I woke up the next morning and walked out to the kitchen where Darry was mixing the batter for a chocolate cake. Upon seeing him I braced for my scolding. I waited to hear I was too young to sleep with a boy, I was ruining my life and embarrassing my family!
Darry's blue eyes looked my way. "Morning Sissy."
I panicked inside. What? No glare, no words of disappointment, no scolding?" I smiled back trying to read my brother and hide my guilt and shame. "Morning … uh, how was work last night?"
"Miserable! The rain slowed everything down and I had to stay late to get everything done."
"Late? How late?" I fidgeted and ran my finger along the edge of the sink, careful not to make eye contact with my brother.
"I got home at about midnight." Darry poured the batter into the two round cake pans.
I tried to act casual and dig for information. "Was Sodapop up when you got home? Were the boys all still here?"
Darry laughed. "Of course! Have you ever known him to go to bed early when he didn't have to work the next day?"
"Good point." I relaxed and realized the boys hadn't ratted me out to Darry, and I was thankful. Besides, I was already punishing myself in my own mind for my slip in good judgment. "Do you want me to help you make breakfast?"
"Yeah." Darry said and he handed me the carton of eggs to scramble. The two of us cooked up eggs, sausages and biscuits then headed down the hall to pull Soda and Pony out of bed.
Darry burst into the room and yelled. "Ok! Everybody up!"
My two sleepy brothers both groaned and cursed at Darry. Our oldest brother just laughed and walked to the foot of their bed and yanked the covers off. He grabbed each boy by an ankle and pulled his brothers out of bed and onto the floor, using his strong hands to tickle them.
Not wanting to be left out I pounced on Sodapop and got him good in his tickle spot right on the hip. He yelped with laughter and fought me off. In seconds the tables were turned and I was trapped on the floor begging for Darry's help and for Soda to let up. Even though Darry had Ponyboy pinned and full of laughter tears he let his prey loose to rescue me.
"I got ya Scout!" Darry reached down with his two strong arms and pulled me out of Soda's grasp. Before Soda and Pony could trap us in the room Darry ran out to the dining room, dragging me with him. When our brothers reached the kitchen Darry called an automatic truce and forced us all to sit down and eat breakfast before it got any colder. It was almost lunchtime and we were all hungry so no one argued. All through brunch I expected Sodapop to tell Darry what I had done, but he never said anything. In fact he never said a word to me, just looked over at me from time to time and I could see the pain in his eyes. I hated disappointing Sodapop.
Just as we were cleaning the dishes the gang began to trickle into the house for the day. First Steve and Two-Bit, then Dally and Johnny. Everyone was dressed to play football. Before we headed out Casey came strolling through the back door. She was excited to see I was awake and ready for the day. "Sis?" She yelled as she passed through the kitchen to the dining room.
"Hey there Case!" I greeted her with a grin. "Are you going to finally breakdown and play football with us today?"
"No and neither are you!" Casey grabbed my hand. "My mom got a bunch of nail polishes and new magazines from a woman she works with so the three of us are going to do pedicures and manicures! Let's go!"
I didn't argue because the girl stuff sounded like a lot of fun. From the living room the boys began to groan that they needed me on the team and it was tradition that we all play football together. I looked in their direction. "You guys don't need me! Besides Darry can be all time quarterback, it'll be more fair that way."
I stood in the kitchen doorway and watched the boys leave out the front door. It was the first game I had missed in years and I felt torn between wanting to grow into a young woman and staying part of the gang. Sodapop was unusually the last one out the door. He turned to stare at me. His look was filled with sadness as he realized I really wasn't coming with. I was growing up and changing.
Casey and I left the house out the back door and exited through the back gate. We crossed the street and climbed the porch steps to Casey's house. As we stepped in the front door Mary Lynn greeted us like we were customers in a real beauty salon. "Come in ladies! So nice to see you." Mary Lynn sauntered toward us. "Please take off your shoes and socks. I have a warm soaking bath waiting for you near the sofa."
I giggled at the silliness of Casey's mom, but enjoyed it. She reminded me of my dad, how he would always pretend and play characters in our home. Casey and I walked over to the sofa, sat down and soaked our feet in the warm water. Lined up on the coffee table were rows of pretty polish, jars of cotton balls, emery boards and all the necessary items for a nail salon.
A block away the boys divided into teams. Darry was all time quarterback and Ponyboy, Johnny and Dally filled one team with Steve, Soda and Two-Bit on the other. The two groups huddled in the middle of the field to discuss the first play of the game. The ground was soft and muddy from the night before as the boys lined up against each other.
After a long soak Mary Lynn dried our feet and stuffed plump cotton balls between our toes. I watched excitedly as Casey choose a bright red color and Mary Lynn painted each of her daughter's toenails. While I waited I looked through the small bottles and chose a shinny wine color. I knew it would look as good on my toes as it would on my fingernails.
Mary Lynn stood up to flip the Elvis album on the Hi Fi. When she returned she cleaned up my toenails and applied the color while I sat back on the couch and sifted through the pages of a fashion magazine. I lost myself in the moment and had fun pretending that I was actually in a beauty salon with my wealthy friend. It was just as I imagined the soc girls lives were.
Ponyboy laughed and reached his hand out to Sodapop who was lying in the mud from the tackle that Johnny had unexpectedly leveled him with. Together the boys were getting muddier with every step, catch and tackle. They played as if it were a championship high school game and the winner would hold the title forever.
Gently Mary Lynn cut, filed and shaped my fingernails. One by one she carefully painted each nail as Casey watched. The three of us girls talked about our favorite actors and fashion. We fantasized we were married to wealthy husbands and met weekly in ladies clubs and lunched at expensive restaurants. I told the ladies after my manicure I was headed to the travel agent to book a little get away to Alcapuco Mexico for my husband and I. Casey shot back that Alcapulco was over rated and we should try the vineyards of France for a relaxing get away. Her comment threw me from my acting for a moment as I teased her. "Casey … I'm impressed you even know about the vineyards in France."
Casey laughed, "shut up Scout, I'm not totally stupid!"
"I'm not saying your stupid, you just aren't that good at geography."
Mary Lynn looked up from her nail painting. "She's got you there Casey." Casey knew it too. She had a hard time with maps and didn't have a strong grasp on the locations of States, let alone countries.
"That's cool." Casey drawled. "I may not know my countries well, but I do know that having a friend like Scout is like having a walking encyclopedia, so I'll keep her close. Then I aint ever going to need to learn that unimportant stuff!"
Mary Lynn rolled her eyes in comical disbelief as the telephone rang. She crossed the room and answered it. One of her girlfriends from work was on the other line and the two would be talking awhile so Mary Lynn picked the rotary phone up from the little table it rested on. She talked and carried the phone with her, sitting it on the floor near the corner of couch. She picked up the bright red polish and began to paint her daughter's fingernails.
Darry stepped back from the line of scrimmage and scanned the field for the best target to throw to. Down field Steve ran from right to left and Darry launched the ball. It soared through the air and landed squarely in Steve's chest. He captured the ball with two hands and ran through the slippery mud to the end zone with Dally hot on his heels. As Steve came to a halt to spike the ball and declare his touchdown Dally pushed him to the ground. Tempers flared and the two of them got into a shouting match. Soon the sound of an older engine roared past them down the street. The noise drew everyone's attention as the old black car sped past, radio blaring and swerving side to side.
"Whoa!" Two-Bit giggled as the fight between Steve and Dally ceased. "Looks like that guy hit the bottle awfully early today!"
Mary Lynn hung up the receiver and had Casey and I step over to her nail drying station. To the left of the couch on the floor was a hair dryer set up on a towel. Casey and I walked over. I sat close to the wall with the end of the sofa to my back and Casey sat next to me. She had to pick the telephone up and move it a few inches away so she would have room to stick her fingers and toes under the sphere of the dryer.
Casey's mom began packing up the nail polish bottles and other items into a wooden box. Outside the three of us heard a car pull to a screeching halt, the radio blaring over the sound of Elvis on the HiFi. Casey's mom rose from her knees to peek out the window to see what all the commotion was. She leaned close to the front window just missing the chance to identify the man who stormed in through the front door nearly scaring the life out of the three of us.
"Mary Lynn!" A man dressed in black jeans and cowboy shirt screamed her name. I looked over in fear at the man wearing a black cowboy hat and a long black mustache. "You thought you could hide and that I'd never find you… well you was wrong!" The man's eyes widened as he glared at her.
"Duke…." Mary Lynn said in sheer horror. "How….. I…. We weren't exactly hiding…"
"The hell you weren't!" The man's scream bellowed through the living room and he continued to rant. I noticed Casey begin to shake with fear. Slowly she reached over and grabbed the receiver of the phone. I watched wide eyed as she carefully poked her finger into the "0" and pulled the dial around to the metal resting spot. The two of us held our breath as the phone clicked back the numbers as it spun around. I looked up at the divorced couple. Duke had a tight hold on Mary Lynn with his left hand and she was begging for him to just leave and not hurt anyone.
"I aint leavin!" He demanded. "I aint leaving unless you're comin with me."
"No! I can't Duke!" Mary Lynn began to cry and scream at her ex-husband. "You know why… you know what you did!"
"You're my wife." The man growled with a drunken accent and posture to match. "I done heard the preacher say till death do we part…. I don't reckon you heard differn't!"
I reached forward and grabbed Casey's hand. I was terrified. I didn't know this man. I only knew that he was Casey's father, violent and had little regard for the ones he loved, and to me that made him dangerous. I felt Casey's hand tremble twice as bad as mine as she lifted the telephone receiver to her ear and heard the operator respond to the call. I never took my eyes off the man. I prayed he wouldn't hear Casey speaking to the operator.
My friend spoke in a shaken whisper. "I … need the police….please," she begged and told the operator her street address. Casey peered up at her parents and jumped when her father pulled back his right fist and threw it forward into her mother's face. Casey let out a little cry. Witnessing the attack made me jump and I tucked myself into the corner made by the sofa and the wall.
I noticed Casey begin to cry as she whispered once again to the operator. "Please…. Help us…. I need the police."
I could hear the muffled speech of the operator on the other line asking questions like 'what was wrong' and 'who she was speaking to'. Casey didn't dare answer them for fear that her father would see she had placed the call. Mary Lynn screamed as loud as she could hoping for anyone to come to our rescue. Duke didn't take kindly to the yell and he began to hit her repeatedly with his fist.
As the gang broke into separate huddles Ponyboy's attention was diverted by a sound. "Hey did ya'll hear that?"
"What?" Dally asked.
"It sounded like a woman screaming." Ponyboy looked around the lot for any clues to what he had heard.
"Probably just Johnny's mom." Dally said, "now come on let's go." Ponyboy dropped his thought and returned to the huddle.
I peered over Casey's shoulder as she began to pull the telephone receiver from her ear. The movement caught her father's eye and he stopped to stare at his daughter. "What the hell are you doing?" He noticed the phone and jumped to a conclusion. "Ya called the cops didn't ya?"
Casey trembled and shook her head no, the receiver still cradled in her hand.
"Yes ya did! I see what ya did."
"Duke, just leave her alone." Mary Lynn's voice was weak as Duke continued to hold onto the woman even though she had fell to her knees in pain.
"Nah ah!" Duke Dobbins tilted his head back arrogantly and looked down his long nose at his only child. His speech was slow and threatening. "Nah…. I know what ya just did. You're gonna be sorry, aint no one in my family gonna treat me with disrespect." Then in one fluid motion Duke reached behind his back. When his hand returned he held a revolver. As if in slow motion I saw his thumb pull back the hammer and his finger pressed the trigger.
BANG!
