The sun was just above the horizon, making the sky look a pinkish gold. When he was eight, Mr. Curtis had showed Pony a sunrise. Sure, he had seen them before that, but never like his dad had showed him. They sat on the front porch swing that Sunday morning, and Mr. Curtis had pointed out every feature of the rising sun and how the sky reacted. From that moment on Pony had loved sunrises. And of course, with sunrises came sunsets. Every once in a while Pony would wake his dad up and ask him to come watch the sunrise. On his way to Will's house that morning, Pony paused for a good five minutes and just examined the sky. He was trying to figure out how and why it all happened, but soon he was back on track, sprinting to Will's house.
He arrived at Will's bedroom window in record timing. He stood there for a minute, catching his breath. Pony loved to run, but compared to his brothers he was still slow. He raised his arm and tapped their secret know on the window he knew was right near his best friend's bed. Four swift taps, a pause, and then two more. It was Morse code for "Hi." They had come up with it in history class, where they had first learned about the Morse code.
The taps were returned in an instant, and Pony grinned. His friend was unable to sleep late, too. Soon Will had run out the front door with his old, battered knapsack to his friend. They saluted each other, then broke into silent laughter. The day for the camping trip had come.
When the two got back to the Curtis house, Darry and Mr. Curtis were up.
"Good morning, boys," Mr. Curtis said with a mischievous grin, a coffee mug in his had. Darry looked in their direction and nodded a hello. He was pouring himself a cup of coffee, like his dad.
"Hello Mr. Curtis," Will said politely. He respected Mr. Curtis because the man could handle himself at 37, and was never too busy to crack a joke.
"Hey dad, is Soda up yet?" Pony piped, hopefully.
His dad grinned slyly. He could read his youngest son's mind. "No, he isn't awake, yet, Ponyboy."
The young boy's grin matched his father's. "Maybe I could help him along…"
"I won't stop you," Mr. Curtis said, feigning seriousness, "But I will not help you." He winked at Ponyboy and handed him is metal whistle, which he had been hiding in his left palm. Pony looked at Will and smirked. They ran off to the room Pony shared with Soda trying to hold in their laughter.
"PHWEEEET!" broke the silence caused by the sleeper.
Soda's eyes opened wide and he stared his brother and Will down for an instant. Then he rolled over indignantly and pulled a pillow over his head. Pony was giddy with mischief. He put the whistle again to his lips.
"PHWEEEEET! PHWEET! PHWEET!"
"Will you cut that out already!" Soda shot up and stood menacing over the two younger boys. They laughed nervously as Pony discreetly hid the whistle in his back pocket. With nothing else to do, Will and Pony skedaddled out of there before Soda could get enough sense to attack them.
They ran straight into Mrs. Curtis.
"What are you boys doing?" she asked in a tone that said she already knew and wasn't particularly pleased.
"Um… um…"
Just then, Soda appeared in the bedroom doorway. "They were wakin' me up is what they were doing," he said in mock annoyance. Sodapop came around really quickly, and could find the humor in things. Pony and Will grinned and took off before the conversation could be finished.
Mr. Curtis was outside packing the old Ford. Pony saw their old canvas tent go in after the gun case. He remember that his dad had told him they would hunt for one of their meals. He'd never tasted venison roasted over an open fire, or rabbit, or anything else, for that matter. Mrs. Curtis didn't like camping much, so they never went as a family. Not to say they never did anything as a family; pretty much every night they had a family dinner, and they would go on other trips, just not camping.
"Hey, Pony, can you grab the fishing poles over there and hand them to me?" Mr. Curtis called, wiping his brow. That old canvas tent was heavy. Pony couldn't even get it off the ground.
"Alright, Dad!"
An hour or so later they were on the open road, after a good breakfast and last minute checks to make sure everything was there. Pony and Will sat in the back seat of the little club cab, with Darry on the passenger side and Soda in the middle up front. They had the radio turned onto old country songs, and Mr. Curtis was singing along as his sons laughed. For the first time in a while they were all able to forget the pressing issues of football, college, grades, summer jobs, work, family problems, and everything else. They were five men on a road trip, without a care in sight.
"Listen, boys," Mr. Curtis turned down the radio when they were getting close. "When we get there don't all run off. We're going to set up camp first. Then y'all can have a look around."
He put the radio back on and turned down a dirt road. The road went on and on, with twists and turns and potholes. The excitement in the car was mounting; everyone could feel it. After a while the road went into the woods. Pony could see nothing but trees and green and brown blurring past. He wished he could open the miniature window next to him and stick his head out.
"We're here!" Soda shouted as the old Ford pulled into a clearing. It was surrounded on all sides by trees, like an island in the forest. Will wasn't sure what to make of it all. He was just so glad to be there with the sky above him and the earth below him and his best friend there to play with. It didn't take much to make him happy.
"Dad, where are the drinks?" Darry called after unloading a cooler and finding food but no drinks. He grabbed an apple shoved the cooler aside. They would move it when they had the tent up.
"They're under the seat in the cab. Don't drink it all, son, it's got to last five days." Mr. Curtis was grinning from ear to ear. Something about the sun and the sky and the air of the country after a long drive invigorated him. And of course, he enjoyed teasing his sons.
Pony was up in the bed of the truck handing all the stuff he could lift to Will. Soda was directing Will where to go.
"Over there, Billy, by that tree. No, the other tree. On the right. You're other right." All three of the boys were hysterical, laughing so hard they could barely carry anything.
"Soda… you're making my sides hurt," Pony chortled.
The 13 year old raised his eyebrows teasingly. "It'll make your stomach stronger, kid. Then you can have abs of steel, like me!" He pounded his stomach, pretending it was rock hard. Darry snuck up behind him.
"You think you have abs of steel, huh?" He grabbed Sodapop around the waist and threw him over his shoulder. "Abs of steel or not, you're still so light I could lift you with one arm!"
That wasn't saying much for Darry. He could lift a lot with one arm, partly because he worked out and lifted weight at school and partly because he was a big guy in general. He ran around with Soda over his shoulder for a bit. Soda was yelling and laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.
"No… no Darry… please…" he said between gasps.
"Darry, get over here and make use of your muscles. Let Soda work." Their dad was laughing. He obeyed his dad and set Soda on the ground, limp and panting, a grin on his face. After Darry walked away he sprang up and went back to directing Will.
In no time flat they had camp made and looking semi-neat, though all of them knew it wouldn't stay neat for long.
"Dad, can we go off and explore, now?" Pony asked.
"Only if I can come," his father grinned.
"Sure!"
"You know what I'm gonna do?" Soda piped up from behind Ponyboy.
"What, Pepsi-cola?" Mr. Curtis turned to his other son.
"Go swimming!" he tore off his shirt and ran in the direction of the stream. His dad laughed a deep, hearty laugh.
"He's too much like me," he commented to himself. "Pony, you and Will go ahead. I think a swim sounds mighty nice. Besides," he winked, "I owe Soda a dunking."
Pony looked at Will, grinning. "Let's go!"
The boys wandered in their bare feet, blue jeans rolled up above their ankles, wading and climbing and imagining. "I'll bet the people in olden times had more fun than we ever do, don't you think, Pony?" Will asked as they climbed a particularly big maple tree.
"I reckon you're right. No big towns, just open country, huntin' for food and building log houses… That'd be right nice." The boys sighed with contentment. "Hey! I know what we should do!" Pony said out of no where.
"What?" Will asked. "Let's hear it."
Pony smiled. "Well, why don't we build our own fort! I'll bet it wouldn't take too long, with all this wood and stuff around. Maybe Dad would even let us sleep in it one night!"
"Yeah!" Will shouted. "That's tuff idea! We could make a fake entrance with booby traps and then a hidden entrance to really get through!"
"And then Soda and Darry could never get in!" Pony was enthralled. They hopped down from the tree and started searching for a site and logs right away.
By the time they got back, Pony's dad had already started the campfire. Soda's jeans were soaked, and he was pulled a t-shirt back on when the boys walked up.
"Hey boys, I was wondering when you would get back. Find anything interesting?"
Will and Pony exchanged looks. They had sworn secrecy about their fort until it was finished. The boys shrugged. Mr. Curtis laughed. He sensed that there was a secret involved, but he wasn't going to make them tell. Deep down, though, he wished he and Pony could sit on a log by the fire and he could hear all about that day's adventure.
"Where's Darry?" Pony asked, sitting on the ground by Sodapop. Soda snickered, and his Dad's eyes got to dancing.
"He's off getting some firewood. Hey, Soda, go grab the hot dogs out of the cooler."
"Hot dogs!" Soda yelled overenthusiastically. "Yes!" With that he dashed up and ran to the tent, which the cooler was sitting beside.
Will stood looking at the fire for a minute. Then he noted the pile of wood about five feet away. He looked from Pony to it and back. Darry was carrying a plastic bucket that they had packed for holding any fish the caught slowly and carefully, sneaking behind Pony. For a split second, he was going to warn Pony. Mr. Curtis sensed it and made a move to get Will's attention. The boy looked over for a second and understood. He stayed quiet and sat down, making a whistle with the grass.
As quick as a fox after a rabbit, Darry ran up and dumped the bucket all over Pony.
"Hey!" the little boy jumped up, soaking wet, surprised, and a little angry. "You…" He ran after his big brother and tried to tackle him. Darry laughed, easily outrunning his little brother. Then he suddenly stopped, let Pony jump on him, and whipped him to the ground. They rolled around for a little while, until Pony hollered, "Uncle!" and Darry got up. There were wet spots on his shirt, but nothing compared to Pony. He was sopping, but there was a grin on his face.
Soda, Will, and Mr. Curtis were cracking up as they walked back. The sun was setting behind them, and they were pushing each other as they trudged up to camp, laughing all the way.
"Let's start cooking those hot dogs, boys," Mr. Curtis said. All agreed, and he produced sharpened sticks, ketchup, mustard, buns, and of course, the hot dogs.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Alright, well folks. Thank you all for reviewing, I appreciate it. This story has been in my head for a while, and i finally got the guts to submit it. Thank you mrs soda curtis for reviewing. Scarletfugitive, thank you too. I just wanted to tell you, when I said Pony and Darry butted heads, it didn't at all mean they don't get along. I have two brothers 6 years apart. Believe me, they butt heads. But they are soo close, too! I also said at the end of that paragraph "he loved his brothers more than anything." So yeah, they've got a great relationship. A brotherly relationship. That includes butting heads normally. Thank you for your comments, though. They help a lot.