serious about it being longer." I was feeling pretty good about my chances of getting the C grade, since Darry and Soda even read it and both of them said it was good. If Soda says that if a piece of writing is good, it must be God's gift to earth; Soda hates that stuff. So in general things started to go pretty nicely after I had come up with my essay idea. Then one day, something shocking happened. I came home from school and I heard Darry talking in the kitchen, no, arguing, and there was another voice that I didn't know, arguing too.
"Mr. Curtis, this is only natural. That child has gotten into too much trouble and you appear to not be doing anything of consequence. This is done plenty of times and you have no right to get special treatment."
"No, you are wrong. This family will not be broken apart. There are many people in worse situations, but they have parents, so they get to stay there with their family. You can't be serious." I dropped my books with an incredibly loud thud. They were coming to take us away! They couldn't do that! Not now, no, it wasn't right. Darry and the stranger both looked up at me the instant of the books crashing. I yelled,
"You won't take me away! Soda and I are staying! You have no right to do this! Who do you think you are? I'm going to warn Soda!" Then I ran out the door and a full mile to the DX. I had run it in less than six minutes and was completely unable to speak for at least thirty seconds after I stopped running, my throat was so dry. However, I was able to make Soda understand that I was bringing bad and serious news. Even though it was only thirty seconds I had to gain the ability to speak, it seemed forever. There was an element of hurriedness to life now that made each wasted second seem like a lifetime was thrown away. I was crying as I told Soda the news. He just dropped his jaw and then told the owner of the DX that he was leaving early, threw on his jacket, and ran with me back home. I was much faster, and kept pulling him along so we could arrive together. We did, and burst into the kitchen with such speed that I had nearly tripped over the books that I had dropped on the way in. Soda looked over at Darry, who was wearing that pleading look that I was so scared of, and finally said,
"We can take it to court, can't we Darry?"
"We're going to have to, little buddy." The man was getting very angry with all of us.
"You listen here! If you condone this kind of behavior in your house, then there is no way you'll win this case! Fine, take it to court. It'll be hell on your wallet and a lot of time to handle, and you'll still lose! See if you don't!" He then got up, slapped a piece of paper on the table, left, and slammed the door. All of us just looked around, too spellbound to move, or too scared of the contents of the paper. I finally reached down to pick it up. It said the name of the person to contact and a number to call. I gave it to Darry without saying a word. He took it, quickly read, and then sighed.
"Guess you know the news, Soda?" Darry said, trying to smile, and failing. Soda nodded gravely, his eyes with a rare lack of sparkle that startled me. I then said,
"Sorry for losing my head like that, Darry. I was scared."
"No, it's okay. Where will we ever get the money to go to court, though? I can't see that we'll ever have enough in the near future. It's a lot of money." I said,
"Maybe I could work part-time at the DX with Soda to make more money for the case." Oddly enough, Soda piped up with a reason not to use this idea.
"Pony, would it look good to have you also working to support this family when we're in trouble for not having a stable enough family? It would make us look bad."
"It would make me look bad, not you," said Darry. "No, don't work at the station, Pony. I'll take care of it. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of it." His eyes took on a look that was reminiscent of Dally's wild look. I almost jumped with surprise in seeing the look on Darry, but Soda said,
"Really, Darry? You think we can win it?"
"We will win it, Pony, now get to your homework."
"I don't have any. Could I go for a bike ride around the neighborhood? Maybe I'll think of an idea for money then." I sometimes think of good ideas riding my bike.
"Sure. Just make sure that you're in by five. And if you see a Soc come back immediately."
"Okay, Darry. I'll be in at four-thirty. I'm not a marathoner." I then rode around. But then I forgot to use my head. I ended up in the Socs' section of town. Cherry was out on a walk. I almost ran her over, being completely in a daze, but she was a little more aware of her surroundings, and sidestepped me neatly. I then stopped to apologize for my obvious stupidity. She spoke first, though, astutely noticing,
"You don't seem yourself today. What's wrong?" She seemed happier than normal, exactly opposite me, and clearly wasn't worrying about the fact that I almost killed her with my bike. I wasn't in the mood to dodge questions, and so I just told the truth. Cherry seemed shocked.
"But why, Ponyboy? You're a hero; you've obviously been brought up well. This makes no sense. They can't just do that!"
"That's what I thought, too. But they can, and they are. Cherry, we're taking it to court."
"Good for you!" She said with conviction. Then I remembered the big issue over that, and blurted,
"But we have no money to, and we won't ever be able to make enough in time to press the case!" Cherry looked at me with a "but isn't it obvious?" kind of look and said,
"Pony, I could help you with that. How much do you need? My family heard about you in the papers and would be more than willing to." The hard, cold, look on my face silenced her. There was no way that we'd take her money. We don't want your charity... Wouldn't you help me if you thought you could? Yes...
"Listen, Cherry, I'd have to run the idea by my brothers, want to pop by and see what they think of it?"
"Sure!" She smiled. I liked smiled too. I felt certain now that the case was ours. All we had was the money, yet I felt the rest would fall into place somehow. It had to. It meant that much to me. To us. I led Cherry to our house silently. We really didn't have much to say, and I think that Cherry was thinking of what to say to my brothers. We arrived back at four twenty-seven. I grinned at the clock at finding that my promise had been kept. Then I found Darry in a back room poring over some papers. He picked up one paper angrily, crumpled it, and threw it across the room. He then looked over at me and sighed.
"What do you want, Pony? I'm really busy."
"I know, Darry. I found a way to solve our monetary problems. Here she is." I then stepped out of the doorway and allowed Cherry to walk through to talk to Darry. I was kind of nervous about what Darry's reaction would be. Cherry stuttered a little as she began her explanation.
"Darry, Ponyboy and I ran into each other, um, and he told me about this.predicament that you have and my family would be more than willing to help out. They saw the article in the paper and think that Pony and Soda should definitely be allowed to stay with you. Is that okay with you?" Darry looked angrily at the floor, looked back up, and opened his mouth to say something. He then glanced over to the pile of papers and said,
"Agreed. We'll pay you back in two months." Cherry and I looked at each other with relief and astonishment.
"Let's go tell Soda!" I said quickly, and raced to our room where Soda was pacing around, trying to come up with an idea as well. He said something about working overtime when I came in with Cherry far behind me. I forgot how fast I could run. I said, "Soda! Listen to this; we got the money for the case! We can go to court now! I found a way to do it." At that moment Cherry came in and finished the explanation. Soda looked relieved and also at the same time disappointed. But he probably realized that our family was far more important than our honor. He said,
"Okay, it sounds good to me. When will we pay it back?"
"Two months," said Darry, who then explained to Cherry that they'd need to talk to her parents to work out the deal. Darry then left with Cherry to finalize our plans. I would have gone, but I didn't want to be there for a conversation about how bad off we were. So I stayed behind with a stunned Soda. He said,
"We're really going to borrow money from a Soc? We'll look so bad."
"Look, it's our honor or our life together. So we'll have to take the shame. It's going to be the least of our worries for a while. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. I just wish it was the most of our worries. Like Two-Bit's switchblade." Soda smiled weakly, but the memory of that incident brought back only worse memories with it, so the smile faded rapidly.
"So how are we going to argue our case?" I said, changing the subject. "Maybe we could say, well, I don't know! We just can't leave. It's not fair. We have a better home life than so many other kids, yet we are being banished. We need to say why we should stay with our family. This is so bogus."
"You think I don't agree with you? You sound like you're trying to convince me!" said Soda. "Look, Pony. We'll say or do whatever we need to do to win this case, okay? It is so bogus that we have to do it, but we do! So we will." We fell into an uneasy silence. Both of us were so angry, and we knew that if we tried to talk we'd blow up at each other for nothing. Finally Darry came home, and Soda and I jumped up at exactly the same moment to greet him.
"How'd it go Darry?" demanded Soda excitedly. The amount of tension that had built up in the air during the long silence was all being burst out.
"Well, one problem about our going to court has been resolved!" He announced cheerfully. "I have a feeling that from here, it will be smooth sailing. Truth is on our side."