"She's very fat isn't she," Steve said to Soda as they lugged Margaret the rabbit home from school in her cage. "Weighs a ton she does."

"I think it's because Leon Kennings keeps feeding her bits of his eraser," Soda replied, stepping carefully down a curb.

"You sure Darry's gonna be ok with this?" Steve asked.

"Of course he will," Soda said confidently.

"No Way!" Darry said as Steve and Soda heaved the cage through the front door

"But Darry," Soda whined, suddenly dropping his part of the cage, leaving Steve to put it down somewhere. "You said I could bring home my science project, so I did!"

"Wow! That better than a science project, that's a rabbit!" Pony cried excitedly, rushing over to say hello. He didn't even get within three feet before he began to sneeze.

"What's up with you?" Steve asked, looking at Pony irritably.

"He's allergic, that's what's up with him," Darry snapped, grabbing Pony and holding his hands behind his back. "Don't touch it, your eyes will swell up."

"But I wanna...Achew!"

"Soda get it outta here now! Pony, go to your room and stay there 'til I get back, I'm going down the store to get you some medicine."

"This is all your fault," Soda snapped at Ponyboy as soon as Darry'd left. Pony looked hurt.

"It's not my fault she makes me sneeze. I like Margaret, she..." He was interrupted by Steve.

"Hey I gotta go," he glanced nervously at the clock in the kitchen. "I said I'd help my old man with mending the roof, I'm already late."

"Ok see ya Steve. If you call round here tomorrow, you can help me carry Margaret somewhere, thanks to SOMEBODY."

"Yeah ok, bye." Soda and Pony heard the front door slam. Soda immediately rounded on Ponyboy. Pony didn't like the look in his eyes, he'd seen it enough times before.

"I'm not gonna miss out on my chance to look after Margaret just because she makes you have a runny nose. That's your problem. I'm gonna hide Margaret under our bed, Ok. If you breathe one word of it to Darry I won't speak to you ever again, got it?" Pony nodded his head, dumbfounded. It was all very confusing to him. If he went along with Soda, Darry would be mad at him; if he didn't, Soda would never talk to him again. And he certainly didn't want that. "Ok then, help me with her cage."

After 10 minutes of heaving and cussing and Pony sneezing they finally got the cage into their room.

"Don't you think it's a bit dark under their?" Pony asked as Soda began to manoeuvre the cage under their bed. "And dusty and smelly. She might not like it."

"She don't got much choice," Soda replied, wiping a hand across his sweaty brow. "Now go round there and tell me if you can see her cage. And stop sniffing, that'll be the first thing Darry notices."

"You can't see it," Pony informed him, wiping his nose.

"Good," Soda said, thinking about what they were going to do next. "Right you go wait in the living room 'til Darry gets back, I'll stay in here with Margaret and if he asks you where I am, say I've taken her back to school ok?"

"Ok," Pony said quietly. He wasn't happy about this, if they got caught...

Darry returned about five minutes later.

"What are you doing out here Pony? I thought I told you to stay in your bedroom?"

"Er...you did but er...since Soda's tooken the rabbit back, I thought it was er... alright to come out."

"Oh ok then," Darry seemed satisfied by this, Pony breathed a sigh of relief. "And it taken."

"Huh?"

"Taken not tooken."

"Oh alright," Darry was correcting his grammar, things looked ok.

"How long ago did Soda leave? I'm not happy about him leaving you on your own, I'll have to have a talk to him about that later." Soda felt his heart jump into his mouth from where he was listening behind their bedroom door.

"Oh not long," Pony said quickly, really getting into his role now. "Only a few minutes before you come home."

"Really? I didn't see him" Soda clutched Margaret tightly.

"Um...I think he was gonna call for Steve, to help him carry the cage and that."

"Oh yeah, that figures." Soda felt himself relax, how he loved his little brother!

Later that night, Pony couldn't sleep. Apart from the fact he felt guilty about the whole thing, his eyes had begun to itch like crazy. "Pony, leave your eyes alone!" Soda snapped, fed up with Pony's constant fidgeting.

"It's your fault," Pony hissed back, just as angry with Soda as he was with him. "Why did you have to hold her in bed, her hairs are everywhere. My eyes hurt real bad, and I can hear he moving around. Why won't she go to sleep!?"

"Why won't you go to sleep?!" Soda countered. Pony huffed and turned over angrily so he had his back to Soda. Soda was left staring at the ceiling, wondering weather this was really all worth it.

The next morning Pony was up before Soda. He wondered into the kitchen in search of some breakfast. As usual Darry was by the cooking, he looked up as Pony walked in.

"Mornin' kiddo you ready for some....Ponyboy, what the Hell's happened to your eyes?!"

"Huh?" Pony asked confused, they didn't fell any different, a bit itchy perhaps but no different from last night.

"Bathroom, right now," Darry ordered, grabbing Pony's hand as he passed and dragging him along with him. Once there he immediately turned on the taps by the washbasin and began to wet a flannel.

Pony perched on the side of the basin, gripping onto Darry tightly and staring horrified into the bathroom mirror.

"Darry, Darry look at my eyes! They're all red and fat and squishy, Ewwww!!!" Pony began to frantically rub his eyes.

"I told you don't touch them!" Darry snapped, smacking his hands away. He'd guessed what had happened with the rabbit and feeling extremely angry with both boys. "Come here."

He yanked Pony's face round to face him and gently began to clean his eyes with the flannel.

"Owww...." Pony whined, gripping tightly to Darry arm and beginning to cry. "It hurts Darry."

"I know baby but it's the only thing that gonna make them better. I'll give you some more medicine in a bit. But I did warn you didn't I, I said this would happen if you touched that rabbit."

"What rabbit?" Pony asked innocently.

"Yeah, nice try kiddo, but don't you 'what rabbit' me. Now are you gonna tell me where it is or am I gonna have to make you?"

"I can't," Pony sniffed, even though Darry's threat made him nervous, he was more worried by Soda's. "If I tell you, Soda will never talk to me gain, he said."

"Did he now? Well I think I can sort that problem out for you. How about you tell me where you two have hidden that rabbit, and I'll make sure Soda talks to alright?"

"Ok," Pony said flatly, he didn't really feel he had much choice in the matter. "It's under our bed."

"Under your bed," Darry repeated and Pony nodded. "Have you held it?"

"No, just stroked her, but Soda has. He got rabbit hairs all over our bed."

"That explains your eyes then. They must've been really itchy, why didn't you come tell me?"

"Because I thought you'd be cross 'cos we didn't do what you said. Am I in trouble now?" Pony asked cautiously, looking down at the floor.

"No I don't think so. Those red eyes are enough punishment I think, you've learnt your lesson. When I say you can't do something, I say it for a reason. I'm not just trying to ruin your fun or make your lives miserable, I'm doing it because it needs to be done understand?"

Pony nodded his head. "Sorry," he whispered, putting his arm round Darry's neck. He didn't particularly like getting told off by Darry, but it could've been worse. Anyway, now the guilt was gone.

"That's alright baby," Darry said, hugging Pony to him and gentle rubbing his back. Suddenly Pony sneezed. "Come on, lets go give you some medicine, and I've got to talk to your brother."

"Is he in trouble?" Pony asked as Darry lifted him off the sink and carried him through to the kitchen.

"Yes." Darry answered curtly, not wanting to think about Soda yet. He sat Pony down at the table with a piece of chocolate cake and instructions to keep wiping his eye with the flannel. Darry went off to retrieve the rabbit.

He crept into his brothers' room, carefully so as not to wake Soda. It only took a minute before he had the rabbit cage in his hands, they hadn't pushed it under very deep, just far enough to keep it from sticking out. As he came back out, Pony turned round.

"Hello Margaret," he whispered, smiling happily. "Did you like it under our bed? I wouldn't, I told Soda..." Pony looked like he was going to get up and come over.

"Don't even think about it kid, you stay right where you are," Darry interrupted, fixing Pony with one of his stares. Pony tutted in annoyance but sat down all the same. Darry sighed, Pony seemed to have got at least half his piece of chocolate cake round his mouth. Either way he was looking better. Darry saw him reach for another slice. "Pony, no. You know the rule."

Pony rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Darry's back as he carried Margaret's cage into his room. He checked no one was watching, then stuck his finger right into the sticky icing covering the top of the cake. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Soda tapped his shoulder.

"Where's Darry?" Soda asked, yawning. "God Pony your eyes look awfuk!" Pony had just opened his mouth to reply when they heard Darry shout.

"Soda is that you?"

"Yep."

"Then get back into your room right this minute. Me and you are gonna have a little chat."

Soda looked questioningly at Pony who'd suddenly become very interested in licking chocolate cake off his fingers.

"Come on, today please," Darry ushered Soda back into their room and shut the door behind them, giving Pony a hard look as he did so, daring him to move an inch. "How dare you, Sodapop Curtis. How dare you! I told you to get rid of that rabbit and you disobeyed me. You know what I should do don't you."

"Don't Darry, please I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it, It's just Ponyboy..."

"Don't give me that, you did mean to do it. And don't you even think about blaming this on your brother. You've done enough to him already. I presume you've seen his eyes, that was your fault Soda. It's..."

"It's not my fault he's allergic!"

"No but it's your fault for keeping that thing in here. And you got him to lie for you by blackmailing him. Do you know what that means?" Soda nodded his head sadly. "Then you knew what you were doing was wrong. I'm really disappointed in you Sodapop, I thought I could trust you. If you act like a little kid I'll treat you like one. Your grounded for three weeks, school and here, that's it. One hour of Tv a night, the rest of the time you'll spend in here you understand me? Your bedtime is now 7:30."

"Sorry Darry," Soda muttered, hanging his head. "I'll never do it again."

"You'd better not. Now come and have some breakfast and apologise to your brother, he's worried your not going to speak to him. Next time you disobey me, I won't be so nice ok, so just watch yourself. The rabbit's going to stay at Two-bit's for the rest of the week and I'm going to phone your teacher to tell her never to give you Margaret to look after again. Now come on."

Soda trooped back into the kitchen and apologised to Pony who really wouldn't have cared what Soda said as long as Soda was talking to him. Darry cleaned the chocolate off his face and hands then gave him another two spoonfuls of medicine and by lunch time Pony was looking and feeling a lot better. Darry made Soda vacuum the whole house to get rid of any lingering rabbit hairs while he and Pony remade his and Soda's bed. By that evening, things were pretty much back to normal apart from the fact that it was only Pony and Darry watching telly.