Throwing Feathers at the Wind

Soda's eyes flew open and he held his breath, both hoping and fearing that it would be who he thought it was. Oh God, please. I can't let my heart get broken anymore, he thought. He took a deep breath and raised himself off the car. He found himself staring into those perfect china-blue eyes he had fallen in love with so long ago. "Sandy," he whispered softly, stepping forward. Sandy, beautiful, sweet, warm, perfect Sandy. Sandy, the love of his life. Sandy, who left because she was pregnant. Suddenly he was aware of the little boy standing next to Sandy, clutching her hand. Startled, he took a step backwards and fell onto the hood of the car. The boy started giggling. This boy with Sandy, that had to be her son. But how was that possible? Sandy said it was another boy's baby, not his. So how could this boy gripping Sandy's hand so tightly look like an identical, half-sized version of himself?

As he stood there, staring at the little boy, the boy broke free from his captivity and ran towards Soda, yelling "Hey-what-have-you-been-doing-all-day!" in one rushed breath. Before he knew it, the kid was hugging him tightly around the waist. Wait a minute. The kid ain't tall enough to be around my waist, Soda thought. Soda looked down; the kid had wrapped his legs around Soda's knee. Dumbfounded, Soda looked back at Sandy. She was trying to hide her grin behind her hand, but was failing.

"This is our son, Aaron."

Soda's eyes widened. "Woah, woah, woah! What do you mean, 'ours'? You told me you were pregnant by someone else!"

Sandy bit her lip nervously. She hated confrontation. She knew Soda wasn't angry, just scared; she hated that just as much. "I never got tested, Soda. I just guessed from when I thought it happened. It happened a lot sooner than I had thought. Even after Aaron was born, I wasn't sure. But when he started looking more and more like you every day, it sorta became obvious. Soda, I'm so sorry for cheating on you. I hated myself for it, and I let my parents move me to Florida. Oh, Soda, don't hate me for running away from you. Don't hate me, I'm still in love with you!" Sandy blurted out.

Soda looked at her softly, with concern in his eyes. Aaron dropped from Soda and started dancing to the music blaring from the store radio. It was obviously his own dance. He stood with legs shoulder-width apart, half- crouched with his rear sticking out. He shook his bottom from side-to-side while punching the air with each fist, head tossing from shoulder to shoulder, shrieking from the pure joy he got from his dance. Sandy laughed and her face glowed as she watched Aaron. Slowly she turned back to Soda.

"I took several pictures of you to Florida with me. I always wanted Aaron to think of you as his daddy, even if you really weren't. But you are. There is no way that someone could look that similar to you and not be related." She studied the ground for a moment before continuing. "My family doesn't even know I'm...we're...in Tulsa right now. I've been saving up for a long time to come back. The money you mailed me helped so much."

So she did receive that letter. "Why didn't you write back?" Soda asked softly.

Sandy's hair swished back and forth as she quietly shook her head. "I couldn't, Soda. I wasn't sure if I would even be able to save up enough for the plane tickets. I couldn't get your hopes up when I wasn't sure myself. It would have been too risky, anyways. They didn't want me writing to you, and I know they stole away letters you sent me, before I could read them."

Soda's eyes teared up, remembered all the returned mail. "I thought you hated me."

"Oh, honey, never," Sandy gently assured him, grasping his hand. "I had to wait for the right time to come. When I was pregnant, I had no money. When he was just born, he was too little for traveling. A little older than that and I would have had to carry him everywhere. Now is the soonest I could come." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I guess you could say it's like throwing feathers at the wind. They come right back to you again. So why not give it one more try?" Sandy looked hopefully towards Aaron, then back to Soda.

Soda just grinned at her. It was his birthday, Sandy had come back to him, and he had a son! "C'mon, Sand-dollar, let's get home." He ran inside to let the other guy on his shift know that he was going home. "C'mon Aaron!" He whooped. He lifted the boy up to sit on his shoulders, noting how light Aaron was.

At the Curtis house, Steve and Two-Bit were standing outside on the porch, smoking and laughing about their antics at the Nightly Double. Two-Bit saw three figures down the street emerge from the shadows. His mouth dropped open and his cigarette nearly fell out. "Sweet mother of Moses, look who's with Soda!" he shouted.

By the time Soda, Sandy, and Aaron reached the house, four grown men were standing on the front porch, arms tightly folded across their chests. All were the same as she remembered. Steve stood there scowling at Sandy, no doubt thinking about when she left Soda. She could see tears forming in Two-Bit's eyes, not from sorrow or joy, but from the pain of biting his tongue to keep from grinning. Steve had probably threatened to hide all his booze, or something. For the first time, Sandy saw Darry and Pony looking exactly alike. Pony had grown to Soda's height with a slightly leaner build, toned from years of track. He and Darry stood next to each other, both heads cocked to the right. None of them moved an inch.

Finally, Darry spoke up. "Welcome back, Sandy."

Two-Bit couldn't hold himself back any longer. A giant grin spread across his face. Steve shot him a death glare, to which Two-Bit hissed in reply, "I can get more, anyways." Sandy giggled quietly - she had been right about the booze. Pony just quickly glanced at Darry. He looked to Sandy like a soldier awaiting orders. Aaron ran up and patted Pony's leg. "Hey-what-have-you-been-doing-all-day?" Pony grinned at him and nudged Darry in the ribs. "Hey, Darry, check out half-pint!"

Darry just shook his head and looked at Sodapop. "I thought you said it wasn't yours," he demanded.

"That's what she told me," replied Soda, moving his thumb towards Sandy.

"Well, see, I had thought..." Sandy began.

Darry started waving his hands. "No, no, no. Don't tell me now. It's too late; I am too tired for long stories, and I'm guessing this one would be a doozy." He led everyone inside and plopped down in the easy chair. He rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes. "Ok, since you've got luggage with you, I'm assuming you just got here. Since you are here with your luggage, I'm assuming your parents don't know you're here. Since you are here this late with your luggage, I'm assuming you don't plan to tell them tonight, if at all. Was I right on any of that?" Darry finished wearily. Sandy nodded, awestruck. She had forgotten how smart Darry was. "I think I can also guess what you're gonna ask, so ok, fine, whatever. Stay the night, and we'll figure everything out tomorrow."

[a/n] Is the length better?