*OK I messed up a little bit with the nights Darry works in the first chapter so I'm gonna just give you his schedule now. He works mornings, afternoons, and nights five days a week. On Saturday he works in the morning and on Sunday he doesn't work at all. Ok now that we've got that cleared up lets get on to the fun stuff. I got a great response to the first chapter so I'm really excited about this story. I wasn't sure if it would catch many peeps attention but apparently I've got some of ya'll interested so here we go with the next chap. KEEP REVIEWING!*
"Where in the world is he? It's been nearly forty-five minutes." Darry said, worrying out loud about Soda who had yet to return from walking his friend home.
"Maybe he's still at Steve's house." Pony said. "Can I go play in the lot?"
"Not now. We're gonna go find Soda. Get your shoes on."
"Are we gonna walk or go in the car?" Pony asked.
"Uh, I guess we'll walk. No point in using up gas if we don't need too." Pony jumped up to get his shoes.
"Where do you think he is?" Pony asked, running back out.
Darry sighed "I dunno. C'mon, lets get going." He headed out, Pony close behind.
"You ain't gonna get mad at him are yah Darry? It probably ain't his fault. Don't get mad at him ok?" Pony asked, watching the expression on his big brothers face and trying to figure out if Soda might be facing some trouble. He knew worry often resulted in anger with his eldest brother.
"Weather I get mad at him or not depends on why he ain't home yet." Darry said, keeping an eye out for any sign of Soda as they walked down the block. Darry pressed the button on the cross walk and waited for it to say they could go while Pony studied the lines on the street. "Hand, Ponyboy." Darry said as the light turned.
Pony obediently held his brothers hand as they crossed and then let go when they reached the other side. "Hey, there he is!" Pony yelled, pointing to a boy walking down the sidewalk right across the the next street down.
"Good." Darry said relieved. They ran down the sidewalk and Darry grabbed Pony's hand as they crossed another street. "Sodapop!" Darry yelled, once they were near enough not to have to shout real loud. Soda looked up, surprised. Seeing Darry he quickly looked down again at his shoes. Darry caught sight of his face fast enough though and ran over fast. "Soda." He lifted his face up. "What happened, baby?"
"Some boys beat me up. They were real mean." He said, starting to cry again. He was trying not to but was finding it rather difficult. He couldn't wait until he got home so he could burry his face and sob all he wanted.
Darry placed a hand on his brothers shoulder as he studied his face. "It's ok now, honey." He comforted. His eyes were blazing but Soda knew his brother wasn't mad at him. He was mad at whoever had hurt him.
"Your bleeding." Pony said, concerned. Soda nodded. "Are you ok?" Soda nodded again.
Darry took a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed away most of the blood so he could see the injuries more clearly. Then he told Soda to hold it on his nose since it was still bleeding badly. "They hurt you anywhere else?"
"I dunno." Soda mumbled. "I'm sore all over."
"All-right, lets get you home and cleaned up and then you can tell me everything." Darry picked him up very gently and Soda put his legs around his brothers waist and rested his head as he still held the handkerchief under his nose. "Don't worry, he'll be ok." Darry said to Pony who looked genuinely worried.
When they got home Darry spent a few minutes cleaning and bandaging Soda up. They sat in Darry's room so he could have a few minutes alone to talk to Soda. He knew whatever story Soda had to tell might frighten Ponyboy. "What was I thinking letting you walk by yourself." Darry said, angry with himself. Soda sat in Darry's lap listening to his brother vent and letting him clean him up. "Hold this on your eye." Darry handed him ice. "I ought to know not to have an eleven year old kid walking the streets by himself. Daylight or not it ain't safe. I of all people, I ought to know."
"It ain't your fault." Soda mumbled, holding as still as possible for his brother while he washed off some dried blood.
"Yeah, well. I shouldn't have let you walk alone." Darry put one last Band-Aid on a small cut and pulled Soda close. "You ok, kiddo?"
"Yeah." Soda said, resting against his brothers chest.
"You wanna tell me what happened? I think I'm gonna call up the police and let them know about this."
"Awe, Darry. Don't do that. They'll know I ratted on them."
"How old where these guys, Soda?"
"I dunno. Maybe fifteen or something." Soda closed his eyes.
"How many?" Darry asked.
"Two." Soda said.
"What did they want anyways? You ever seen them before?"
"Nope. I think they just wanted to see if I had some money or something. I only had twenty-seven cents so I think it made them mad. They took it though." Soda said angrily. "They took my twenty-seven cents."
Darry rubbed his brothers back. "I'm sorry they took your money. I'll tell you what though." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar. "You can have this instead, ok?"
Soda grinned widely and took his gift. "Thanks, Darry."
"Don't you worry about it." Darry smiled. "Hey, you didn't have any breakfast huh?" Soda shook his head. "You want some now?"
"No, I just wanna stay here in your lap." Soda said, his voice cracking. The urge to cry came over him again.
"Soda." Darry lifted his face up to see tears. "Oh, honey. It's ok now." Darry held him. "You're safe now, Pepsi-Cola. I've got you."
"It was just scary, that's all." Soda sobbed.
"I know. I know it was." Darry rocked his brother back and forth and let him cry himself out. Poor kid, never did anything to deserve this. Darry thought. After a while Soda's cries went down to an occasional sniffle and he got up off his brother lap. "You want something to eat now?" Darry asked.
"Yeah." Soda said.
"All-right. C'mon." Darry put an arm around his shoulder and led him out of his room and into the kitchen.
"Soda! You ok?" Pony jumped up.
Soda smiled. "I'm fine, Pony. Hey, Darry. After lunch can we go play football?"
"I dunno, kiddo. You ain't in the best shape for playing football right now. You're pretty banged up. You shouldn't risk any more injuries today.
"But I'd be careful." Soda protested.
"You say that now, but wait until you get involved in the game. You'll completely forget you've got a busted eye until the football hits it. Not today, little buddy." Darry said. Soda sighed but dropped the subject. "You know what you both can do though, is clean your room." Darry said.
"Do we havta?" Soda asked.
"Yes, not now but sometime today."
"But I like it just how it is." Pony said.
"Yeah, I'm sure you do. But I don't." Darry said, getting the leftover breakfast out of the fridge so he could warm it up for Soda.
"Well you don't live in it. We do." Pony snapped.
"Guess what though? I pay for it. And quit being so mouthy." Darry said. Soda yawned loudly and walked back out into the living room to sit down. "Someone needs to get some rest." Darry said.
"I ain't sleepy."
"Oh, yeah? What time did you actually go to sleep last night?"
"I went to bed when you told me to!" Soda said, indignantly.
Darry put down the food and walked out into the living room. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you were sleeping by twelve last night."
Soda looked up at his brother. "I was." He said, seriously.
Darry smiled. "Good boy." Soda gave him a cheesy grin before slouching back down in his seat.
"Darry can we get a dog?" Pony asked randomly. Soda's ears perked up and he listened intently.
Darry sighed. "I don't think so, kiddo. We don't have the money to pay for a dog."
"But my friend Eric got one at the pound for only ten bucks!" Pony declared. "We can spend ten bucks can't we?"
Darry laughed. "Oh, Pon." He smiled sadly. "I wish it was that easy. Once you get a dog though, there's food, vets, time, effort, messes, and all sorts of things that require extra time and money and those are two things that I don't have."
"We'd take care of it." Soda jumped up.
"Yeah." Pony said. "We'd walk him and feed him and earn money to buy stuff for him.
Darry shook his head. "It's expensive guys and it's a big responsibility."
"So? We could do it." Soda said.
"Please?" Pony begged.
"No, it's to much work and you guys couldn't get that kind of money. It costs more than you think and then we'd have to get him neutered and gosh the list goes on..." Darry trailed off, shaking his head and thinking about how he didn't need any more work around there. He knew his brothers wouldn't do what they said.
"But Darry. We could do it. We could!" Soda insisted.
"I said no." Darry said, getting a bit tired of the conversation.
"But Dar-" Pony started.
"That's the end of it." He said strongly.
Ponyboy stood and pouted for a minute or so before going to play and Soda slouched against the wall, looking at his big brother with sad eyes. "Cut that out, kid." Darry warned. "It ain't working this time. Come eat your breakfast. It's ready." He said, bringing a plate of food to the table in the living room.
"I ain't hungry no more."
"And don't you pull that either." Darry said. "You are to hungry. You haven't eaten since last night when we stopped at McDonalds. Come sit down and eat this. I know your starving and not eating ain't gonna get you a dog so don't even bother with the 'I'll starve myself until I get what I want.'" Darry said. Soda unsuccessfully tried to hide his smile and sat down to eat.
***********
"Yeah, I'm ok." Soda said, talking to Steve on the phone.
"How old where they? Where there a whole lot of um? I bet you were scared huh. I know this guy named Billy and he got beat up real bad and now he don't even talk to anyone."
"What a nice story." Soda said sarcastically. "I dunno how old they were. Probably in high school or something. Hey guess what? Darry wanted to call the police and get them arrested. He wanted to press charges, whatever the heck that means."
"Why didn't he?" Steve asked, curiously.
"I said don't cause then those boys would get mad at me for telling and come after me again." Soda shivered at the thought of it.
"Oh, well that stinks."
"Yeah."
"Soda, it's time for bed. Get off the phone." Darry said, expecting that wouldn't be the the first time he'd have to say it. Soda was even more anti-bedtime then Ponyboy was. Darry figured it was because he was such a little ball of bouncing energy and he never slowed down until you actually got him into bed.
"Yeah, hang on a minute, Dar." Soda said. "And they took all my money but Darry gave me a dollar when I told him."
"That's cool." Steve said. "I know who to borrow from at school." Soda laughed.
"Let's go Sodapop." Darry said.
Soda sighed. "I gotta go, Steve. Darry wants us to go to bed."
"It's to early for bed."
"I know." Soda said glumly. "That's why I gotta reason with him. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"All-right, bye."
"Bye." He put down the phone. "Darry it's only eight."
"I don't care what time it is. You're going to bed." Darry said, walking out of his room.
"But it's to early." Soda whined.
"Soda, I let you stay up till midnight with Steve last night. I know you're tired. You've got school tomorrow and you're going to bed."
"But it's only eight o'clock. Bedtime is nine!"
"And mine's eight thirty!" Pony protested as well, sticking his head out of their bedroom where he had been forced to get pajamas on.
"Not tonight it isn't. Let's go Sodapop." Darry pointed down the hall.
"And I didn't stay up late last night. Just Soda." Pony said.
"You're both exhausted and you're both going to bed. Right now." Darry said sternly. Soda got up and sulked off to get ready for bed. Darry sighed, wishing he could go to bed but he had to many things to do. "All-right, you both ready?" Darry walked in several minutes later.
"Yes." Pony grumbled, crawling into bed.
"You brush your teeth?"
"Yes." Pony said again.
"Good, lay down. Soda put those away. You can look at them tomorrow." Darry said, speaking of the baseball cards that his brother treasured.
Soda reluctantly closed the box and set them on the bedside table. "I'm getting a black eye, Darry." He said as he got in bed.
"I know." Darry sighed, turning his brothers head so he could look at it. His right eye was badly bruised.
"It's ok. It looks kinda tuff." Soda said, laying down. Darry smiled at his brothers reasoning and brought the covers up around both boys. They all said their goodnights and Darry went back out to finish the chores.
************
"Darry." A little voice said. Darry, being a light sleeper was awakened. "Darry." The little voice said again." A bit louder.
He blinked and looked over to see who it was. "What is it Ponyboy?" He looked at the clock. "It's three in the morning." Darry rubbed his tired eyes.
"I have a tummy ache." Pony said, sounding pitiful.
Darry sighed and flipped the light on, squinting as his eyes adjusted. "What kind of Tummy ache?" He asked.
"I dunno." Pony said. "Just a tummy ache."
"Well you gotta tell me what kind so I know weather to give you Pepto Bismol or laxative." Darry said.
"What's laxative?"
"It's stuff you take when you can't go to the bathroom." Darry said, sleepily. Pony laughed, loudly. "Shhh. You'll wake up Soda. Now what kind of tummy ache is it? The kind you get when you have to throw up?" Pony nodded. "Ok." Darry got up and led his brother into the bathroom to the medicine cabinet and had him take some Pepto Bismol. "It'll make you feel better in a little while. Can you go back to sleep now?" He whispered.
Pony shook his head. "I still got a tummy ache." He said.
"All-right." Darry sighed, thinking for a minute. "C'mere." They walked out to the living room and Darry flipped on the TV searching for something that would appeal to his brother. Most of what was on was News though. He finally found a rerun of some kids show and left it at that. Pony was making himself comfortable on the couch. "Try and fall asleep, ok?"
"Yeah, but will you turn on the light? It's to dark in here."
"Yeah." Darry flipped the lamp on. "I'm going back to bed. Come get me if you need something, please try to go to sleep though."
"Wait, so laxative is stuff you take when you're incapable of pooping and peeing?"
"Incapable!? Golly, where did you learn that? I swear kid you never fail to amaze me."
"Are you gonna answer my question?"
Darry laughed. "Why do you care so much?"
"Cause it's funny." Pony giggled.
"You take laxative when you're incapable of pooping. OK? Now go to sleep." He picked up a blanket and put it over his brother before returning to his room. Honestly, the humor of a nine year old. Darry thought, shaking his head.