"How you doing Danny?" asked Trix walking towards the bed.
"Fine. I thought you wouldn't be back until later on this month."
Trix smiled.
"I told them to tell you that. I wanted to surprise you. But it seems that you surprised me."
"Yeah, they still have the socs and greaser thing going on. I was trying to protect Pony's son. Is he alright?"
"Yeah. He's okay. He ran to the house and got us. Cathy called the police. I swear, if your uncles weren't holding me back. I would have murdered those kids. The police arrested them."
Danny still couldn't believe it. His dad was standing right in front of him. The infamous Trix Curtis. It had been a long time since he's seen him. He had so many questions for him.
"What were you sent to the pen for?"
"Assault ."
Danny looked confused,
"But that would have gotten you ten years, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah. But I'm out on parole. Don't make me have to go back, kid."
Danny laughed even more. He was so happy to finally meet his dad. Trix then started up something.
"Danny. You had everyone scared for a second."
"What was wrong with my head?"
"You have a minor concussion. One of those socs hit you over the head with a baseball bat. Like I said, Ponyboy and Soda had to hold me back. We all surrounded them though, so they wouldn't take off running. We made sure they got arrested."
"Hey I'm a Curtis. Talked to mom yet."
"Yeah, I talked to her on the phone. She's doing well. She wishes she could come down here. But your uncle's house is already crammed enough. Plus she says she would hate to lose her job. But you know your mom, she'll make the best of a bad situation. She says she's having some woman time."
Danny was nervous about asking him the next couple of questions. Trix seemed to notice it because he asked,
"What's wrong, son?"
Danny had never been called son. It felt good.
"I want to ask you a question, but I feel it's a hard one."
"Shoot."
Danny took a deep breath and asked,
"What was Mark like?"
Trix sighed and answered,
"He was a good friend to anyone who was a friend to him. He was tough and was always by your side. When he went to jail, I couldn't take it anymore. I went off and met back up with your mom."
He smiled then,
"It's weird though. The three reasons I left Tulsa are all dead."
"Oh…So you know about what happened to him."
"Yeah. Soda had told me on the phone while I was in jail. That was the first time I had talked to him since I ran away. I talked to Darry and Ponyboy a little bit. Soda mostly, he was comforting me in that place. Kid, let me tell you something. Try to avoid jail the best way you can."
"What's that?"
"Don't get caught."
Danny laughed even more. They went on the rest of the afternoon talking. They had both forgotten that the other family members were waiting for them. Ponyboy had to come in and get Trix.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot. Danny, there is a girl here that wants to see you. Um, Maria."
"Send her in."
Maria came walking in.
"Another heroic deed made by Danny Curtis."
"Shows you chose a good man then."
She sat down and they began talking. Soon a nurse came in and said that Danny could go home. As Maria got up to leave, she asked:
"Are we still on for Friday?"
"I wouldn't miss it."
She smiled and left. Trix came in and helped Danny out of bed. Everyone else had already left so they caught a ride from Steve. As they got in, Steve remarked,
"This reminds me of when Trix was in the hospital."
Danny got curious and asked,
"What did you go to the hospital for?"
"I got shot."
Trix lifted up his tank top and showed the bullet wound.
"Man. That looks hard."
They reached the house. When it was time for the kids to hit the sack, everyone left Danny and Houston's room. They had been in there talking all day.
Danny went ahead and took his shower and climbed back into his bed. His head hurt slightly but it was no biggie. When he was reaching over to cut the light off,
"Danny."
He looked at Houston.
"Yeah."
"Um. Thanks for having my back."
"No problem, cuz."