"Johnny! Pony!"
Dallas writhed and twisted on his bed, tossing back and forth, entangling himself in the sheets. He moaned and called out. His head jerked from side to side as sweat poured off of him. His eyes were darting back and forth under his eyelids. Crying out again, he would have fallen off the bed, if it were not for somebody's strong hands catching him.
"Dallas, Dallas, man wake up." The voice was accompanied by a hand shaking his shoulder.
He groaned again, fighting some invisible enemy, clawing with his hands.
"Dallas wake up." The voice was firm and the shaking grew more insistent.
Dal mumbled some more, the figure shook even harder, but finally Dallas was awake. Or at least he was not sleeping. He turned over and looked at the figure, his eyes glazed from sleep.
"Johnny?" he asked groggily.
Jason gave him a gentle shake. "No, man, this is Jason. Jason Mathews. Remember?"
"Jason?" Dal's eyes were clearing; he was finally awake.
"Yeah, it's me. Man, you must have been having some nightmare; I could hear you yelling in my room. If you had kept at it you would have woken up the whole house."
Dallas sat up slowly. Another nightmare. Johnny dying, and Pony... Pony sick maybe dying himself. Or was he dead already? No, the news would have said that. He's still alive. He forced himself to think that. He forced himself to. He couldn't bear the thought of both Johnny and Pony... He's not dead!
He curled his hands into fists, to help maintain control over his body. He wasn't going to shake again in front of Jason. "What time is it?" he asked, getting his thoughts away from the nightmares.
"It's three in the morning," Jason replied, stifling a yawn. He was about to say something else, when a creak drew both their attentions to the door.
Carly stood in the doorway, clutching her teddy bear. "What's going on?" she asked rubbing her eyes.
Jason answered her, "Nothing Carly, you go back to bed. Dallas just had a bad dream."
But Carly's eyes widened at his words, and she bounded over to Dallas. She jumped on the bed, right on Dallas's feet. Carly was unaware of this little fact, so Dal kicked his legs and moved her off of his feet. He rolled his eyes; this was definitely not the time for a little kid to be bugging him.
"You had another nightmare?" she asked excitedly. "Wow!" she spoke in awe. "That is so cool!"
"Carly," Jason said reproachfully, "nightmares aren't cool. They're scary things, and I don't want my sister to be thinking their fun."
Carly bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Jason." She appeared sad for a second or two, then an idea came to her, and her excitement bounced back. "Dallas, if you're really scared, I'll let you have Teddy." She held Teddy straight out, right in front of Dal's face.
"Get that thing out of my face," he snapped, his knuckles growing white as he fought to control his already uptight nerves.
Carly pushed the bear a little closer. "But you can-"
Dallas grabbed the bear and tossed it at the wall. "I don't want a bear. Now scram, kid," he said angrily.
Carly hopped off the bed and picked up her teddy. She cradled it in her arms, then turned back to Dallas. "You're sure you don't want him?"
In reply Dallas picked up his pillow and chucked it at her.
It hit her square in the chest. She fell back, but was up in an instant, giggling her head off. Picking up the pillow, she marched across the room and stopped right in front of Dal. She raised the pillow high, a huge grin across her face.
"Don't even try it, kid," Dal warned her.
Carly's smile just grew. She reared back, and then let the pillow fly.
It came down right on Dallas's face. Dal jerked at the sting. It only lasted a moment, but the sting made his temper flare even more. His jaw set, he picked up the pillow and got ready to wop her as hard a blow as he could.
"Hey, hey. That's enough." Jason grabbed the pillow from Dallas with one hand, and with the other he slung Carly over his shoulder. "Let's get you to bed, Carly," he said as he walked out of the room.
Dallas couldn't believe himself. He had lost it just because a little kid had offered him a teddy bear. He had to stop this. Every time he thought or dreamt about the gang, his control cracked. If that kept happening, sooner or later they would find out about him. And if they found out, he would have about three seconds before the cops were all over him.
Jason came back in and tossed the pillow at Dallas, who caught it and set it on the bed.
He commented with a slight smile, "You know you're awfully mean to Carly."
Dal stared unblinkingly at him; his mask back in place. "So?"
"So, I think you should stop," the smile disappeared. "I don't want you to hurt my sister."
Dallas cocked his head at the tone in Jason's voice. There was something there, he just couldn't figure out what. But, first things first, reassure his hosts, so they wouldn't boot him out the door. "Hey, man, I would never hurt a little kid."
"Never?" the question was laced with disbelief.
"Yeah, never." Dallas snapped.
Jason looked down at the floor then glanced a couple of times around the room. His poker face betrayed none of what he was thinking. Finally, he turned to Dallas. "So what do you call smacking a girl with a pillow so she falls over?"
Dal knew Jason had him, but he wouldn't admit it. He held out his hands palms upward in innocence. "Hey, she's the one that started it."
Jason slowly grinned, and he shook his head in amusement. "That is the most childish excuse I have ever heard. 'She's the one that started it.'" he mimicked. He walked to the door. "No more nightmares, okay? I got to get some sleep before baseball practice this morning."
Dallas heard the door close, and his hands unclenched slowly. He was angry at himself, angry for allowing his emotions to show and letting them take control. He was sick of these nightmares. They left him feeling too disturbed and agitated. Johnny's death had affected him so severely and if Pony died because of him also... he wouldn't be able to take it. He had to stop visiting the hospital in his dreams. He had to stop imagining Pony dying, pleading, Why Dallas? Why did you do this?
The dreams left him trembling and way too vulnerable. And he couldn't have that right now. He had to keep the dreams from coming. He had to or the family would find out. And the only way he knew to do that was not to sleep at all. He'd stayed up lots of nights before, especially back in New York dodging the police. The trick was to keep yourself occupied. Don't let yourself have a moment's respite. He started memorizing the features in the room as he waited for the day to start.
.........
"Hey, Dallas, why don't you handle the register now?" Lori asked as she closed the cash register. In the morning, they had finished some last-minute deliveries, and after lunch the two of them had started helping with customers. Unfortunately, Dallas wasn't what you would call the most helpful service man. And now Lori thought it was time for a change.
Dallas shrugged. "Fine." He'd rather be behind the counter anyway than helping those people. Those people with their fine clothes and their rolls of money who could afford to buy anything and everything in the store. Those people made him sick.
The chime sounded; the door opened. A woman with a little boy who looked less than thrilled to be here came in. Lori immediately sprang over to help them, leaving Dallas alone at the counter. That suited him just fine.
He hopped up on the counter and began thumbing through the newspaper, all the while intently listening to the radio. It was on again, and Dallas had tried his hardest to always be within hearing, and most preferably, flicking off distance. But nothing had been said about the fire in Windrixville, or Ponyboy's condition, or Dallas's robbery. And so far, nothing was in the newspaper. He was glad nothing had been said about the robbery, but a part of him had hoped to hear about Ponyboy's condition.
The chime sounded again and an old lady entered. He turned to look at Lori who was busy showing some items off to the lady while the boy chewed his gum, looking extremely bored. He made eye contact with her, and jerked his head at the old lady. Lori responded with a pointed glance at her two customers.
Dallas looked at the old lady. She looked like she could handle herself just fine. He went back to the newspaper.
"Uh, excuse me, young man, could you help me?" the old lady asked from where she was looking over some statues.
He looked over at Lori; she was still busy with the mother and kid. Dallas sighed, threw down his paper, hopped off the counter, and made his way over to the old lady. She was peering at some figurines. Dallas walked up to her.
"What do ya want?" he asked in a brusque voice.
The lady turned and smiled when she saw him. "I'm trying to decide which of these I should buy. It's for my grandson and I just can't figure it out." She held up two statues. One was in the shape of a pig in white porcelain, and the other was a seal in grey.
Dallas rolled his eyes at the thought of a boy wanting a figurine like that. But he had to be nice. "Uh, which one do you like best?"
"That's the trouble; I don't know. The pig is only ten dollars while the seal is twelve, but the seal is pretty-"
"Twelve dollars?" Dal questions incredulously. "For a rock?"
"It's not a rock," the lady responded, miffed. "It's a porcelain seal figurine that is very detailed."
"Oh, well, excuse me. Then of course it's worth it." Dal muttered sarcastically. That made him madder than anything. When a person could spend twelve dollars on a rock that was too much. Those rich socs.
"Yeah, I think I'll get the seal. What do you think?"
Dallas stared at the seal, his lip curled in disgust. She was spending twelve bucks for a statuette her grandson would hate. Darry would be spending twelve bucks to help keep his family provided for. Life was so unfair. "I think it looks like a load of-"
"Dallas." Lisa's sharp voice broke in before he could finish his sentence. "Why don't you go...go...well, just go. I'll help Mrs. Tyler."
Dallas was glad to be going. He walked on over to Lori, whose customers had left. She was shaking her head at him.
"What?" he asked angrily. He wasn't in a good mood.
"That's not how you make sales."
"She would have bought the thing anyway," he brushed the comment away.
Lori shrugged and lifted her hands in surrender. She went behind the counter and waited to ring Mrs. Tyler up. When Mrs. Tyler was taken care of, Lisa came over to stand beside Dallas. Her light brown eyes studied Dallas angrily.
"Dallas, don't you ever try to swear in this store, especially not in front of a customer. Is that understood?"
"Yeah."
"Excuse me?" Lisa raised her eyebrows.
He rolled his eyes. "I mean, yes ma'am.
"That's better." Lisa gave him a smile then got back to work.
The door opened again, and this time Jason and Carly entered. Carly ran over to Dallas. But a few feet away from him, she tripped and fell. Dallas instinctively reached out and caught her before she hit the ground.
"Whew! Thanks, Dal!" She smiled as she flicked the imaginary dust off her shoulders. As Dallas headed back to the counter and back to his newspaper, Carly stayed in step with him. "Hey, guess what, Dallas?"
"What?" he said as he went back to glancing through the newspaper.
"Katie gave me this." She held up a necklace with a gold heart on it. "It says best friends forever. Isn't that cool?" She waited for a reply, but Dallas wasn't listening to her.
"Isn't cool?" she asked again, holding it up higher. When he still didn't respond, she reached up and pulled the paper down, and dangled the necklace in front of his face. "Isn't it?"
Dallas pushed her hand away roughly. He placed the paper down flat, and leaned on the counter as he searched through the news.
Carly gave up on him and ran behind the counter to find Lori. After Lori's oohs and aahs she began begging.
"Please, Lori, let's go play hide-and-seek. Come on."
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I still have to work. Go get Jason to play with you."
Carly made a face. "He's no fun. He stinks at hide-and-seek. I want you."
As Lori started to reason with Carly again, Lisa spoke up. "Why don't you and Dallas go on? Store's open only a couple more hours and I can take care of any customers. You go on and play with Carly."
"Well, if you're sure, let's go!" Lori got her keys and her purse from behind the counter. Carly pulled on Dallas's arm as she waited for Lori, who had walked over to talk to her mom.
"Come on Dallas, you get to sit by me in the car. Then we can play hide-and-seek at home."
Dallas was getting sick and tired of being pulled on. Squatting down, he took hold of the girl's arms and gave her a shake. "Listen, kid, I do not want to play hide-and-seek with you. And I definitely don't want to sit next to you." He stood up and walked out the door to wait next to Lori's car.
Carly watched him leave. "But hide-and-seek's really fun," she called after him. Lori came up just then, and Carly quickly forgot about Dallas.
"Ready to go squirt?" At Carly's eager nod, Lori turned to Jason. "Where's Dallas?"
Jason paused for a moment. He had seen Dal's conversation with Carly. "He's gonna come home with me. We've got some things to do."
Lori shrugged. "All right."
The three of them walked out to join Dallas. Lori unlocked the car and opened her door. Jason went to the passenger door and held it out for Carly. Dallas moved to follow Carly, but Jason closed the door behind her. Lori drove out of the parking lot.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dallas asked angrily. Jason just turned and stared him down.
Finally Jason said, "You're coming with me. We're going shopping."
"Shopping?"
"Yeah, you're going to get Carly a present."
"I don't think so. I'm not getting that kid anything."
"Yeah, you are." Jason opened his car door and stood there, still staring at Dallas.
"Who's going to make me? You?" Dal gave a snort at the thought of Jason trying to fight him.
"Oh it's gonna be me. See," he reached in his back pocket, "if you don't come with me, you'll never get this back." He held up Two-Bit's knife.
Winston stared at the knife. He had to give Two-Bit his knife back. If there was one thing he could do to make up for all the pain he had caused the gang, it was giving back to Two-Bit his pride and joy.
He let out a breath. "Fine." He walked over and got in the car.
.....
"How's this?" Dallas asked impatiently. They had been shopping for almost an hour and he hadn't found anything that Jason would agree to. He held up a doll with long black hair and brown eyes that opened and closed, depending on which way you turned her.
Jason barely glanced at the doll before responding, "No."
Dallas rolled his eyes and put the doll down. They looked in the store some more, but they couldn't find anything.
Finally he thought he spotted something. He was in the animal aisle and he saw a stuffed dog. He picked it up. It was small, cuddling size, brown, and sure to make any little girl happy.
"How's this one? A stuffed dog to go with her teddy bear."
Jason took the dog, studied it, then nodded. Finally, Dallas thought. They went up front to pay for it.
"You have money? 'Cause you're buying it." Jason asked they got in line.
Dallas nodded. Funny, he had never thought about it. He had robbed a store and gotten away with a load of cash, and he hadn't even taken it on the train with him. Good thing he still had his wallet.
He paid for the dog and they walked out of the store, four boys coming behind them. They had parked on a side of the store, not in front where the big parking lot was. They walked silently for a minute or two, before Dal broke the silence.
"So, you going to give me my knife back?"
"No."
Dallas stopped walking; two boys brushed past him. "Hey, you said you would give me it back if I bought your sister a present, and I did that."
Jason shook his head. "No, I said that if you didn't I wouldn't give you your knife back. I'll give it back, just not now."
Dal ran a hand through his hair angrily. "You can't do that."
"I shouldn't even give it back to you." His voice had risen and now he brought it down. "The last time you had that knife you almost killed yourself with it. You're lucky I'm not throwing it away, or giving it to the police."
Dallas looked at him sharply. Jason was searching his pockets for his keys and hadn't looked up when he had talked about the police. If he were threatening me, he would be looking at me to see my reaction. He doesn't know. But still, better be careful.
He watched Jason for a little bit longer than he said, "So when are you-" he broke off as they turned the corner. The two boys who had passed them a minute ago were waiting for them, one leaning on the wall, the other on Jason's car.
"Well well well, what have we here?"
Dallas whirled around. Two others had come up behind them. The four boys, definitely the hood-type, had them surrounded. The one who had spoken took a step closer.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a couple of socs out for a shopping trip. Let's see what's in the bag." He walked over and held out his hand for the bag. Dallas gave it to him.
Taking out the dog, the hood laughed as he held it up. "It seems our little friends like to play with stuffed animals. Aah, ain't they cute?" He tossed it to his friend, both of them laughing.
As the hoods made fun of the dog, Dallas took advantage of their momentary distraction. He slowly reached over to Jason, who was standing right beside him, and pulled the switchblade out from his back pocket. Jason glanced at him, but quickly turned his attention back to the hoods. One of them was walking back with the dog.
Dallas turned his hand over so the gang wouldn't be able to see the knife. The hood with the dog walked over. Dal drew a sharp breath as he saw the figure approaching. His grip on the hidden knife relaxed somewhat.
The blonde-haired hood thrust the dog at Dallas. "Here, we don't need a stuffed animal. What do you do, sleep with it?" He gave a chuckle then turned to address Jason. He opened his mouth, probably to demand their wallets, when he stopped. He glanced back at Dally and his eyes studied him. Suddenly his eyes popped wide open and he gaped in shock.
"Dallas?"
Well, sorry it took so long. I didn't have as much time to work on this story as I thought I would have. So I literally scrambled this chapter together when I got back. And then had some server problems and I couldn't post it. Oh, well, hopefully even though this chapter was a little rushed, it turns out to be worth the wait.
Jessie13- Thanks for being the first person to review. You were the last one on last chapter and then you're the first one! Pretty cool. I don't know if the family will find out or not, but since I'm pretty sure they don't know too many criminals, they might not take the news so well. But you never know. I'm glad you like the last chapter, hopefully this one's okay. Thanks again!
CinderBrat- Thanks for all the compliments. Sometimes when I think about it, it seems strange that people would be reading my work. And even stranger that people actually like it! Okay, you are one of my best critiquers (if that' a word). And here was one of the things I had a question on. Did they have dolls that opened and closed their eyes in the sixties? If they didn't, it was just a doll that had eyes. =)
MissLKid- Yep, he's had some very painful days. And he'll have plenty more. Hope you like the chap!
Beth- Hey, don't worry about it! As long as you review, I don't care how long it is, I just happen to like long reviews. =) I'm glad you liked the dancing scene. The radio was unique?! Cool! Thanks for the compliment on the characters' personalities. And I did have fun on my vacation, thank you for asking.
Robot In Disguise- Very original name. Aaah, I bet you could compete. Hey, thank you so much for the information. It will really help the story out. It's given me lots of new ideas! I think I now owe several chapters to you. Thanks!
steves-girl- Are you kidding!?! Of course I love you! You read my story first! That is a BIG compliment. Sorry for the long wait, but hopefully you like it. And thank you!
HotSpot1988(Cici)- Yeah, you sort of wish Dallas would dance with her. It is a good song! The main reason I put it in there, well besides the fact that I just plain like it, is that it says in the book that the gang doesn't like Hank Williams! Can you believe that? Someone doesn't like Hey, Good Lookin'! Well, I think there are a ton of remakes to that song, so they probably both sang it! Ah-ah-ah, I'm not saying if Dal and Lori get together. Ya just never know with these things... =)
Tensleep- Well thank you. I thought Dallas would just turn it off. He's more of a just get it done person, no falderal or showiness. Just flip that switch. I had fun on the trip, but I didn't have that much time to write, so in a way I did sort of forget about you fans. But when I got home I went straight to work, so I remembered you in time! Thanks for all your kind words. They mean a lot!!!
ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- Interesting name. Very unusual. Well you got more, hope you like it. I'm delighted you think it's amazing.
blackshe-wolf- Okay, okay, okay, here's another chapter. =] I'm so happy you like the story, and I'll try my best to update as quickly as I can for the next chapters (though they're all still in my head, I need to write them down.) You have a cute name! I had several reviewers with interesting names this time.
Oh, here's a heads up. After this chapter and maybe the next, my days will be getting a lot more hectic. So, updates might not come as quickly. I'll try my hardest to write and post them as fast as I can, but I make no guarantees. Just thought you'd like to know, so you don't chew me out if I happened to take a while. But I will try hard to go quickly, so there shouldn't be a problem.
Okay, now time to review people! Be it good, bad, or ugly I want your reviews. I love them and I love the people who write them. Except maybe for the ugly ones, but thank goodness to say, I haven't had an ugly one yet. So review people! And have a great day!