Chapter Four
Now
There's a new guy here.
His name is Leonardo, he's Italian or something; he has a weird accent. I have to share a room with him. I've been in a room by myself since I got here, and I liked it. I didn't want to share a room, but I guess I should be nice to him. His name is worse than mine.
"Hey Ponyboy," Leonardo said. He could at least go by Leon.
"Yeah," I replied.
"We should start a people with weird names club."
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Do you say anything else?" Leonardo laughed.
"No," I replied.
"But it'd be kind of cool, we could have people with cool names, like: Ponyboy, Leonardo, Mona Lisa, Romeo, Aurora…"
"What did you say?" I demanded.
"We should start a club…" Leonardo said.
"Not that, the last name," I said.
"Aurora?" Leonardo asked.
I was off the bed in a flash. I had Leonardo by the neck; I was pushing him against the wall.
"Don't you ever say that name!" I yelled.
Leonardo stared at me blankly; that only made me madder.
"Do you hear me? Don't you ever say that name again!" I yelled.
Leonardo started screaming, and several employees ran in. They dragged me away, and put me in the cool down room.
All that I could think about was what Leonardo had said. Aurora. The name echoed in my head. I didn't want to think about Aurora. It hurt too much.
Dr. Murphy's Sessions With Ponyboy Curtis. Tape C0785.
Dr. Murphy: Well, Ponyboy, I hear you got into a fight with Leonardo.
Ponyboy Curtis: Yeah.
DM: He says that it was sudden. You just attacked him.
PC: That's right.
DM: Any reason why?
PC: He said her name.
DM: Whose?
PC: Aurora.
PC: I didn't mean to hurt him; it just hurts to talk about her. To even think about her. She was more than my best friend.
Here, Ponyboy starts crying
DM: It's OK, Ponyboy, Leonardo is fine.
PC: I don't care about him! I care about Aurora, I'm afraid she's dead.
DM: Talking about her will help.
PC: It won't bring her back. It won't make my parents be alive. Talking isn't anything! Talking is bullshit! Fuck talking!
DM: You're very angry right now, Ponyboy.
PC: Yes, I'm angry! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out!
DM: Ponyboy, calm down.
PC: If you were me would you calm down? Your parents are gone, your best friend could be dead, and you only get to see your brothers for three hours on Sunday. If you were in my shoes, doc, you would not calm down!
DM: Calm down.
PC: crying I didn't mean to hurt him.
DM: Leonardo will be fine.
Here there is a long pause
PC: I wanted to get out of here so I could look for Aurora. But I guess I won't be leaving for a while, huh?
DM: Yes, you've shown us that you're not as mentally stable as we thought you were.
PC: What'll make me better?
DM: Talking is a good start.
PC: Fuck talking.
DM: You're very angry now, Ponyboy. I've never seen you like this.
PC: So?
DM: We'll continue your session tomorrow. Hopefully you'll have your temper under control by then.
End Tape.
Exert From Ponyboy's Memory
I was nine. Darry had gotten really sick, he was in the hospital. He had to get his tonsils out. Soda, as usual was taking everything lightly; making jokes, that kind of stuff. I, on the other hand, was worried about Darry. I thought he was going to die, but I didn't tell mom or dad. I figured they had enough to worry about, and knowing their eldest son was going to die would only make things worse.
During Darry's surgery, Soda, my parents and I all stayed in the hospital's waiting room. Mom was crying, and dad was trying to comfort her. Soda turned to me and said.
"I'm bored, how about you?"
"Yeah," I replied. While I was worried about Darry, I was kind of bored.
"Come on," Soda said as he got out of his chair.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Exploring," Soda replied simply.
"Mom and dad will see," I said. "They'll be mad!"
"They're not paying attention," Soda said. "They're too worried about Darry. If you're not coming, I'll go without you."
I decided to go with Soda. It was better than sitting around doing nothing. We left the waiting room and looked at mom and dad. They hadn't even noticed we had left!
"Come on!" Soda said as he grabbed me by my jacket sleeve and pulled me down the hall.
We got some weird looks from doctors and nurses, but they all left us alone except for one nurse. She was old and had gray hair. I remember her breath smelled like she hadn't brushed her teeth in over a year. She walked over to Soda and me and said.
"Where do you boys think you're going?"
"Uh…" Soda said.
"We're looking for the bathroom." I finished.
"Oh," the nurse said, "follow me."
The nurse led us through some hallways. They all looked the same; they were white with doors every few feet. Finally, we were standing in front of a door with a sign on it. It said 'boys'.
"There, now please stay out of trouble," the nurse said.
Soda and I walked into the bathroom, waited for a second to make sure the nurse was gone, and then we burst out laughing.
"We're looking for the bathroom! Great save Pony!" Soda said.
"Thanks. Where do we go from here?" I asked.
"I dunno," Soda said. "We'll just need to avoid that nurse."
"She scares me," I said.
"She smelled like fish," Soda remarked.
After a few minutes, Soda and I left the bathroom and started walking around again. We went to all the floors, and looked around. We got tired after a while, so we started looking for the waiting room. We checked three floors, and still couldn't find it; I was scared.
"Soda, what if we never find it?" I asked. "We could die in here."
"Shut up, Pony," Soda replied.
On the fourth floor we checked we found a door. There was a sign on the door that said 'morgue'
"Soda, what's a morgue?" I asked.
"I dunno," Soda replied. "Let's find out."
We opened the door and walked inside. There were a bunch of things that looked like filing cabinets.
"I bet this is where they keep the records of who's born and stuff," Soda said.
"Let's see if we're here," I said.
"Good idea," Soda replied.
I opened one of the filing cabinets and saw, not a bunch of papers, but someone's feet. I screamed. Soda walked over to where I was. He saw the feet too, and he started screaming.
A bunch of doctors came in and took us out of the morgue. They didn't seem too mad, but they looked really young. I think they were interns, and they thought that two kids leaving their parents and going into the morgue was pretty funny.
When we got back to the waiting room, mom and dad had finally noticed that we were gone.
"Where have you been?" Mom said as she hugged Soda and me.
"Uh…" I said.
"We went to the bathroom," Soda finished.
We were laughing about that for months.
