Chapter 7
Later, both leaned against the alley wall in a patch of moonlight. Dally looked at Lucy, shining in the moonlight. Dally had once read that the ancient Greeks believed that there was a goddess of the moon. Well, if there was a moon goddess, she was right beside him now. He smiled and moved closer to her.
Lucy suddenly stood, looking at Dallas, "Dallas, do you love me?"
Dallas' mind began working. What was she talking about? Do I know for sure about my own feelings? Do I just love her for her looks? Then something clicked in is mind. She probably felt the same way about him, so who cared? "Yes" he answered, and he thought he meant it.
Lucy truly smiled with happiness, and lay down beside him, "Great, because I love you too, Dallas Winston."
Dally looked puzzled, so Lucy explained, "I've loved you ever since I saw you in the newspaper. You had beaten up some guy after he had knocked out your friend. You did that because your friend was hurt. It was so gallant and brave of you, and you just looked so good for a ten-year-old, I just had to meet you before I die." She smiled, "I hope we'll be able to see each other again."
Dally then said something even he was surprised about, "So you want to just talk now?"
Lucy nodded eagerly, and Dally grinned.
A few more hours later, Dallas and Lucy started leaving the alley, each with a new hoard of information about the other.
Lucy kissed Dallas once, and then gave him her phone number and address; "My uncle hates me, so there'll be no problem with you coming over."
Dallas did the same, "My old man don't care either." He stroked her hair, and then turned to look for Tim. The alley had really gotten dark now and his vision was badly affected by it. Suddenly screams rang out, and Dally went stiff with shock as he heard a gunshot, which was followed by several others. Dally grabbed Lucy and the two ran out of the alley. Lucy looked terrified, and searched Dally's face as if begging for an answer and at the same time extremely relieved that both of them were still alive. Dally stared at her, but shook as a horrible shock ran through him.
Tim and Sandy were still in the alley.
"Tim!" He ran back into the alley, pulling out his switchblade. He continued to call over the screams and gunfire, "Tim! Tim!"
"Dally! Help me!" Tim came charging from the other direction, bleeding from his side and leg.
Dally grabbed him and pulled him out of the dark alley. Lucy grabbed Tim and held him as he stared in horrified shock as Dally came out with Sandy, who was also bleeding. Dally staggered out while holding up Sandy. Lucy, who had found that Tim could stand on his own, rushed to Sandy with a look of horror on her face. Sandy's eyes, wide in shock, kept staring into Lucy's. Dally looked her over. Sandy had been shot in her arm, both legs, and when Dally looked at the back of her head, he turned and threw up. Lucy began crying as her cousin slumped over, dead. Tim was devastated and suddenly yelled out "Dally!" then fainted in a limp heap. Dally checked him over too.
Shock. And his wounds weren't serious. Lucy had stopped crying, but still looked ready to as she closed her cousin's eyes and covered her face. Dally took off his shirt and covered Tim with it. After putting on his leather jacket again, he turned to Lucy, "I'm sorry."
Lucy shook her head, "Don't be, Dally. You did everything you could," She stiffened as sirens were heard in the distance. Dally looked to see three police cars and two motorcycles coming to them. Policemen came running by the dozen, yelling at Dally, "You there. Hands up. Now."
Lucy shrieked, "Run Dally, run!' She knew Dally would get arrested for a crime he didn't commit, and she would save him. She got in the way of a policeman, 'Damn it, Dally, run!"
And Dally ran. He ran as fast as he could, as far away as possible. He was sick with shame about leaving Tim and Lucy to those morons, but he couldn't help them by going to jail, and maybe even the electric chair, for a crime he didn't commit. He began crying as he ran, and he thought of Sandy, Lucy and Tim. In his grief, he ran blindly down an alley and into at least twelve figures. He screamed as he backed up into a corner. He screamed his name out, hoping that would help. Then the one light in the lot brightened up and Dally could see who it was.
He had found Bill, Roy and the Miller Gang.
"Dally, what's wrong?" Roy pushed his way through the crowd and looked hard into his eyes.
"You aren't like this Dally,' Bill looked surprised, 'are you feeling fine?"
But Dally just broke down and sobbed.
One member made a comment on Dallas. A few laughed, but one look from Frank Miller silenced them. He motioned for his cousin, Jeff, and then nodded at his other cousin, Matt, "Matt, you're in charge until I get back. Jeff, let's get this poor little kid out of here. Something's happened and he came to tell his pals about it. He won't talk here, so let's get him out of here."
Chapter 8
Later, at around 2:00 in the morning, Dally was telling Bill, Roy, Moe, Ralph, Jeff and Frank what had happened. They were in Ralph's house. Dally told them everything that had happened. Frank grinned when Dally told about Lucy and Sandy, 'Good on you Dal' he had said, and if the time weren't so urgent, Bill and Roy would have agreed. At the end, Dally almost started crying again when he thought of the fact that he had run away and had abandoned Lucy and Tim. No one thought less of him though, and Frank supported him, "Hey, you were about to get arrested. We have a rule in my gang that it don't matter if you abandon the other members if the cops show. Besides, Tim will be fine, and even if Lucy what's-her-name hates your guts, well, at least you got to kiss her first." He laughed, thinking about it.
Dally was also thinking about Lucy. Thinking of that time in the patch of moonlight when Lucy had said she loved him. No one had ever said that to him before. The gang was his family, and there were very little arguments. But they just weren't enough sometimes. Dally had been enchanted by Lucy's appearance at first, but the hour they spent talking had revealed a lot about her.
She was suffering as much as he was. Her uncle was a drunk who kept slapping her, her sister was away from home, graduating from college, and she was desperately in love. It seemed to Dally that from the way she talked, Lucy had poured all her secrets and inner problems out for him. No one had ever trusted him like that. The gang mostly kept their inner conflict to themselves, not wanting help, with a few exceptions, like Bill's outburst only last night. Last night, however, was a long time ago. That was now in the far past.
Frank and Jeff left soon after Dallas had finished telling the story, and Ralph went to bed after Dally had felt better. Roy had gone with Frank, but just as Bill was about to leave, Dally yelled out, "Bill wait." Bill turned. "Come back here."
Bill sat back down, "Yeah?"
Dallas felt really silly asking Bill Florence this, but he could not stop, "Has anyone ever told you they loved you?"
Bill looked at Dally with a look in his eyes that hid what he thought. Then, eventually, Bill responded, "No"
Dally suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for Bill, who had got up again, "I'm sorry." That was the second time that night Dally had said he was sorry, and he got the same reaction. "Don't be, it's not your fault," Bill shrugged. He left, leaving Dally with his thoughts.
Chapter 9
Tim Shepard was back after two days in the hospital. His injuries were not serious, though he would be limping for at least a month, the doctors said. Tim came back, looking for Dally. "Hey Dal, you all right?" Tim had said cheerfully to Dallas after giving him a playful punch. Dally felt terrible, "Save it Shepard. I don't deserve to be treated like that. I shouldn't have run off like I did, I…"
"Look, man. It's all cool between us. What could you have done? I probably would have done the same." Tim was still Tim. Seeing that made Dallas feel a lot better. He laughed with the others, and accepted a cigarette from Moe. Tim looked at Dallas suddenly, "You know, that girl, Lucy, they questioned her and me on what happened."
Dallas froze. "What did they ask?"
Tim chuckled, "They wanted a detailed story of what happened, and all that bullshit. Lucy confirmed that you were with her and had helped Sandy and me out of that alley. Trouble is, those boys in the station still want to question you. They don't think you did it, at least, they're considering other things that could have happened."
Tim said a few other things, but Dally had tuned him out. He was thinking about Lucy. He still had her address and phone number; he would go see her.
Dally stopped at a house in one of the worst parts of town. It was in the suburbs, a long way from where Dally hung out. Dally looked at the house. It was in bad shape, considering what Lucy's uncle was like.
At least it was quiet. Dally could hear the soft plucking sounds of a banjo from the patch of grass seven houses down the street that was supposed to be the park. When Dally looked in the direction, he could see a group of hippies listening to a banjo player. Next door to Lucy, a senior man was reading a book on the porch of his house. Dally could barely read the title of the book, something like For whom the Bell Tolls. Dally was puzzled by that, and he wondered why a book would have that kind of a title. He didn't have too much time to think about it, because suddenly there were screams, door slamming, and Lucy ran out of the house swearing as her uncle bellowed at her to get out.
Lucy was still herself. She must have gotten over her cousin's death fast enough. She was muttering swear words as she walked of the porch, but she lit up quickly when she saw Dallas. "Dally! God, its good to see you." She exclaimed, running up to him. Dally didn't say word as he took her into his arms and kissed her.
After a minute or two, Lucy looked at him with a bit of concern, "Dally, I'm so glad that you're not in jail. When they were questioning me, I was so nervous about what to say. Plus, Sandy's, well…"
Dally thought she'd cry again but she didn't. She just hesitated, saying nothing. Dally broke the silence, "Say, uh, Lucy, what happened in there, your uncle annoying you again?"
Lucy nodded bitterly, "Yeah. Especially since he heard about what had happened to Sandy. He started yelling at me, screaming that I had killed her. It's not the first time that he's kicked me out, though" She added when she saw Dallas' face, "He's hit me before, and I catch him staring at me once in a while. God, I sometimes think he'll stop staring and really live up to what he says he'll do,"
Dallas said nothing. He wondered how she could live with all this. At least he could fight back if his old man tried pushing him around.
"Lucy, I know an okay café right by where I live. I'll treat you to supper sometime if you want." Dally felt really stupid asking Lucy this, and he was sure that she would think so too.
On the contrary, Lucy looked at him with a look of delight in her eyes, "Really? Thank you so much Dally." Soon it was settled between the two of them. Dallas would come and pick her up the next day, and they would eat at the café.
Dally walked down the street, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Lucy had kissed him before going back inside her house.
He officially had a date now, but he had two problems; where would he get a car, and where would he find some cash? He had to think fast about this, as they had agreed on tomorrow at seven. As he walked down the street, he could here Elvis Presley on some guy's record player.
"Damn it." He cursed as he tried to think of a way around these two problems. He thought of people who might have a solution to this. Ralph? No way. Roy? Probably not. Frank Miller? Yeah right. Dally couldn't think of anyone. Then, something clicked in his head. Moe closed his shop at 6:45 for fifteen-minute break. He could drive Dally and Lucy to the café before re-opening his store.
'Great. One down, one to go,' Dally thought to himself. All he needed now was money to pay for lunch.
The next morning, Dally arranged the ride to and from Lucy's house. Moe was happy to do something for his friend. But Dally still needed the money.
"Hey Dal! I got something for you!" It was Ralph.
Dally turned as Ralph ran up to him, breathless.
Ralph handed his hand out to Dally, indicating he take what he was holding, "It's from Arty Chop. He struck gold, oil, and diamonds in the latest race bets. He's giving all his friends a bit of what he won, and even then he'll keep six hundred for himself. Man, if I had his luck, I'd be the richest man in the world."
"If you had Arty Chop's luck, you'd be on the streets in a week." Dally stared at the rolled up bills, which totalled up to about a hundred and fifty dollars. Was this his lucky day? All his problems were now solved, and thanks to Arty Chop, he could keep a little extra for himself.
Arty Chop, or Arthur Chopkins to the police, was a nineteen- year-old New York greaser who was either penniless or rich, and his luck could change in a matter of hours. Dally liked old Arty Chop. Arty considered Dally a friend ever since Dally had gotten him out of a spot of trouble only six months ago. Arty Chop was the kind of guy everyone wanted as a friend; it had nothing to do with his knack for winning (and losing) small fortunes. Arty was a very optimistic guy with not a care in the world for what happened outside of New York. He had an excellent charisma that everyone loved, and now he had saved Dally's butt.