And now, the epilogue. Thanks for reading this. I hoped you liked reading about Cinnamon because I'm liking writing about her. In fact, she's been bothering me to give you her events of the book, so I may be working on that. Peace. -- Sox

Epilogue

One Year Later

To: Cinnamon, Laura, Shelly

From: Ponyboy

Subj: Darry's column

Date: 10-17-06

Hey guys,

Here's the piece I wrote about Darry. Laura, can you print this out for your dad?

Love,

P.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

A year ago this month, I buried my father for the second time.

My actual father, Darrel Curtis Sr., died in a car wreck with my mother when I was 13. My oldest brother, Darrel Curtis Jr., became my guardian. He died last year, of chronic myeloid leukemia, at 41.

Darry was only 20 when our parents died. Instead of sticking me and our brother and sister in foster homes and high-tailing it back to college, Darry quit school, took on two hard, laboring jobs, and hollered at me almost daily to study hard and make something of myself. It wasn't easy, losing my parents at such an early age and suddenly having to look at my big brother, with whom I had not much in common, as an authority figure. It was a rough first year. There was a period of time when we fought almost constantly and I am ashamed to say I tried to get my brother Sodapop and my sister Cinnamon to take my side against him. My excuse is that I was young and self-centered, and I was certainly too self-centered to understand that Darry had been orphaned too and now faced the incredible and daunting task of making sure that Soda, Cinny and me made it adulthood.

But make it we did, and Darry is the reason. He's the reason Soda owns his own business, the reason Cinnamon is a wonderful nurse and the reason I was able to go to college and, eventually, land what has been a dream job. He is the reason I like to think I'm a decent father, because I learned from him when to fuss and when to sit back and wait to pick up the pieces. When he died, I hadn't lived with him in almost 15 years, but I will miss him every day for the rest of my life. He was an amazing example and I spent most of my life not knowing that.

In February, my wife will give birth to our second son, whom we will name after my fathers. I'm not sure if he can be Darrel III since I'm not a Darrel myself, but his birth certificate will say that all the same. I will try to teach my boys to love and respect each other and mostly to be there for each other and lean on each other. I will tell them that as long as they remember they are brothers first and men second, everything will turn out all right. I will tell Danny and Darry all about my fathers – both strong, handsome men, who loved long and well and left us all too soon. I will try to teach them to "stay gold" – a little Robert Frost-ism that reminds me that life is short, love is long and you're never too old to wrestle with your siblings. I will do all that as best I can, and I will do it in memory of Darry.

-- Ponyboy M. Curtis