Family bond
Chapter two
I moved to the living room window to see if the police officers were there to break up the snowball fight, or to arrest Dally for some new crime he had committed.
I watched as the officers turned off their lights and exited their car. By this time the guys had gathered on the sidewalk in front of our house and were trying to decide which one of them was in trouble. Surprisingly the officers walked up to Darry. The tallest officer pointed toward our house, Darry shook his head yes and the three of them headed through our front gate and up the steps. The rest of the guys slowly followed behind them still looking at each other to decide who the cops were there to speak with, or haul away.
I was still standing by the couch when Darry led the officers into the living room. The taller of the two, Officer Rosen, looked over to me and I noticed something in his eyes that sent a chill up my spine. I stood frozen in front of the couch as the other six boys filed in. Johnny and Ponyboy retreated to the back of the living room by the fireplace, Two-Bit and Steve went to lean on the dining room table, Soda stood between me and the cops and Dally shut the door, and stayed there.
"Do all you boys live here?" The shorter cop, Officer Simmons, questioned pointing his finger at everyone in the room.
"No," Darry answered for them and pointed. "Just my two brothers and my little sister."
Officer Rosen drew a heavy breath. "Maybe ya'll who don't live here should get on home for the night."
No one moved. They were a gang and they considered themselves family too.
The officer looked back to Darry to see if he could get them to disperse. Darry didn't pick up on the cue he kind of puffed out his chest and asked, "what is this about?"
The tall officer again took a heavy sigh, by now my stomach had grown queasy and I had a horrible feeling I would not like the next words out of his mouth. I stepped toward Soda and grabbed his hand.
Sodapop turned his head to look at me. At first his glare was cocky and tough, but as he read my now white face he too had a panicked feeling inside. Soda put his arm around me and whispered. "Don't worry Scout."
"Maybe ya'll better have a seat." The second officer suggested.
My brother Darrel was growing tired with the stalling, and he wasn't planning on sitting unless he really needed to. "What is it officer."
"Are your parents Darrel and Margaret Curtis?"
The sound of their names made my breathing stop and I began to gasp for air. Across the room Ponyboy began shift nervously with his hands shoved in his pocket. Soda squeezed me tighter with his left arm and leaned toward the policeman as if he couldn't hear him well enough.
In front of the cops Darry still stood like a rock. "Yes."
"I am sorry to have to bring you this news..."
Ponyboy let out a small hoarse noise from his throat, "No..."
I fell to my knees leaving Soda to just stand there in suspense waiting for the next words.
"Your parents were in an auto wreck an hour ago, I'm sorry, but they were killed on impact."
Ponyboy shook his head and repeated the word "No". I continued to gasp for air as grief filled my body. Sodapop fell into the couch and began to sob. Darry silently took a seat in dad's armchair, just as the policeman had suggested he do.
Soda looked back up toward the officers and asked between sobs, "are you sure, you can't be right...are you sure."
Sadly Officer Rosen, who held his hat in his hand, said. "Yes son, we are sure."
Our other "brothers" were stricken by the news as well. Dally had fallen to a seated position on the arm of the couch and was staring at the cops in disbelief and anger. Johnny had timidly put his hand on Ponyboy's back as if to comfort him. Two-bit and Steve sat on the table with the muscles in their faces tightly clenched in an effort to hold back the flood of tears they would never let show.
The grief I felt hit me harder than any other emotion I had ever felt and soon I was hyperventilating and crying at the same time. I couldn't talk, think or breathe.
Darry heard my struggle and pulled himself out of the chair, pushed the coffee table across the room and fell onto his knees on the floor in front of me. "Scout," He called for my attention as he held back his emotions. "Scout honey...." He picked me off the floor and cradled me in his arms while Soda grabbed onto him.
Sodapop began to scream at the top of his lungs. "No! No! It can't be true, it just can't be." Soda looked over at Pony who was nearby bawling on the couch. With only Johnny slightly by his side. "Pony!" Soda stretched out his arm grabbed a handful of Pony's sweatshirt and pulled him close.
Without another word Pony leaped into Soda's arms and they sobbed together.
With the family consumed in grief and shock Officer Simmons turned his attention to Dallas. "Do you know the family well?"
Immediately Dally was defensive. "No I just met them, that's why I am fucking sitting here listening to you tell them their parents are dead!"
The officer held his hands out gently toward Dally. "Calm down now, I am just wondering if you can give me some information about the family. There are a lot of young kids who no longer have their parents here to take care of them."
Dallas looked at the cop with his dark piercing eyes. He knew the system and he knew what the cop was thinking. Dally snubbed his nose at the officer. "The oldest brother is nineteen years old. He can take care of the rest of them."
The officer pulled out his note pad and began to write. "What is the oldest boy's name? Darry, he's 19. And Sodapop, he's 16...
The officer looked startled at Dally, "Did you say Sodapop?"
"Did I stutter?" Dally grew cocky and continued. "Pay attention now! The two others are Ponyboy and his sister Scout and they are both 13." Dally looked down at the fallen family. In a way he envied the bond they had and he wished he was down there with them, sharing his grief, but that wasn't going to happen. Across the room Johnny and Two-Bit had huddled together with Steve each one of them in shock over the news. The only wailing in the room came from the three youngest Curtis'.
"Well," Officer Rosen began speaking to Dally. "When the family has had some time can you give them this?" Dally looked at the envelope the cop was handing to him.
"What is it?" Dallas asked as he took the envelope.
"Just some papers they are going to need, obituary forms, some information on planning the funerals, and some paperwork for the state for guardianship of the minor children."
"Yeah, yeah I'll give this to Darry later, or maybe in the morning." Dally agreed, "So what happened man, to their parents?"
"Their car was coming to a stop by a set of railroad tracks, hit an icy patch on the road and slid in front of a train. We presume they were both killed instantly."
Dallas winced at the image and then grew sick to his stomach knowing the family would want to know that information later and he would have to tell them. "Alright, thanks officers."
The policemen nodded their heads and dismissed themselves from the house.
Dally took the envelope and joined the others across the room. "Awe man, can you believe this?"
Two-bit looked over at him tight lipped. "It shouldn't have happened, not to them, not to this family."
Before them on the floor Darry pulled me from the family huddle. He had put the majority of his grief aside for now and was ready to care for his siblings.
The thought of never seeing my parents again spun through my mind like a never ending thought. I still found myself gasping for air and stunned in disbelief. Darry sat up on the couch with my struggling body in his lap. He pushed my head down by my knees and pleaded, "Come on baby, breathe, calm down and breathe."
It didn't help any because the movement from the floor had made my head spin badly and I fainted.
"Scout? Baby girl, come on now." Darry started to shake my limp body in an attempt to wake me up. It was Two-Bit who helped Darry come to his senses.
"Hey, hey Darry, stop shaking her. She's gonna be alright, she just fainted is all." Two -Bit said calmly and took my body from Darry who watched as he was relieved of the burden as Two-Bit selfishly cradled my limp body in his own arms.
Darry watched as Two-Bit rocked back and forth with me as if my five foot two, 105-pound body was an infant.
"It's going to be ok, it's going to be ok." Two-Bit whispered to console himself.
On the floor at Darry's feet he stared at his two younger brothers who were still wailing and crying out for their fallen parents. Seeing Two-Bit join the family, Steve had joined his best friend on the floor. Throwing his arm around Soda and quietly crying along with him.
This scene went on for well over an hour before the wailing subsided into tears and quiet questions of "why" and "how".
Two-Bit still held my unconscious body as he sat on the couch next to Darry. Soda, Steve and Pony were on the floor at Darry's feet and Johnny and Dallas had settled into two wooden chairs at the dining room table. Then Ponyboy looked up with his red swollen eyes and asked the question that no one had the answer to.
"Darry..." he tried to catch his breath and calm down a little more. "Darry what's going to happen to us?"
Darry stared back, he had no idea. Thoughts ran through his head and he concluded that he was now in charge of the family. In an instant due to birthright he now had all of the burden, all of the worry and all of the kids, and he was only 19 years old.