Darrel walked out of his room, still rubbing his hair with a towel. Making his way to the kitchen he got out the cake and eggs. He was just fixing breakfast when the phone rang.
He wiped his hands on his jeans. "Hello?" he said as he picked it up.
"Hello. Is this Mr. Darrel Winston?"
Perplexed, Darry said, "Excuse me? Who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for a Mr. Darrel Winston. Is this the right number?"
Darrel Winston? What kind of a prank call is this? Darry was about to tell the prankster off when it suddenly hit him.
Dallas! He automatically deepened his voice. "This is Mr. Winston. Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'm calling about your son, Dallas." Darry held his breath as the man continued, "He showed up at our house a couple of days ago hurt. He's doing fine, don't worry. He has some broken ribs and a couple of other injuries, but he should recover fully."
Darry blew out his breath. "Oh, good. But you're sure he is going to be fine?"
"Oh, yes, quite sure. He's already itching to go, but he does need to wait a couple of weeks until I'm sure he's recovered."
"Where did you say you lived, sir?"
There was a slight hesitation at the other end. "Ah, well, Dallas doesn't want me to tell you where he is. He didn't seem too happy that I was calling you. In fact, I had to haggle with him until he finally gave me your number."
That's Dally for you. Darry smiled. "Well, thank you, sir. I know you'll take good care of him. Will you keep me updated on how he's doing? You said it'll only be for a couple of weeks, but I really would like to know."
"Oh, yes. Of course I'll do that for you."
"Could you tell him something for me?" After the man's confirmation he continued, "Tell him that his 'dad' misses him. And that he has friends that love him and that need him to come back."
"I'll do that. Don't worry. He's going to be fine."
Darrel said the necessary pleasantries before his goodbye, but afterwards he just stood there holding the phone. He finally remembered to hang up, and slowly walked back to the kitchen. Dallas, alive? he thought dazedly.
Soda came in, got a knife and cut himself a big slice of cake. He automatically began defending himself from Darry. "I've got a big day ahead of me, I need lots of nutrition." He stopped suddenly, looking at his brother concernedly. "Are you all right?"
Darry didn't move for a second. Soda put a hand out to check his temperature when Darry suddenly looked up and raised his fists in the air.
"Wahoo!"
.................
"I win!"
Carly and Dallas were in the living room. Lisa and Brian had come in earlier that morning and half-dragged Dallas out of the bedroom. They had put him on the couch and left him with Carly.
He had tried ignoring her at first, but she just got noisier and noisier until he had to pay attention to her to get some quiet. Just now they were playing checkers, which was better than listening to Carly going on about her birthday. But she had just beaten him for the fifth time that day.
"I'll get you this next game," Dal warned her. He usually hated checkers, and he definitely hated playing it with little kids, but his competitive spirit was out. No one was going to beat him. It was like the rodeo days. No one was going to beat him in the rodeo, and no one was going to beat him in checkers.
They set the next game up, and Dallas made the first move. She countered, and they were soon lost in the game.
"Hey, we're home!" A voice called from the front door.
"It's Lori, it's Lori!" Carly jumped up and in her excitement hit the board causing all the pieces to fly across the room.
Dal threw up his hands in exasperation. "Yeah, do that when I'm winning."
Carly ran to the door and threw herself into the wide-open arms of her sister. "Hey squirt," Lori greeted Carly.
The little girl looked up at her sister. "Did you bring me anything?"
Lori laughed and shook her head. "You'll have to wait until it's actually your birthday to find out."
"Aww, come on Lori," Carly wheedled.
"Nope," she said, ruffling her sister's hair as she passed. She hugged her mother, who had come out of the study.
"Where's Dad?" she asked.
Lisa wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Oh, he's got some more work at the hospital. He'll be home this afternoon, though."
Jason walked into the living room and dropped the suitcases he was carrying. He gave a strange look at Dallas, who had stretched himself out on the sofa.
When the girl trio walked in, Jason stepped forward to introduce Lori. "Dallas, this is my sister, Lori. Lori, this is our guest Dallas Winston."
Lori extended her hand and smiled. "How do you do, Dallas?"
Dal tilted his head to one side, and stared at her for a second. He then gave a curt nod and turned away.
Lori's smile faltered for an instant but reappeared a second later. She put down her hand and said brightly, "Well, I need to get this luggage into my room. Carly come on and help me."
Carly ran and picked up a suitcase and dragged it across the floor. Lisa and Lori picked up the rest of the stuff and followed Carly.
Jason began to go after the girls but paused. He glared over at Dallas, leaned over the couch and hissed, "Can't you even try to be nice? Or is that too hard for you?" He whirled around and followed the girls out, leaving Dallas alone in the room.
Dal didn't move for a second, staring straight ahead, his eyes burning in anger. After a while he bent down and picked up the rest of the checkers and began to put them in their proper places. He picked up a red checker, scowled at it, then threw it across the room hitting the wall.
He was mad at everything today. He got up from the couch and left to go to his room.
"Oh, no Dallas Winston," Lisa said from the hallway. She grabbed his arm and turned him around. "You are going to play with my kids today. I won't have you going back in that room all by yourself."
Dal rounded on her, his face full of indignation. "Excuse me, woman, who do you think you're ordering around?"
Jason, Lori, and Carly had followed behind their mother. Now they came and sat on the floor, not wanting to miss the showdown between their mother and Dallas.
Lisa took a step away from Dallas, but still smiled. "I'm going to the store. I took the day off because Lori was home, but I'll feel better if I know things are running smoothly. But I should have asked instead of ordering you. So Dallas, would you please play with my kids until I get back?"
"No," Dal snorted.
Carly let slip a giggle. Lisa glared daggers at her.
She scratched her forehead in thought, then stepped close to Dallas. Her head was only a few inches away, and she whispered to him, "Okay, Dallas, I need you. See, Jason isn't that great of a babysitter, Lori just got back, and I'm afraid she'll probably allow Carly to do whatever she wants because she missed her so much."
When Dal remained silent she pressed on. "Okay, Dallas? Will you do this for me? And I promise you can have some time to yourself later today. All right?"
Dallas heaved a resentful sigh and said reluctantly, "Fine."
"Good." Lisa smiled and turned to her kids. "You three be nice. I don't want Dallas to give me a bad report."
She went and got her purse, then came back to talk to Dallas again. "Now I know my kids can be handfuls," here Carly stuck out her tongue, "but please do your best to entertain them so they won't get out of line." She smiled, and walked out of the house.
Dallas looked at the three. "So I'm going to be your entertainment, huh?"
Lori smiled and got out a deck of cards. "We're going to be each other's entertainment. Okay, what do you want to play?" she asked as she shuffled the deck.
"Go fish," Carly quickly supplied.
"Dallas?" Lori threw the question at him.
"I'm not gonna play."
"Come on, Winston. It's cards." Jason said impatiently.
Dal shifted his glare over to Jason. Jason stared right back. Lori looked between the two boys uneasily. Then she brightened and cheerfully began dealing the cards, leaving Dallas out.
"All right, Dallas. You can watch us play then. That way we'll sort of be your entertainment."
"Fine by me," he replied.
Jason stared at him for a second longer, then nodded. He picked up his cards and the trio began the game.
Dal leaned back against the couch. He was soon forgotten by the players as they lost themselves in the game. As they played they teased each other, almost like the gang. The gang had played cards with each other, and there had never been a day when they hadn't teased each other over something. Aw, man do I miss them.
He inhaled sharply. Had he just thought that? He, Dallas Winston, had actually admitted to missing somebody? Not possible! But he had, and it was true. He missed the gang so much there was a pain in his chest. This was bad. He had already refused to consider them friends, and now he found out he was missing them, like they were all he had in the world. But wait, they were. He couldn't deny that. Even when Johnny was alive, he had been a part of the gang. The gang had become his family. As close of a family as the family sitting right before him.
What was the gang doing now? They had to be devastated at Johnny's death, and he wasn't helping ease their worries any. Well, he had tricked Brian into calling Darry instead of his old man. That way at least they knew he was alive. I hope whoever answered the phone understood what I was doing. But the gang was smart; they could figure it out.
A cry from the table drew his attention back to the card game. He viewed them silently for a few minutes. This family had taken him in. Given him an unknowing haven until he got well. And then after he was healed and Brian allowed him to leave, Dal finally figured out what he was going to do. He was going back to the gang. Back to his family. A small smile tugged at the corners of Dally's mouth.
"Ya got an ace?" Jason asked slyly. When Carly reluctantly gave it to him, he laughed gleefully.
Dal watched them as they played the game. It sparked memories. He remembered a time when he had gone over to the Curtis house after getting out of jail. The whole gang had been there, some watching TV and others playing poker.
When he came in, Steve had looked up from his game and said slyly, "You took your sweet time getting here. The fuzz let you out ages ago. How many people d'ya jump on the way over?" Dal had responded with a remark of his own, and so the teasing began. The banter flew across the room, and even Johnny had joined in. But in the end, Dal had gotten back at Steve by joining in the poker game, and winning almost three quarters of Steve's money away from him.
But the money wasn't what had made the memory stick out. It was that Johnny had joined in. He had laughed at the banter and had added some comments of his own. It was those comments that had made the gang keep going on with the teasing. Johnny laughed very rarely and when it did happen, they wanted to make it last as long as possible. Dallas had to remember to get something for Johnny before-
Dal caught himself before the thought went any farther. Johnny's dead, he berated himself. Stop thinking like he's going to be there when you turn around. He isn't! He isn't! Dallas angrily choked back a sob. It went unnoticed by the three players.
No, Johnny wouldn't be there when he turned around, tagging after him like he used to. He wouldn't be there when Dal got back to the gang. If Johnny wasn't there, what was the point of going back to the gang? He couldn't remember his reasoning from just a few minutes before. Why would he want to go back when Johnny wasn't there? Why did he even want to keep on living? He missed Johnny so much!
The front door opened, and Lisa came through. "Hi, sorry I took so long. It seems they can't do very much while I'm gone." She went into the study.
Dallas instinctively shook himself out of his thoughts. He couldn't think about this right now. He had to keep up his charade with this family or they would find out about him. Right now wasn't the time to think about Johnny or the gang. He made a tremendous effort and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind.
Lori gathered up the cards. "Well, that's it for me. I need to unpack. Wanna help me, squirt?" After Carly's eager nod, the two girls got up and went into Lori's bedroom.
Jason was about to get up too, when he saw Dallas's expression. His face had a serious look about it and he was biting one of his lips.
"What's wrong with you?" Jace asked lightly; he seemed to have gotten over his earlier anger at Dallas.
Quickly the mask was back in place. "Nuthin," Dal said scornfully. He got up and walked towards his room again. And again, Lisa ran into him. She seemed nervous, and she whirled past him and dashed into the kitchen.
"Mom sure seems in a hurry," Jason remarked as he walked down the hall to Lori's room.
Dal didn't reply. He just stared quizzically in Lisa's direction. Instincts were telling him something was wrong. As he stood there, he heard Lisa speaking on the phone to somebody. He inched closer to the kitchen, glancing behind him to make sure no one was around. Lisa's voice came again.
"You have to come as soon as you can. I believe it's an emergency." A pause, and then, "All right, thanks."
He heard the click of the phone and Lisa's footsteps, but he was already moving to his room. He quickly entered and closed the door. Leaning against it, his thoughts raced. The cops. She had to have been calling the cops. What else could the emergency have been? She thought her family was in danger because an escaped criminal was under her roof.
What was he going to do? He had to get away. But he didn't even know where he was. Where would he go if he ran? No, he couldn't run. Here was the chance he had been waiting for. He reached into his back pocket.
Well, he wouldn't get to see the gang again. That was his only real regret. His life hadn't been that great anyway. The world would probably be better off, he thought. Yes, he knew it would be. A shadow of a smile crossed his face as he pulled the switchblade out.
Minutes passed, and still he stood holding the handle of the blade. What was the matter? Just a couple of days ago he had been yearning for this chance. He had tried to get the cops to shoot him, he had tried jumping off the train, and now here was his chance. Come on! Johnny's dead, there's no reason for you to stay alive!
The doorbell rang. "They're here," Jason's voice yelled. Voices were heard outside the door. Footsteps sounded across the floor and stopped in front of Dallas's door.
This was it. Dallas steeled himself for what was coming. There was no way he was going to jail. He had known that from the start. Jail he loathed, and he wasn't going back. He missed the gang, and he wanted so much to see them again, but he wasn't going to jail. Maybe if Johnny had been alive, things would've been different. Maybe he would have stuck it out, but Johnny was gone. There was nothing holding him back now.
He walked a few feet then wheeled to face the door. The knob turned; the door opened. Dallas flicked out his blade...
That's it for this chapter, folks. Next chapter will be a little longer in coming. A family emergence has popped up, and it looks like I'll be gone from Wednesday to Saturday. I'll work on the next chap while I'm gone, though. And if you review, when I get back I might hurry to finish it up and post it. There's blackmail for you.
steves-girl- The first person to review, I'm so happy! I'm glad you like it and that you take the time to review, so I know people are actually reading this.
CinderBrat- Thank you! You might think it's weird about Mickey Mouse, but Dallas is confused and upset right now. Anything that reminds him too much of the gang or Johnny freaks him out. He's in too much pain to handle his emotions. And about Jason, well, you'll have to wait and see. Thanks again for the review!
Tensleep- Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. You make my day with your reviews! Yes, I love the dally-hates-all-little-kids trait too. And I'm glad that you think I did a good job with Dallas and his feelings. By the way, what is 'see ya in the funny papers'? Is it your motto, or just a favorite saying of yours? I like it though, it's cool. Thank you so much for your kind words! They mean so much!
And I need to give Scarlett7 a big huge thank you. This chapter wouldn't have come about if she hadn't been there. She really helped me to fix it and gave me really helpful advice. I'm still not completely satisfied with the chap, but it's better than it was before Scarlett7 saw it! So thank you, Scarlett7!
All right, people, I need your reviews! I love hearing from y'all!