From the Horse's Mouth
I was very interested to hear this story from Johnny. He killed that young man. I'd wanted to know how he perceived it.
They agreed to talk about it, not to go back and turn themselves in, their eyes widening in fear at the thought, and Dallas scowling. But they would talk.
I flipped to a fresh page in my yellow legal pad. Johnny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and started talking.
"From when? The movies?"
"Yeah. Just start telling it from when you were at the movies,"
"O.K. Well, we went to the movies, the drive in that's called The Nightly Double. Me, Dally, and Ponyboy and we sat in the seats that's for when you don't got a car,"
I knew this from Dallas. But I felt it was important to hear the whole story from Johnny.
"And, so, there were these girls there who left their boyfriends and uh," Here he glanced fearfully at Dallas but continued, "Dal started bugging 'em, like talking dirty and all that and I told him to leave the girls alone. So then he left cause he was mad at me,"
Dallas lit a cigarette and shrugged. Ponyboy took it as a good idea and lit one as well.
"So the girls asked us to sit up with 'em, to protect 'em and all, and we did," Johnny didn't look at me while he spoke. He mostly looked down at his sneakers or off to the side.
"After the movie we were gonna walk the girls to Two bit's to get his car"
"Two bit?"
"Yeah, he showed up after Dal left. Two bit Mathews, um," Johnny struggled to remember his real name.
"Keith," Ponyboy said helpfully and Johnny nodded.
"Yeah, Keith. No one calls him that, though." I jotted down the name, Keith "Two bit" Mathews.
"So we were walking and a blue mustang pulls up, it uh, the girls' boyfriends were in it," I jotted down stuff while he spoke. Blue mustang.
"These were the socs that went looking for you later?"
He nodded, and his face was all eyes.
"Then, uh, the socs insult us and almost fight with Two bit but Cherry stopped 'em and the girls left with them,"
As Johnny spoke I noticed a scar on his face from his temple to his cheek bone. It looked old, shiny. I wondered, maybe his parents had done it?
"Then me and Ponyboy went to the vacant lot cause my parents were fighting," He said his parents were fighting very casually, like he didn't care.
"Where was Two bit?"
"He left," Johnny shrugged, "went to get drunk, who knows?" Ponyboy nodded and ground out his cigarette.
"And, uh, we fell asleep and I woke up and woke up Ponyboy, told him to go home, his brothers worry about him," Johnny looked sad at this, like no one worried about him.
"So then I said I was just gonna sleep there, my parents don't give a shit anyway," at this his eyes darkened and he looked pissed as hell.
"Ponyboy came back not too long after and scared me to death, he was all upset cause Darry hit him," That was the part Darrel had omitted,then.
"And then we walked to the park, that one with the fountain, and that's when the mustang showed up with the socs. They wanted to kill us cause we picked up their girls. There wasn't time to run, they came at us, five of 'em, and they shoved me to the ground and started to drown Pony in the fountain. I could hear him screaming, he was screaming for me to help him, and after they killed him they were gonna kill me," He stopped here and just looked at me with an expression somewhere between fear and defiance.
"I had a switchblade and all I knew was that they were drowning him, they were so drunk and so mad that they would have killed him. He was getting quiet, not struggling so much. I thought maybe they'd killed him already, I wasn't sure. So I, I, went over and they held Pony in the fountain and they said stuff to me but I couldn't really understand them, I was so mad. I had the switchblade behind my back and they kept talking and laughing, they were drunk like my old man..." He trailed off and didn't seem to be telling a story anymore, he looked like he was reliving it. His eyes were glazed.
"That kid, the one with the rings, I stepped toward him and stabbed him quick, the knife went right into his stomach. He looked surprised, real surprised. He let go of Pony and fell toward me. My knife was in his stomach and I brought it up. He opened his mouth and blood poured out and he looked scared then, he looked so scared. The others ran toward the car. I pulled my knife out and he fell where he had stood. The blood looked so dark, it looked black instead of red and it kept spreading. Blood was all over the knife and my hand."
Ponyboy looked almost like he was going to puke, he was green. Dallas looked mad, his eyebrows knitted together. Johnny blinked and looked around at us, like he forgot we were there.
I was very interested to hear this story from Johnny. He killed that young man. I'd wanted to know how he perceived it.
They agreed to talk about it, not to go back and turn themselves in, their eyes widening in fear at the thought, and Dallas scowling. But they would talk.
I flipped to a fresh page in my yellow legal pad. Johnny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and started talking.
"From when? The movies?"
"Yeah. Just start telling it from when you were at the movies,"
"O.K. Well, we went to the movies, the drive in that's called The Nightly Double. Me, Dally, and Ponyboy and we sat in the seats that's for when you don't got a car,"
I knew this from Dallas. But I felt it was important to hear the whole story from Johnny.
"And, so, there were these girls there who left their boyfriends and uh," Here he glanced fearfully at Dallas but continued, "Dal started bugging 'em, like talking dirty and all that and I told him to leave the girls alone. So then he left cause he was mad at me,"
Dallas lit a cigarette and shrugged. Ponyboy took it as a good idea and lit one as well.
"So the girls asked us to sit up with 'em, to protect 'em and all, and we did," Johnny didn't look at me while he spoke. He mostly looked down at his sneakers or off to the side.
"After the movie we were gonna walk the girls to Two bit's to get his car"
"Two bit?"
"Yeah, he showed up after Dal left. Two bit Mathews, um," Johnny struggled to remember his real name.
"Keith," Ponyboy said helpfully and Johnny nodded.
"Yeah, Keith. No one calls him that, though." I jotted down the name, Keith "Two bit" Mathews.
"So we were walking and a blue mustang pulls up, it uh, the girls' boyfriends were in it," I jotted down stuff while he spoke. Blue mustang.
"These were the socs that went looking for you later?"
He nodded, and his face was all eyes.
"Then, uh, the socs insult us and almost fight with Two bit but Cherry stopped 'em and the girls left with them,"
As Johnny spoke I noticed a scar on his face from his temple to his cheek bone. It looked old, shiny. I wondered, maybe his parents had done it?
"Then me and Ponyboy went to the vacant lot cause my parents were fighting," He said his parents were fighting very casually, like he didn't care.
"Where was Two bit?"
"He left," Johnny shrugged, "went to get drunk, who knows?" Ponyboy nodded and ground out his cigarette.
"And, uh, we fell asleep and I woke up and woke up Ponyboy, told him to go home, his brothers worry about him," Johnny looked sad at this, like no one worried about him.
"So then I said I was just gonna sleep there, my parents don't give a shit anyway," at this his eyes darkened and he looked pissed as hell.
"Ponyboy came back not too long after and scared me to death, he was all upset cause Darry hit him," That was the part Darrel had omitted,then.
"And then we walked to the park, that one with the fountain, and that's when the mustang showed up with the socs. They wanted to kill us cause we picked up their girls. There wasn't time to run, they came at us, five of 'em, and they shoved me to the ground and started to drown Pony in the fountain. I could hear him screaming, he was screaming for me to help him, and after they killed him they were gonna kill me," He stopped here and just looked at me with an expression somewhere between fear and defiance.
"I had a switchblade and all I knew was that they were drowning him, they were so drunk and so mad that they would have killed him. He was getting quiet, not struggling so much. I thought maybe they'd killed him already, I wasn't sure. So I, I, went over and they held Pony in the fountain and they said stuff to me but I couldn't really understand them, I was so mad. I had the switchblade behind my back and they kept talking and laughing, they were drunk like my old man..." He trailed off and didn't seem to be telling a story anymore, he looked like he was reliving it. His eyes were glazed.
"That kid, the one with the rings, I stepped toward him and stabbed him quick, the knife went right into his stomach. He looked surprised, real surprised. He let go of Pony and fell toward me. My knife was in his stomach and I brought it up. He opened his mouth and blood poured out and he looked scared then, he looked so scared. The others ran toward the car. I pulled my knife out and he fell where he had stood. The blood looked so dark, it looked black instead of red and it kept spreading. Blood was all over the knife and my hand."
Ponyboy looked almost like he was going to puke, he was green. Dallas looked mad, his eyebrows knitted together. Johnny blinked and looked around at us, like he forgot we were there.
