Title- The Tale of Ronnie
Chapter Title- Can I Have A Dog?
Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders
Reviewers:
BlackLightningDX- Nate was based completely on that girl from camp. She didn't talk and she didn't like chocolate. I mean, how can you not like chocolate? Ronnie, well some of my little sister went into her.
Note- It's hard to write as a seven year old, that was oh-so long ago. The 31st of August marks my Grandma's one year death anniversary. That's why I got this out so fast; I'm not going to be on the computer tomorrow. There's just a lot to do. I need to go to the cemetery and all that jazz.
I can almost turn the perfect cartwheel. It's actually quite difficult. I was half way through one when somebody grabbed my hands and tugged. I fell onto my knees. I was glad I didn't get hurt. I looked up to see Nate staring down at me. I would hit anybody else, but Nate was different. He gave me a smile and I smiled back.
"Wanna learn how to do that?" I asked him. He nodded his head happily. We spent most of the afternoon working on his cartwheels. He couldn't do them as good as I can, but he was okay. We went inside for lunch. I wondered what we would be having for lunch.
"Mama," I whined coming inside. I knew she hated it when I called her mama. It got on her nerves. I don't know why I do it. I love my parents to death. I heard her groan.
"What's for lunch?" I asked her. She was inside the kitchen and I saw she was making peanut butter and jelly.
"Mom, you know I don't like this," I told her. She put a sandwich in front of me. I pulled the bread off the top to look inside. Good, it wasn't peanut butter and jelly. It was ham and cheese. I ran over to her and gave her a hug. She always remembered what I didn't like, and what I did. Nate had gotten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I hate peanut butter, it's disgusting. I grabbed two cokes off the counter and gave one to Nate. He nodded his head as if to thank me. If mom wasn't in the kitchen he would've said something.
"Where'd dad go?" I asked noticing that we were the only three people in the house. She shrugged. What if, what if they had a fight? What would happen?
"Did you guys have a fight?" I asked. She turned around and looked at me.
"Never, now eat your lunch," she told me. I took a bite of my sandwich and wrinkled my nose. She put it on rye bread. I didn't like rye bread. I went to go put it in the garbage.
"Are you wasting a perfectly good sandwich?" Mom asked seeing my get ready to dump it into the garbage pail.
"No, it's not good. I don't like rye bread. Besides, I wouldn't be wasting it if we had a dog," I answered. She rolled her eyes. I asked for a dog at least twice a day.
"Ronnie, we don't have enough money to afford a dog," she told me for about the millionth time. I pouted and stomped off to my bedroom. I have tried the grin before, but it didn't work in this case. Maybe I wouldn't be able to get away with murder. But, then again, she's my mom. She's known me since I was born.
I looked for a coloring book and crayons. I liked to color, and I'm very good at staying inside the lines. Nate can also color real well, but he prefers to draw. He's a really good artist. I envy him for that sometimes.
I heard him come in. Everybody always thinks he is so quiet, but you can actually tell when he comes into a room. You can hear him walking. I waved to him and he waved back. He got out a few pieces of paper and started to draw some things. He drew some monkeys.
His favorite animals are monkeys. My favorite animals are dogs. I really want one, but mom always says no. I've never asked dad. When mom says no, always ask dad. I'd ask dad when he came back home. I wish I knew where he went. He and mom didn't have a fight, I can tell. Mom wouldn't have been like that if they had a fight. Mom would've been crying her eyeballs out.
Nate drew a bunch of monkeys and then he handed the piece of paper to me. He draws things and I color them. I heard the front door open and I ran out to see who it was.
"Dad," I called and gave him a hug. I waited until mom left the room.
"Daddy, can I get a dog?" I asked him using my puppy dog eyes. I hoped he would be able to give into that.
"What did your mom say?" he asked back. Man, I couldn't lie to him. He would talk to mom about it if I said she said yes, and they'd find out I didn't tell the truth.
"No," I told him and frowned.
"You can't have a dog, we don't have the money," he told me. Why did they care so much about the money? It didn't really matter that much did it? I sighed and went back into the bedroom. I sat back down next to Nate.
"Dad said we can't have a dog," I told him. I really wanted a dog. Nate just shrugged and continued to draw.
"Can you draw me a dog?" I asked him. He nodded proudly and got a new piece of paper and began to draw a dog. He finished it and gave it to me.
"Thank you," I told him. I gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. He wrinkled his nose and wiped it with his hand.
"I don't got cooties ya know."