Whenthey got home, Danny started looking for a pencil in his room. He looked behind the dresser and saw something. He reached behind the dresser and felt it. It felt like a picture frame. He pulled it out and looked the picture. It had a lot of dust on it so he blew it off. It was a picture of two boys posted against a brick wall. He recognized one of the boys in the picture. It was his dad. His mom had pictures of them when they were younger. His dad was always a tough looking character. He didn't recognize the other guy. Maybe someone else would know.
He walked up to the living room with the picture. Soda was sitting on the couch watching TV
"Hey, Soda. Can I ask you something?"
Soda smiled.
"Sure kid. Shoot."
Danny held up the picture.
"Who is this guy beside my dad?"
Soda looked at the picture and his facial expression changed. He was obviously remembering some tragedy. He then started,
"Danny. Have a seat. I've got a little story to tell you."
Danny sat down looking confused.
"This guy right here, this is one of your dad's friends. His name was Mark. He was one of the reasons your dad ran away. He felt he was losing too many friends. When your dad was sixteen, Mark was sent to jail for selling drugs. Which is the night your dad left. What made it worse is that the guy that snitched on the police was his best friend…"
Soda then began the story of one night when the gang was on the couch watching TV.
Darry had just gotten home from work to find the entire gang watching TV. Darry got relaxed on the couch. As they were watching it, a report came on about a hitchhiker. The newscaster was standing at the scene.
"Here on the local scene an attempted kidnapping left an escaped convict dead and two area teenagers shaken."
They interviewed one of the teenagers. He was wearing a cowboy hat.
Two-Bit then cracked a joke,
"Looks like Cowboy Joe rounded him some criminals."
Everyone laughed, but they showed the body being put into an ambulance. Ponyboy then got a vibe and he shook a little. Soda looked at Ponyboy.
"What's wrong Pony."
"I don't know. I just have a feeling that I know someone there."
Darry then thought, and then said in his mind,
'No, it couldn't be him'. But he was wrong. The newscaster continued,
"The convict escaped McAllister and killed a trustee, he then shot someone who fortunately is going to live."
They showed a close up of the two teenagers and they then showed the mug shot of the escaped criminal.
Ponyboy sat up quickly. His eyes were huge. So was everyone else. He escaped convict that had been dead was Mark.
Everyone was surprised. They thought he was still in jail. Soda was mostly upset because now he knew that Mark would never get his life together.
Weeks later they all attended the funeral. A lot of people were there. Ponyboy was still dating Cathy and he was next to her comforting her. She felt that everything was her fault. She said she was the main reason Bryon and Mark weren't friends anymore. Darry kept a straight face like at his parent's funeral. Soda wasn't as depressed, because he barely knew him. Two-Bit knew him pretty well, but he kept a straight face along with Steve. Cathy's parents were there. They seemed to be a little sad. Tim, Curly, and Angela Shepard even showed up. Ms. Douglas was there also. No one bothered to ask where her son was.
While everyone was mourning, the doors of the church opened up. Every single person turned around and was startled to see who was at the door. It was Bryon. He walked right down aisle ignoring everyone looking at him. You could see a mark on his face. Probably where Mark had hit him before he shot him.
He walked right up to the casket to look at Mark's body. He looked at it for a long time. There were tears rolling down his face, but he didn't let out any sobbing. After a while of standing there. He walked right back out of the church. No one there could match the sadness he had. It took a lot of guts to walk back into that church.
Soda concluded his story and Danny sat there staring at him. He was speechless. His mother never told him anything about Mark. He then got to thinking. What if Alex had snitched on something Danny was doing that was illegal? What if Danny snitched on Alex? He erased the thought from his mind; they were both too loyal. But you never know. Soda broke into his thoughts.
"Ey kiddo, time for bed. I'll see you in the morning."
"Alright. G'night."
He took his shower and walked into the hallway to see Ponyboy carrying his son into his room. Danny ran and held the door open for him.
"Thanks."
Pony laid Houston down on his bed and went out of the room. Danny looked at Houston lying there. He reminded Danny so much of both Ponyboy and Johnny. He was the youngest and pretty shy. Danny then realized why the socs loved to pick on him. He guessed he was gonna have to keep an eye on this guy.