I walked down the old side walk on Main Street and crossed the busy road. It was a blustery fall day, which meant that winter was on its way. Thanksgiving would be here before I knew it, which meant.... turkey. The wife of one of the guys Darry works with gave us a turkey last year, and boy way it good. This year, I hoped they planned on giving us another one. We boys don't normally accept charity, but when you love chicken and turkey as much as me, Soda and Darry do, saying no is almost impossible. Darry even refused a Christmas tree from someone in the middle class who for some odd reason knew our situation last year. That says something, because before Mom and Dad died, his favorite part of the Christmas season was the tree. So, we don't accept charity much, but when it involves turkey, we make an exception.
I sighed with content. It was Friday afternoon. I had made it through Thursday without bugging the teachers that much, and without getting in trouble with Darry. Now I had the weekend to de-stress and hang out. The first thing I had to do was see Johnny and Dallas, which was why I was walking. Soda would be home soon, I knew, followed by Darry. I wasn't sure if I would be home before either of them. I was tempted not to leave a note, since I'm not a baby and I can take care of myself. Soda wouldn't worry much, but if I wasn't home when he got there, Darry would make a fuss. I did NOT want to get into that again.
The old wrought iron gate creaked when I pushed it open. The leaves crunched, and everything was familiar. That is, except for one thing. The normal feeling of heaviness that I got whenever I came here was gone. I had finally let another friend in, but they never took the place of the old ones. Johnny would always be my best friend, and Dally would always be the feared and respected hood.
"Hey, Johnnycake," I said as I approached. I heard the wind in the trees, and for a minute I thought I could hear his voice again. "We hit the year marker last week. I can't believe y'all have been gone for a year already."
I lightly brushed the engraved letters on the tombstone.
"October 17th," I breathed. "It's October 24th today which means..." I stopped to do the math in my head, and then stood dead in shock as I remembered. "October 17th was last Friday."
It all flashed back. The gun going off. Dally pulling the black object from his waist. The fuzz shooting. Sarah falling back. Dally crumpling with his grim look of triumph.
"Stay gold." It echoed around me. I knew then that there were no coincidences. So many times after they died I wondered 'what if?' What if we hadn't gone back to the church? What if we hadn't sat behind Cherry and Marsha? What if I hadn't fallen asleep in the lot? What if...? The thing I had learned is that there are no 'what ifs'. There are the things that are, and that's it. I wasted a lot of time after Mom and Dad and Dally and Johnny died wondering what I could have done to prevent it. I knew that day standing by my friend's graves that I couldn't have prevented it, because if I could have, I would have been running like heck, just like I did last Friday. Justin had said to me once that everything has a reason. He was right. I would never be the person I was becoming if all those things hadn't happened. I never would have understood true friendship, the love of my brothers, and how to pull myself together and move on. I could do that now, pull myself together, I mean. I was in the process of pulling myself together.
"So what do you think, Johnny?" I said out of the blue. "She said no last time. Think I've proved to her that she won't drive me crazy?" Of course, there was no reply, but I decided that I had proved myself. Now, there were only two obstacles left. I was ready to overcome them, though.
I turned around and walked home. Soda was on the couch, chocolate milk in hand, reading the mail. I grinned to myself, because I knew I would find him like that.
"What are you grinning like that for, kid?"
"Hey, Soda," I said nonchalantly. "Whose night is it to make dinner?"
"Darry's," He stated simple. He waved me over with his glass. "Get yourself some chocolate milk and sit down. It's about time we had another one of our brotherly 'chats'."
"What this time?" I asked with mock irritation.
Soda gave me his 'oh come on' look. "You know."
"No, I don't. Enlighten me, oh wise older brother," my voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Now come on, Ponyboy, you know I ain't smart enough to understand all that fancy talk. Get your milk and get in here or I might have to put you in a chicken wing." He grinned devilishly.
"You wish," I said, but still dashed into the kitchen to pour myself some chocolate milk.
"So what do you want?" I sat down on our saggy old couch that had been around since before Darry was born. No joke, it was that old.
"Can't a brother talk to his kid brother when he wants to?" Soda inquired innocently, pretending to be hurt. I ignored it, knowing that whatever was coming next was going to be interesting. It always is with Soda.
"Go ahead, talk."
He straightened a little and feigned preparation, chest puffed, muscles tense. Then he relaxed and shrugged it off. "I just wanted to talk. We haven't had the chance in a while. I haven't heard the crazy things on your mind since...." He paused and thought, chewing on his lip in concentration. "I can't remember."
"Obviously," I said jokingly. I toned down my voice, then, because I knew Sodapop was serious. Clearing my throat, I started. "So what do you want to know? What's going on in my mind?"
"Well, yeah, sorta. Last time I remember, you were thinkin' about Johnny and Dally, and just kind of down."
"Oh, yeah..." My voice was gruffer than I meant it to be. Soda would understand what changed it all. "I still think about Johnny and Dally a lot. That's where I was before I got home, at the graveyard… But now, I dunno, it's different. I ain't down. In fact, I kind of understand why things happened the way they did."
"Man, kid, you're gonna be like a philosopher someday, I swear it. How did you get all the smart genes and I'm left with being good with cars?"
I laughed at him. "Hey, cars ain't a bad thing to know how to handle. Not like girls, who won't ever be figured out, or poetry, that has no real rules. Being deep isn't all it's cracked up to be, and good grades have their down sides."
"Wait, wait, what are you talkin about, kid? What was that about girls?"
My ears got a little hot. "I was just sayin they ain't never gonna be figured out, that's all."
He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, and how'd you figure this out, Pony?" I didn't like the tone of his voice, not one bit.
"I just did. All guys figure it out at one point or another…" I tried to avoid the subject, but Soda was heading straight for it.
"I know what you're talking about now," he said, gloating. Then he saw that I really was getting a little annoyed, so hechanged histoneto a moreserious one. "Hey, chill. You know you can tell me anything. I ain't gonna make fun of your or tell Darry or the gang."
"I know, I know." When I kept my mouth shut after that statement, he pried a little more.
"So you gonna tell me, or do I have to guess?"
I didn't say anything.
"Okay, then. I know who it is, so you can sit there and keep your mouth shut all you want. But you ain't gonna get nowhere not talking, and you know it." He was right. I would talk. But I wanted to hear him say it before I did. "So what of it, then? You dig Sarah? That's not all, is it? There's more to it. You're way too deep to just dig someone. You gotta have a reason. Every guy has a reason, whether he's a greaser or a soc. What's yours?"
He was really trying hard then, I could tell. In my head, I was amused, but my poker face didn't display it.
"Soda, you worry me."
"And why is that?" He cocked his eyebrow coolly, looking concerned, but almost amused at the same time.
"Because you know me too good for my own comfort."
He grinned crazily, laughed, and thumped me on the shoulder. "You're an okay kid, Pony. I really mean it."
"Yeah, I know it. And you're an okay brother."
"Of course, that's just a given." I wanted to wipe the smirk off his face, but I was enjoying it too much to have it leave. "So, what're you gonna do?"
"About Sarah?"
He nodded slightly.
"I've already asked her. She said no. But that was before…"
"Before what?" He stared at me intently.
"Before last Friday."
"Ah." There was a long pause. "That was pretty scary, huh?" It was a statement, yet still a question.
"Yeah," was all that needed to be said.
"I don't know what I woulda done if Sandy had ever pulled something likethat. Lordy, kid,Sarah's awful lucky. I don't know if I could have got there in time, or even if I could have stopped her."
"Yeah, you would have. Sandy loved you, Soda. Just you being there would have stopped her. I still don't know how I got there in time… Soda, can I tell you something?"
"Of course, kid. Anything, you know that." He said.
I drew in a breath. "Soda, I..." I couldn't bring myself to it.
"You what, Pony? What?"
"I'm beginning to get this whole Christian thing. Soda, God's real, realer than you can even imagine. He doesn't stay in His churches; He's just kind of part of everything. It's so cool, Sodapop. I know most greasers ain't very religious, but it's not about goin' to church and dressing up fancy. It's about how God ain't no joke. He even cares about a greaser like me."
His face betrayed no emotion. "That's real cool, kid," was all he said.
I felt frustrated. This was one thing I knew Soda couldn't understand. I mumbled something about homework even though it was Friday. Grabbing my stuff, I headed to the bedroom. Darry got home a few minutes later, and I could smell him starting dinner. They called me when it was ready.
"You get that homework done, kid?" Darry asked, just like a responsible older brother would.
"Still working on it," I said curtly, shoving a forkful of corn into my mouth so I didn't have to talk anymore. The truth was that I hadn't done any homework. The only thing I had to do was read something in biology and a math worksheet. When I went into my room, I lay down on my bed and thought long and hard. No one in the gang would quite get what I was talking about with God. They were still my friends, though. More like brothers, actually. The 5 of us had gone through fire together.
When I woke up the next morning, Soda and Darry had already both left for work. They had also left me the dishes to do. I sighed to no one in particular and went into the ice box for cake. If I was going to clean the kitchen, I had better have made at least some of the mess. I slammed the door of the ice box in frustration. There was no more cake left.
Get a hold of yourself, Ponyboy, I thought to myself. It's just cake. I grudgingly went to the cupboard and grabbed a box of cornflakes.
"So what am I going to do with myself today?" I said out loud. Sarah was busy. She and Brie were driving somewhere to meet friends and hike or something. Soda and Steve would be working at DX for most of the day, Darry would be roofing houses, and Two-bit… Well, I'm never sure what he'll be up to on Saturdays. Probably more or less sleeping off a hangover. I knew I could always hunt some action. Curly Shepherd was out of the cooler. But Soda and Darry would have my head if they heard I was hanging with him. Besides, I wasn't really in the trouble kind of mood.
I checked the paper for a good movie playing, but none of them caught my interest. All bloody war movies, which I wasn't in the mood for, or the kind that are so sappy that it makes you want to puke. I was a deep guy, but I was still a guy, and I didn't dig chick flicks.
I got dressed and grabbed one of Soda's hooded sweatshirts. Then I headed out the door. I had remembered that I had two obstacles to overcome, and if I was lucky I could catch them at the same time. I recalled the time when I asked Sarah to be my girlfriend before, she had said something about getting past her dad and Justin. Well, I intended to get past them. I mean ask permission. No one had ever taught me exactly how to handle parents, but I had an idea. In fact, Soda had never said anything about a girl's dad. I had a feeling that dad's could be a huge problem if not handled delicately. With Sarah, not only did I have her dad, I had Justin. He would rip me to shreds if I ever did anything to his 'little sister'.
I rounded the corner on to Sarah's street. To be honest, I was a little nervous. There was no turning back once I was inside. I lingered along the line of bushes before making my way casually towards the front walk.
"Hey!" I heard someone call, "Ponyboy!" I looked up to see no one other than Justin walking in my direction down the sidewalk.
"Hey," I greeted coolly. "What's up?"
"Not much, not much. You?"
"Uh," I hesitated. "I was hoping to talk to Mr. Piatt, then you."
I saw a spark of understanding in his eye. "Alright, I'll be out here."
"Okay, I'll be out in a little bit." I turned; ready to face the task ahead.
"Hey, one thing, kid," Justin said to my back.
"Yeah?"
"Good luck."
I half-grinned at this remark, but then I let it fall. Straightening my shoulders, I shakily walked up the steps and rang the door bell.
"Here goes nothing… er, something." I whispered to myself. The door opened, and a man stood before me, maybe about in his mid-forties.
"Hi, Mr. Piatt," I looked him straight in the eye. "Do you think we could talk for a sec? I have something I want to ask you."
--And that's the end of 'The Healing'! Can you all believe it? I've never finished a story this long in my entire life! Hopefully there will be many more. Thanks for reading this. I really appreciate the support and reviews. This website has amazed me with all the talented young writers I've come across. Everyone, here's an encouragement to keep writing. Don't ever lose it. It's a gift that shouldn't be wasted.