Chapter Nine
"He aint riding in the cab of this truck with us." I sassed to Darry and kept my gaze out the half open window of the passenger door. "He can ride in the back by himself." Darry ignored my comment as he pulled up outside of Buck's place. I made a fist and pushed down the lock knob on the truck door.
Laughing, Darry reached across my body to pull the lock knob up with two fingers. I let out a loud sigh of annoyance as Dallas pulled open the truck door. I scooted across the vinyl seat closer to Darry. I tried to ignore Dally by staring straight ahead out the windshield.
"Darry thanks for comin' to get me." Dally said then looked at me with a smile as I tried to stay far away from him in the crowded cab. "So how'bout it Scout? You and I gonna have another go at it?" Dally made a set of playful fists and lightly punched the air. Darry laughed but I didn't. Instead I worked hard at keeping an angry silence.
Dallas shifted his weight and put his arm up along the back of the seat. "Listen, I just wanted you to know that out of all the little sisters you're my favorite and you've always been. Savvy?" He looked out the window then back at me.
I looked toward Dally and caught his eyes with mine. Nervously he bit his lip, blinked and turned his vision to the scenery outside. "Those two'll come back when they're ready, they're probably just scared." Darry and I sat quiet hoping Dally would ramble on and tell us where Ponyboy was. "Don't worry about Ponyboy so much. He's a tough kid, I'm sure he's fine."
"Oh yeah he's tough alright." I sarcastically disagreed. "He's so tough the socs nearly cut his head off in the alley when they jumped him after that movie. He's so tough he just about drown in the fountain at the park. He's so tough…" Darry elbowed me hard in the ribs to interrupted my ranting. I respected his decision for me to hush even though I didn't agree with it.
Dally looked back at me, his brown eyes showed concern and he was anxious to change the subject of conversation. "Hey Darry, turn down this alley." Dallas pointed to a road that ran between the houses in the neighborhood near the grocery store. "I heard the kid who Sylvia was two-timing me with lives somewhere round here." Darry took the turn and the truck bumped its way down the alley leading us to the rear end of the Chevy Bel-Aire I had seen earlier. I took in a shaky breath and worried as a few dozen feet away an angry pack of socs were huddled around a greaser yelling and looking to skin him.
Darry slammed on the brakes and the worn truck tires skidded on the loose gravel. The three of us reached forward to the dashboard to stop our forward momentum. Looking out the window we noticed the greaser was Two-Bit. He was backed up against a worn white picket fence guarding a dozen bottles of beer and holding the socs at bay with his cherished black handled switchblade.
On instinct Darry and Dallas jumped out of the truck and headed to the heart of the confrontation. Inside the truck I pulled the doors shut and locked them because I knew what the socs were capable of. From the safety of the truck I watched as Dally grabbed a soc and quickly worked him over with three quick punches. Darry pulled a second soc close and threatened to beat him within an inch of his life if he and his friends didn't get the hell out of there. Off to the side, and out of harm's way, I could hear and see Two-Bit bent over in laughter as the socs gathered their wounded and scrambled back into their fancy car. Before the Bel-Aire pulled away a few cocky boys yelled that they'd be back to teach us all a lesson at the rumble.
Two-Bit pushed his switchblade back into his pocket, reached down and scooped his two six-packs of beer from the alleyway. "Thanks for stopping by!" He joked with Darry and Dally as the trio walked back to the truck.
"You looked like you were holding your own." Darry commented and slapped his friend on the back.
"Yeah I was, but if you hadn't come by I may have been stuck dancing with those fairies all night." Two-Bit put the bottles in the box of the truck. "And then my beer would have been warm." Two-Bit looked into the truck window and grinned at me before he jumped into the box of the truck with Dally following behind him.
Darry reached through the half open truck window to unlock the driver's side door. He climbed back in and leaned toward me. "We're going to go back to the DX station to be sure Soda has a ride home. I don't want him walking with all the trouble in the neighborhood." After speaking with Darry, Sodapop decided cut out of work a few minutes early for the ride.
Darry pulled the truck up to the curb, I got out and headed up the front porch steps. Just as I passed through the door the telephone started ringing. The shrill sound of the bell caused me to freeze and Darry walked into me pushing my body forward and nearly tripping himself.
"Scout!" Darry barked, "keep it moving would ya?"
I stepped to my left and the phone rang again. At that moment Darry realized why I was hesitant. He reached down and picked up the receiver as Soda, Two-Bit and Dally crowded into the living room. "Hello." Darry said, rather than asked. There was a familiar pause followed by another greeting from my brother. "Hello?" Darry waved his hand trying to tell the other boys to be quiet. No one answered so he issued a violent threat, the line went dead.
Immediately my heart rate began to accelerate and I looked to Darry's eyes for answers. "Who do you think it was?"
Darry placed the receiver back onto the base. "I don't know Sis, probably just some kids trying to spook us or something."
"Well they're doing a fine job of it!" I yelled out.
Without warning Sodapop wrapped his arms around me and playfully tackled me to the ground. "Oh come on Sissy! You're a tough girl you can take'em!" Soda punched me softly with a few left hooks then pinned me to the floor. I couldn't help but laugh and Two-Bit couldn't help but join in. He dove to his knees and banged his hand on the floor.
"One … two … three!" Two-Bit grabbed Soda's arm and proclaimed him the champion by knock out.
Darry congratulated his little buddy before stepping over the three of us. "Come on ya'll dinner smells good, let's eat!"
Shortly after dinner Darry had to leave for his nightshift at the railroad and the boys decided to wander down to the vacant lot. I wasn't interested in going to the lot, but I was even less interested in being in the house at night by myself. I ran to my room, grabbed a sweater, put on my shoes and met up with the boys in the kitchen. Two-Bit gathered his two packs of beers to take along. To lighten his friend's load Dally pulled out a bottle of beer and opened it for himself.
Tim Sheppard and his outfit were already hanging out when we arrived. With the firelight from the two piles of burning wood I recognized the Weston brothers and my eye caught a couple in the shadows. The two were lying in the grass making out when Dally strolled over and kicked the boy in the ribs.
"Skibby! You're gonna get VD putting your tongue in that dirty mouth." The group buckled over with laughter and Skibby came up for air.
He turned to smile at Dally. "Well with a face like mine I gotta take what I can get!" I looked at the boy, he was tall and slender with a big nose, a long face and dirty teeth. I couldn't help but agree with him.
"Shut up Winston!" The dark haired girl on the ground shrieked. "You're just jealous."
"You're right," Dallas said sarcastically and turned away to light his cigarette. "I'm jealous I aint got your crabs in my pants."
The teenage girl pushed herself up out of the dirt and I recognized her trashy look, it was Cindy. She buttoned her blouse and tucked it into her short skirt. "I wouldn't go with you anyways, I heard from Silvia that you aint worth spit in a pot."
Hearing Silva's name only further fueled Dally's nasty attitude. "Know what Cindy? I got a rule, I don't hit girls, but my sis Scout does." Dally let out a wicked laugh and threw his thumb in my direction. I noticed a wide smile on Sodapop's face as the crowd ooed and laughed. Cindy looked my way as Dally flashed a cocky grin. "I suggest you just shut up or I'll have my girl work you over. You wouldn't want to forget your own name again, now would ya?"
The crowd laughed harder recalling the lucky punch I had used against Cindy months before when she picked a fight with me at a football game. Cindy pulled her sweater back onto her shoulders and growled under her breath. "Come on Skibby, let's get outta here." Skibby didn't listen. He came with his gang and he was staying with his gang. Cindy looked lost for a moment then sassed, "I'm out of here," and she left.
The Sheppard gang was different from our outfit when it came to girls. No one in Tim Sheppard's gang seemed to mind as Cindy stormed off into the darkness. A girl in our gang would never have to walk alone. I actually felt sad for her as she disappeared.
To keep the party rolling Two-Bit began handing out his beers to those who didn't' bring their own. When he came to my brother and I, we passed, but that didn't appease Two-Bit. "Oh come on Scout!" He razed me. "You know you want some. You aint gotta be shy just cause Soda's here, he don't care none." I laughed and politely refused a second time. Suddenly Two-Bit offered another suggestion as he pulled two rectangular glass bottles out of the pockets of his leather jacket. There was no doubt the bottles were stolen. "I bet you're holding out for the good stuff. What's your poison? Vodka or whiskey?"
Neither," I answered and sat down on a log next to my brother.
Two-Bit cocked his eyebrow and grinned. "You sure? This here whiskey is so strong it'll even kill those VD germs in Skibby's mouth!" The group laughed and Two-Bit unscrewed the top and handed the bottle to me.
Undecidedly I took the liquor in my hand and thought about the brandy I had drank with James. It was warm and burned my throat. I wondered if whiskey would do the same or if it tasted better. I looked over at Sodapop. He didn't drink, but he also didn't seem to mind that I was about to. My vision was drawn back to Two-Bit's eyes as I looked for trust that I was doing the right thing. He simply grinned back and waited for me to taste the liquor. I put the glass rim to my lips, tilted the bottle backwards and let a small sip of fluid rush into my mouth. Instantly the whiskey burned my tongue and cheek. The taste was nasty and I turned away from the gang to spit it out. "Two-Bit!" I yelled, "That tastes like gasoline or something!"
Many of the guys in the lot burst out laughing and Soda looked at me with an ear to ear grin. "How do you know how gasoline tastes?"
Before I could answer that I was only guessing Dally grabbed the bottle from my hand. "Two-Bit what'd ya waste it on her for? She's a Curtis, you know they aint no drinkers!"
I looked back to my brother and agreed with Dally. "I don't know why you let me do that."
Sodapop rubbed the top of my head. "There are some things you should just learn for yourself the hard way to believe they're true." Soda's grin faded away slightly and his round eyes stared back at me. "That's what dad told me once..." Soda's recalling of the memory was drawn short by an expensive distraction. Pulling into the lot was a Corvette Stingray, top down.