Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the play/song "42nd Street"
Chapter Seven
Dr. Murphy's Sessions With Ponyboy Curtis
Dr. Murphy: So, Ponyboy, how are you today?
Ponyboy Curtis: OK, I guess.
DM: I'm proud of you for talking about your parents and Aurora the other day. That took courage.
PC: Thanks.
DM: What were your feelings after our session?
PC: I missed them. I went to my room and cried.
DM: Did crying make you feel better?
PC: Yes.
DM: Then I have no problem with that.
DM: Tell me about your brothers, Ponyboy.
PC: Well, Darry is my oldest brother. When he was still in school, he played football. He was really popular. He got a football scholarship, but then mom and dad died, so he couldn't go to college. Darry works really hard, he wants to make sure that Soda doesn't get sent away and that once I get out of here, I can live with him and Soda. Soda…he's not like anyone else I know. He loves horses, and he always seems to understand what I'm talking about, even if I don't make any sense. He doesn't drink, but he can get drunk off going to a drag race, or dancing. Do you know what I'm talking about?
DM: Yes.
PC: Soda never liked school. He dropped out; he works at a DX now.
DM: Is he happy there?
PC: Is he happy! In his mind, Heaven couldn't be better.
DM: Tell me this, Ponyboy. After your parents died, do you feel like you and your brothers got closer after your parents died.
PC: I hardly remember anything after they died. I remember being depressed, and cutting myself. But in a way, I guess we were closer after they died. Before, if I'd been acting depressed, they'd leave everything to mom and dad. Now that they're dead, they paid a lot more attention to me. That's why I'm here.
DM: Where do you think you'd be if you weren't here, Ponyboy?
PC: Dead.
End Tape
Now
Leonardo and I are playing poker at a table in the living room. There's a TV, but all the jock-type guys always watch football on it. If you know what's good for you, you won't get in their way.
"Crap," Leonardo said after he lost another hand. He's really bad at poker.
I just sort of laughed.
"You laughing at me?" Leonardo asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
We were about to start another hand, when a nurse walked in the room.
"There's a phone call for Ponyboy Curtis. Is he here?"
I stood up, "That's me. Who is it?"
"I don't know," the nurse said, "follow me, please."
I got to the office where the phone was waiting. I was afraid of what the person would say. What if Darry had fallen off a roof or Soda had gotten in a car wreck? I nervously picked up the phone and put it up to my ear.
"Hello," I said. I wasn't expecting what came next.
"Ponyboy. Do you know who this is?" a voice said.
It was Aurora.
"Rory!" my voice squeaked with excitement, "where are you? How did you know I was here? Are you OK?"
"One question at a time," Aurora said. "I called your house. Darry told me. I'm OK for the most part. I'm in New York City."
"Why are you calling? You always wanted to go to New York," I said.
"Because," she said. "It's not what I thought it would be at all. It's loud, expensive, and dirty, I can't get a job anywhere because I'm so young. It's cold here, and I've never been so hungry in my life. I want to come home." She started crying.
"Don't cry," I said, "people are looking for you, you know that? There are missing person ads everywhere."
"They won't be looking this far north," Aurora said.
"Come get me, please," she begged.
"Of course I'll come," I said.
"Hurry," she pleaded. "I'll die before too long. My rabbit already died."
"You don't have a rabbit," I said.
"Not anymore," she said.
It got quiet on the other end.
"Aurora?" I asked.
No response.
"Aurora, if you're there, I need to go. I'll make sure you get back to Tulsa." I said. "I promise."
I hung up the phone and turned to one of the nurses.
"I need to talk to Dr. Murphy," I said. "Now."
Exert From Ponyboy's Memory
Aurora always wanted to go to New York. The closest she ever got was when she got a staring role in the musical 42nd street. I hardly saw her in the weeks before the performance, but when I did she would start singing songs from the play. I think I knew the whole musical within a week, and I hadn't even seen it.
"You have to come," Aurora said one day when she was hanging out at my house. "I've saved you a seat and everything."
"Of course I'm coming," I said. I went to all of Aurora's plays. Whether I paid attention was another matter.
"Opening night is Monday," she said.
On Monday, I got to the theater early. Aurora had said that I could come backstage to talk to her before the play started. It took me a while to find her; it always does. If you're in a play, you have to wear a lot of makeup, and it's hard to recognize people. When I finally found Aurora, she was getting yelled at by her mom.
"I was famous after my first play," her mom said. She was lying; she did that a lot to make Aurora feel bad.
"I'm trying, but…" Aurora started.
"No," her mom said, "you're not, not near hard enough. If you really cared, you'd be on Broadway by now. Let me tell you, if the reviews don't make a point of saying how good you were; you're going to wish you were never born."
"I already wish I was never born," Aurora said.
"Well, that makes two of us," her mom yelled over her shoulder as she walked away.
Aurora sat down in a chair and started crying. I decided that I should try to comfort her.
"Aurora," I said softly.
She looked up. "Pony. You came."
"Of course I did," I said. "Come on, don't cry; you'll mess up your makeup."
"She's just so…" she started.
"I know," I replied.
"The reviews never make a special point to talk about anyone. I'm afraid to go home, I know she'll beat me up," Aurora said.
"Then don't go home," I said. "Stay at our house. Dally and Steve do it all the time."
"I couldn't do that," she said.
"Yes you can, isn't that better that getting beat up?" I asked.
"Yeah, but I'd have to go home sometime," she said, "and it'd just be worse then."
We were quiet for a few minutes, then a theater worker walked up to me and said: "Excuse me, but you need to find your seat. The play starts in ten minutes."
"Bye, Aurora," I said, "break a leg."
The musical was actually pretty good. Aurora hit a few bad notes, but nobody's perfect. I hoped her mom would figure that out. When everyone came out to take their bows, Aurora got a standing ovation. Several other people did too, but that didn't matter to me. I was proud of her.
Once the play was over, I made my way through the crowd, and backstage. Aurora was crying again.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I was so awful," she said.
"You
were great," I said, "You even got a standing ovation."
"So
did everyone else," she said. "Mom's going to kill me."
"I'd better go," she said, "the sooner I face her, the less time I'll have to dread getting beat up."
The way she said it let me know that there wasn't going to be any changing her mind, so I let her go. Like she had predicted, the review of the play in the paper didn't say anything about her. I didn't see her for three days. Everyone was worried about her, so Dally finally went to her house to see if she was OK.
Needless to say, she wasn't. She was bruised, and there were cuts all over her. Her right hand was broken. Dally said that he had found her tied up in a closet. Aurora didn't go home for a week, and when she finally did, her mom had barely even noticed she was gone. I didn't think that it was fair that Aurora did so well in the play, but she got beat up for it. I wished there was something I could do to help her, but I couldn't think of anything.
