A/n: Hello everyone! First we want to thank everyone for reading. Those of
you who write reviews make this very much worth our time. We appreciate all
that you say. We also want to let you guys know that this chapter might be
the final one to turn a few you away. Hopefully that isn't the case. There
are some readers who are very unhappy with the idea of what is going to
come (you all know what we're talking about – it's in the summary). If you
have a problem, just don't read it. It's as simple as that.
On to the review responses!
Catherine Ace: Yeah, it does seem logical, doesn't it? Luckily Alli was smart enough to make such connections. She was pretty thrilled and I can tell you as much. You're right, OCs can be either a good or bad thing. In this one they are both. You'll see what we mean. And actually, there might be some hippies – of course they would be only backdrop characters; wouldn't be in much – but you can anticipate one or two.
shyXshortieXbabe: Makes this seem realistic? Thanks! That's what we're going for, although some people don't' see it in that light. Oh well, it's their loss. Yes, there is still some hope for Pony, but don't get your hopes up too high. Don't forget the summary. There's a bit of a struggle ahead.
Karlei Shaynner: (Keira speaking) I love Soda too. He's my baby. You'll love him in this too, we hope, but we're not going to lie to you, he's not going to be make a regular appearance. Of course we'll hear from both of him and Darry, but maybe not as often as you're hoping for. This fic is going to focus mainly on Pony. Hope you like this chapter!
FUDDYDUDDY: Wow. You are by FAR our favorite person right now! We can't even being to touch base on how much your review means to us. And your hubby agrees this is all possible? Woah, lol. That is really cool. We've tried to hard to accomplish that bit. We can't believe that someone, like him who would know, thinks this is good. Be sure to thank him for us. Maybe that'll help to put some of our flamers in their place. Can you believe that people who have no idea what there are talking about would act like they do? Anyway, we hope this chapter isn't too far-fetched or risqué. But remember that this is fiction and we can do whatever we like, right? Lol. We're always open to any suggestions or insights that either of you may have. Thank you so much!
Aoki: Not believable? What would you consider believable? Dumb? Hey, that's your opinion and you are entitled to it. But of course we also love how you so conveniently didn't sign in or don't have an account for us to go and look at stories to compare this to. Beware of who you are dealing with, bucko. We can guarantee that we have both been reading and writing for longer than you have, by the sound of it. And we hate to break the news to you, Sweetheart, but reality is that this is entirely possible and we can call it an Outsiders' fic if even one of the gang is in it. So don't go there. Don't be so stupid. And at least try and use correct grammar next time. Then we'll give you time to talk.
DaNNi BaBezZz: We're so happy that you like it! We felt like it would be fun and pretty original. So thanks! The reality is just starting to hit Soda, you're right, but you'll just have to wait and see the rest. Tahnks for R&Ring!
Oblivious Misconception: Thanks! Keep reading. We hope you enjoy it.
Skye Renegarde: Yeah, we are evil, huh? It's only going to get better. Keep reading. Thanks!
Sodapop02: War is horrible and hard for families. I (Alli) have seen it first hand, but in all reality Soda would end up going, there is no way around it. Hope you enjoy!
Tensleep: (Allison speaking) Haha – you can thank Keira for the quick update. She was "sick". (Keira—So I stayed home and wrote, hehe). You are too used to our long chapters, lol. We went a bit shorter this time. Yeah, we like the reactions too, duh – but it works so... I Think that those flamers finally realized (well, most of them) that we are right thanks to some help from good reviewers *cough*FUDDYDUDDY*cough* or they haven't come back. Not worries.
Anyway, now on to chapter three! Hope you guys are happy with it.
Chapter Three Darry's POV
The next day I made my way to the draftees office. I was feeling confident about the outcome and I knew that no matter whichever way they looked at our situation, there wasn't any way they could send me out. I had my papers of guardianship over Ponyboy and that would be enough. They couldn't send me out with a dependant kid on my hands. Even strict army guidelines would find that unethical. There wasn't a thing we could do for Soda, or even Steve and Two-Bit, but I had every right to be down there fighting to stay. I couldn't leave. I would, if it weren't for Pony. I'd be proud to go, but that wasn't going to happen with him around. I didn't want it to happen with him around.
Now I was waiting in a line behind two men. That frightened me a bit, because they were calling for the next person one right after the other. When I had gotten there, about five minutes before, I was at the end of a line a mile long. I had anticipated being here for a few hours before I got someone to talk to me – I prepared myself to wait around. However, it looked like this office wasn't being sympathetic. Sure, there's always beggars and posers wussing out, that was normal, but something told me that not the entire room was full of them. It would be all right though. They had every reason to listen to me and accept my case as a real one.
I scanned the room behind me, not surprised to see that there were about thirty others there getting ready to plead their own cases. About half of them gave me the impression they were only there to please their wives. They stood back, arms crossed and waiting, some looking nearly bored to tears while they tried to entertain themselves with their neck and knuckle popping. They knew they were going out either way. I got the notion that they didn't have any real reason to be there. Their eyes said it all. Otherwise, they'd be looking just as worried as the others, who all were sweating bullets and muttering their planned out speeches to themselves. I felt like an outcast.
"Next!" a young girl called to me. I snapped my head back around and saw her wagging her finger for me to come over. She was smacking some pink gum and it was sort of grossing me out.
"Whatcha here for?" she drawled. She had the worst southern drawl out of anyone here that I knew. She may have been from downstate. She planted her chin in her open palm and stared up to me. She was a valley girl through and through and it wasn't the most attractive personality to be faced with. It surprised me to see someone like her working at a place like this, but she certainly looked old enough.
I gave her my papers from my wallet claiming my guardianship over Pony. She took them and stared at them for a minutes – popping the gum inside her mouth – and then practically shoved them back in my face. "What are these?"
"Erm, they're my legal documents stating that I have sole guardianship over my little brother. You see, I can't go because he's only –"
"Can't take 'em," she cut me off.
"What?" I was perplexed. What did she mean they couldn't take them? That was ridiculous.
"Nope. You've gotta get your social worker to bring the files down here to finalize it. We can't take your copy. They might be fake." She handed them back to me and started to call for the next person. "Next!"
"Wait!" I stopped her and held my hand back to stop the next guy from coming up from behind. "But, if I do get them brought down, I'm off the roster, right?"
"Yeah." She gave me a strange look. "Duh."
I held up my hands a little in defense of myself and left. I didn't want to hang around there any longer. I'd just take her word for it. I felt like a jerk anyway, standing there, begging to not serve for my country. So, the sooner I got it all over with, the better.
Next stop, the state social services office. We were damn lucky to have one out here in Tulsa. I wouldn't be looking forward to driving all the way to Oklahoma City if there weren't. The truck was running low on gas anyway. Sadly enough, I didn't have to think twice about how to get there. We had made the trip down there so many times it was beginning to feel normal- like. And, even more sadly, it /I at this point in time.
When inside I found myself facing a nice looking middle aged woman at the front desk. I had never seen her before. She must've been new. Her name tag read Nancy.
"Why, hello, young man. How can I help you?" She smiled warmly at me which put me at ease. I hadn't realized how still with worry I was, until then.
"Yeah, um, you see – I was drafted to go the war in two weeks, but I can't go now because I have stay here for my little brother. I've had guardianship over him for two years now and I suppose they didn't have my name taken off the list when that change took place. Because, well, I signed up when I was eighteen, but that was before any of this happened and..." I was surprised at my own nervousness. I always got nervous around older women. I felt like a hoodlum with no respect for my elders, even though I was wearing a suit and tie.
"Now you can't go."
"Yeah. I guess they need our social worker to bring down the files and get it confirmed."
By the way she watched me when I talked, I knew this wasn't anything new to her and she knew exactly what to do about it. That made me feel a lot better and I took a deep breath, not realizing I had used up all of my breath throughout my talking. This wouldn't be hard at all.
"Yes, sir, that's right. If you'll jot down your name and your brother's name on a piece of paper right there," – she pointed to a small box of scrap paper and little pencils – "I'll just take it on back and find those files. Now, I'm going to need you to stick around until we get everything all sorted out and taken care of. Then we can set up a time for you and your social worker to meet and take care of this together."
"All right. That's fine by me. Thank you." I scribbled down our names as legibly as I could in my own self-hurry and gave it to her.
She took it from me and went away down a hall to where I assumed the file rooms were. It seemed odd to stand around the desk, so in the meantime I took a seat on the couches provided off to one side of the room. There were magazines scattered on the table in the center of the squared couches. I found a Sports Illustrated and thumbed through it.
Before long, Nancy returned and I scurried back to her desk.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Curtis, but we seem to have misplaced your files. Are you sure you got the legalities taken care of on your end?" She sat down.
"Well, yeah. I have a copy with me if you'd like to see it." This was as bizarre as it gets, I guess. Pony would have a good laugh knowing what I've had to go through to keep from leaving. This would be a day we'd never forget.
"That would be wonderful." I liked this lady. She was a lot nicer than the chick at draftees office. It was nice to have interaction with someone who was old enough to be your mother, anyway. The only other person I had this with was Mrs. Mathews, and I valued her input highly.
I handed the papers to her and watched as she scanned them over. "These seem to be all right. Here," she set them down, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I need to call the office in Oklahoma City and ask them about making us another set of the hard copy. Did you hear about the crisis in the file room a few months back?"
"No, can't say that I did." I wasn't sure where this was going but I wasn't going to let that stop her.
"One of our interns lit up a cigarette back there, even though it's against policy, and the place burned up when she dropped it. The thing burnt her fingers and she was startled, I suppose. All the files were lost from the beginning of the alphabet up to half way through K. Anyway, the office out in Oklahoma had to send us copies of all the lost files. Apparently yours was misplaced in the transfer." She picked up the phone. "I'm terribly sorry about this. This is just awful..."
"It's okay." I shrugged. As long as the federal copy existed somewhere, and they were going to get us the file, there wasn't nothing I was worried about. "I'm not in a hurry." Not anymore I wasn't. I'd stick around as long as I needed to.
She smiled only now that the phone was ringing and waiting to be picked up on the other end. "Hello!" she cried sweetly to a familiar voice. "This is Nancy out in Tulsa – oh, I'm doing just fine thank you. Although, I do have a young man here whose files never made it down here." She looked up at me and smiled reassuringly. "Yes, another one. I don't know how this happened. What is this now? Five I think? Anyway, he's about to be sent to war – crying shame, isn't it? – and he needs some files to prove that he is the guardian of his brother. Is there a way to get their files up here by tomorrow?"
I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet waiting and wishing she'd cut out the chitchat. I wasn't going to be too picky though. This was our future in the hands of these two, or so it seemed.
"That would be wonderful. Bless you, Delilah. His name is Darrel Curtis and his little brother... Ponyboy?" She placed a hand over the receiver. "It is Ponyboy, right?"
"Yes." I smiled, realizing that that had to have thrown her off in the back room.
"Yes, Ponyboy. That's all one word.... Yes, Ponyboy Michael Curtis and Darrel Shayne Curtis." She glanced at me to double check and I nodded. "Yes. I'll be right here. Thank you." She let the phone droop a little now that no one was on the other end for her to talk to. "This is quite an adventure, isn't it?"
I chuckled. "Yeah, sure is." I couldn't place the exact cause, but I was back to being nervous again. That awful uneasiness sat hard in the bottom of my stomach. Hopefully this /I would be over before long. I'd stay until it was okay to leave, but I hadn't eaten since my lunch break and it was heading on six in the evening. I sure hoped someone was making dinner now.
"Don't you worry about this now." I think she could tell I was losing my confidence in this all. I knew it would all work out fine, but that didn't stop me from worrying. "It'll be all right. They have the official files and they won't hesitate to make us a copy."
"Yes ma'am."
"Oh, don't call me that. My name's Nancy." I just nodded in response.
A moment later she was talking again to the woman on the other end. With the tone of her voice and the look etched on her face, there was something not right and I knew it right from the off. "No...! Is that even possible? Well, I reckon it is...but how did that happen?" She shot me a look of worry, but tried to cover it up. Didn't work. "Well, is there anywhere else it could be? Maybe under D for Darrel? Or P for Ponyboy?... Really?" She mouthed the words to me, 'She already looked'. "Are you sure? You double checked?... Did you get James to look as well?... Sam?... Oh dear.... All right then. We'll be getting back in touch with you about this real soon. Maybe even tonight. Most likely tomorrow.... No, not your fault, thank you for looking....Yup...Uh huh... Take care. Buh bye."
My entire body went numb throughout the duration of that conversation. Without hearing both sides, I was aware enough to get the point that something was really seriously wrong. It sounded like the file was gone. I didn't want to even think about how that could happen. All I could think about was the present. What was this going to mean? When would they be able to retrieve the file? They /I retrieve it, right? It wasn't a lost cause or anything?
"They don't have it?" I asked.
"It doesn't seem like they do. Now, of course it's just been misplaced and they'll find it, but –"
"But they don't have it now?" I cut her off, unintentionally. "When will they be able to find it?"
"There's no real way of knowing. They could find it today or tomorrow. Or it might take them a few months." She swung her chair to the left and opened up a small filing cabinet underneath the desktop.
"A few months?" I repeated. "But I need them now. If I don't show them to the army, they'll ship me out!" I wouldn't lose my cool, but if I got pushed far enough I might just.
"That's not your only problem at hand," she sighed and looked back at me. She handed me a thick pile of papers stapled together. I had seen these before...back in the beginning of it all.
"What?" My heart sunk considerably. What else could it mean? There's no way it could get worse than this.
"Until they find the files, there's not even a single record that claims you are Ponyboy's guardian. The temps they gave you won't be enough to fight with in a court system."
I stopped breathing. I wasn't all that sure what she meant exactly, but those two words, court system, were never welcoming. Never. "Court system?"
She shook her head. "Without verifiable records, and until they can get you a trial, I can pretty much guarantee you that... Until we can get this worked legally they won't accept you as his guardian. Period."
I almost started laughing. She had to be kidding. This was getting out of hand. It was a wild goose chase that wouldn't end. "So... He's not mine anymore? Is that what you're saying? I've got to go anyway?"
"Not necessarily!" She quickly stopped me. "We're going to find out exactly how long it's going to take for this to get all figured out and then we'll see. You'll get him back, you can take my word for it. He'll even be able to live with you until then. Nothing will be changed, except you'll have to go through the court again if they aren't able to retrieve those lost files."
"How do they lose files?"
She shook her head. "It doesn't happen usually. This is the first time I know of that it's happened this year, at this office anyway. It's a terrible thing to have to restore copies of lost records for an entire section of the filing system. Things like this are bound to happen. But we have a good enough system going that we can work this out quickly."
"How fast? I've got less than two weeks." I pointed out to her. They were shipping us out in eleven days. Was that going to give me enough time?
"As soon as possible. We'll get one of our representatives to go down there and speak to the officers on your behalf. Don't fret." She smiled big. I nodded at a loss of anything else to say.
Don't fret? You might as well tell a drug dealer that it wasn't certain that the cops were after them. Don't fret...
~*~
Hey guys. Mixed reactions? Mixed feelings? Let us know about them and review. Thanks you guys.
On to the review responses!
Catherine Ace: Yeah, it does seem logical, doesn't it? Luckily Alli was smart enough to make such connections. She was pretty thrilled and I can tell you as much. You're right, OCs can be either a good or bad thing. In this one they are both. You'll see what we mean. And actually, there might be some hippies – of course they would be only backdrop characters; wouldn't be in much – but you can anticipate one or two.
shyXshortieXbabe: Makes this seem realistic? Thanks! That's what we're going for, although some people don't' see it in that light. Oh well, it's their loss. Yes, there is still some hope for Pony, but don't get your hopes up too high. Don't forget the summary. There's a bit of a struggle ahead.
Karlei Shaynner: (Keira speaking) I love Soda too. He's my baby. You'll love him in this too, we hope, but we're not going to lie to you, he's not going to be make a regular appearance. Of course we'll hear from both of him and Darry, but maybe not as often as you're hoping for. This fic is going to focus mainly on Pony. Hope you like this chapter!
FUDDYDUDDY: Wow. You are by FAR our favorite person right now! We can't even being to touch base on how much your review means to us. And your hubby agrees this is all possible? Woah, lol. That is really cool. We've tried to hard to accomplish that bit. We can't believe that someone, like him who would know, thinks this is good. Be sure to thank him for us. Maybe that'll help to put some of our flamers in their place. Can you believe that people who have no idea what there are talking about would act like they do? Anyway, we hope this chapter isn't too far-fetched or risqué. But remember that this is fiction and we can do whatever we like, right? Lol. We're always open to any suggestions or insights that either of you may have. Thank you so much!
Aoki: Not believable? What would you consider believable? Dumb? Hey, that's your opinion and you are entitled to it. But of course we also love how you so conveniently didn't sign in or don't have an account for us to go and look at stories to compare this to. Beware of who you are dealing with, bucko. We can guarantee that we have both been reading and writing for longer than you have, by the sound of it. And we hate to break the news to you, Sweetheart, but reality is that this is entirely possible and we can call it an Outsiders' fic if even one of the gang is in it. So don't go there. Don't be so stupid. And at least try and use correct grammar next time. Then we'll give you time to talk.
DaNNi BaBezZz: We're so happy that you like it! We felt like it would be fun and pretty original. So thanks! The reality is just starting to hit Soda, you're right, but you'll just have to wait and see the rest. Tahnks for R&Ring!
Oblivious Misconception: Thanks! Keep reading. We hope you enjoy it.
Skye Renegarde: Yeah, we are evil, huh? It's only going to get better. Keep reading. Thanks!
Sodapop02: War is horrible and hard for families. I (Alli) have seen it first hand, but in all reality Soda would end up going, there is no way around it. Hope you enjoy!
Tensleep: (Allison speaking) Haha – you can thank Keira for the quick update. She was "sick". (Keira—So I stayed home and wrote, hehe). You are too used to our long chapters, lol. We went a bit shorter this time. Yeah, we like the reactions too, duh – but it works so... I Think that those flamers finally realized (well, most of them) that we are right thanks to some help from good reviewers *cough*FUDDYDUDDY*cough* or they haven't come back. Not worries.
Anyway, now on to chapter three! Hope you guys are happy with it.
Chapter Three Darry's POV
The next day I made my way to the draftees office. I was feeling confident about the outcome and I knew that no matter whichever way they looked at our situation, there wasn't any way they could send me out. I had my papers of guardianship over Ponyboy and that would be enough. They couldn't send me out with a dependant kid on my hands. Even strict army guidelines would find that unethical. There wasn't a thing we could do for Soda, or even Steve and Two-Bit, but I had every right to be down there fighting to stay. I couldn't leave. I would, if it weren't for Pony. I'd be proud to go, but that wasn't going to happen with him around. I didn't want it to happen with him around.
Now I was waiting in a line behind two men. That frightened me a bit, because they were calling for the next person one right after the other. When I had gotten there, about five minutes before, I was at the end of a line a mile long. I had anticipated being here for a few hours before I got someone to talk to me – I prepared myself to wait around. However, it looked like this office wasn't being sympathetic. Sure, there's always beggars and posers wussing out, that was normal, but something told me that not the entire room was full of them. It would be all right though. They had every reason to listen to me and accept my case as a real one.
I scanned the room behind me, not surprised to see that there were about thirty others there getting ready to plead their own cases. About half of them gave me the impression they were only there to please their wives. They stood back, arms crossed and waiting, some looking nearly bored to tears while they tried to entertain themselves with their neck and knuckle popping. They knew they were going out either way. I got the notion that they didn't have any real reason to be there. Their eyes said it all. Otherwise, they'd be looking just as worried as the others, who all were sweating bullets and muttering their planned out speeches to themselves. I felt like an outcast.
"Next!" a young girl called to me. I snapped my head back around and saw her wagging her finger for me to come over. She was smacking some pink gum and it was sort of grossing me out.
"Whatcha here for?" she drawled. She had the worst southern drawl out of anyone here that I knew. She may have been from downstate. She planted her chin in her open palm and stared up to me. She was a valley girl through and through and it wasn't the most attractive personality to be faced with. It surprised me to see someone like her working at a place like this, but she certainly looked old enough.
I gave her my papers from my wallet claiming my guardianship over Pony. She took them and stared at them for a minutes – popping the gum inside her mouth – and then practically shoved them back in my face. "What are these?"
"Erm, they're my legal documents stating that I have sole guardianship over my little brother. You see, I can't go because he's only –"
"Can't take 'em," she cut me off.
"What?" I was perplexed. What did she mean they couldn't take them? That was ridiculous.
"Nope. You've gotta get your social worker to bring the files down here to finalize it. We can't take your copy. They might be fake." She handed them back to me and started to call for the next person. "Next!"
"Wait!" I stopped her and held my hand back to stop the next guy from coming up from behind. "But, if I do get them brought down, I'm off the roster, right?"
"Yeah." She gave me a strange look. "Duh."
I held up my hands a little in defense of myself and left. I didn't want to hang around there any longer. I'd just take her word for it. I felt like a jerk anyway, standing there, begging to not serve for my country. So, the sooner I got it all over with, the better.
Next stop, the state social services office. We were damn lucky to have one out here in Tulsa. I wouldn't be looking forward to driving all the way to Oklahoma City if there weren't. The truck was running low on gas anyway. Sadly enough, I didn't have to think twice about how to get there. We had made the trip down there so many times it was beginning to feel normal- like. And, even more sadly, it /I at this point in time.
When inside I found myself facing a nice looking middle aged woman at the front desk. I had never seen her before. She must've been new. Her name tag read Nancy.
"Why, hello, young man. How can I help you?" She smiled warmly at me which put me at ease. I hadn't realized how still with worry I was, until then.
"Yeah, um, you see – I was drafted to go the war in two weeks, but I can't go now because I have stay here for my little brother. I've had guardianship over him for two years now and I suppose they didn't have my name taken off the list when that change took place. Because, well, I signed up when I was eighteen, but that was before any of this happened and..." I was surprised at my own nervousness. I always got nervous around older women. I felt like a hoodlum with no respect for my elders, even though I was wearing a suit and tie.
"Now you can't go."
"Yeah. I guess they need our social worker to bring down the files and get it confirmed."
By the way she watched me when I talked, I knew this wasn't anything new to her and she knew exactly what to do about it. That made me feel a lot better and I took a deep breath, not realizing I had used up all of my breath throughout my talking. This wouldn't be hard at all.
"Yes, sir, that's right. If you'll jot down your name and your brother's name on a piece of paper right there," – she pointed to a small box of scrap paper and little pencils – "I'll just take it on back and find those files. Now, I'm going to need you to stick around until we get everything all sorted out and taken care of. Then we can set up a time for you and your social worker to meet and take care of this together."
"All right. That's fine by me. Thank you." I scribbled down our names as legibly as I could in my own self-hurry and gave it to her.
She took it from me and went away down a hall to where I assumed the file rooms were. It seemed odd to stand around the desk, so in the meantime I took a seat on the couches provided off to one side of the room. There were magazines scattered on the table in the center of the squared couches. I found a Sports Illustrated and thumbed through it.
Before long, Nancy returned and I scurried back to her desk.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Curtis, but we seem to have misplaced your files. Are you sure you got the legalities taken care of on your end?" She sat down.
"Well, yeah. I have a copy with me if you'd like to see it." This was as bizarre as it gets, I guess. Pony would have a good laugh knowing what I've had to go through to keep from leaving. This would be a day we'd never forget.
"That would be wonderful." I liked this lady. She was a lot nicer than the chick at draftees office. It was nice to have interaction with someone who was old enough to be your mother, anyway. The only other person I had this with was Mrs. Mathews, and I valued her input highly.
I handed the papers to her and watched as she scanned them over. "These seem to be all right. Here," she set them down, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I need to call the office in Oklahoma City and ask them about making us another set of the hard copy. Did you hear about the crisis in the file room a few months back?"
"No, can't say that I did." I wasn't sure where this was going but I wasn't going to let that stop her.
"One of our interns lit up a cigarette back there, even though it's against policy, and the place burned up when she dropped it. The thing burnt her fingers and she was startled, I suppose. All the files were lost from the beginning of the alphabet up to half way through K. Anyway, the office out in Oklahoma had to send us copies of all the lost files. Apparently yours was misplaced in the transfer." She picked up the phone. "I'm terribly sorry about this. This is just awful..."
"It's okay." I shrugged. As long as the federal copy existed somewhere, and they were going to get us the file, there wasn't nothing I was worried about. "I'm not in a hurry." Not anymore I wasn't. I'd stick around as long as I needed to.
She smiled only now that the phone was ringing and waiting to be picked up on the other end. "Hello!" she cried sweetly to a familiar voice. "This is Nancy out in Tulsa – oh, I'm doing just fine thank you. Although, I do have a young man here whose files never made it down here." She looked up at me and smiled reassuringly. "Yes, another one. I don't know how this happened. What is this now? Five I think? Anyway, he's about to be sent to war – crying shame, isn't it? – and he needs some files to prove that he is the guardian of his brother. Is there a way to get their files up here by tomorrow?"
I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet waiting and wishing she'd cut out the chitchat. I wasn't going to be too picky though. This was our future in the hands of these two, or so it seemed.
"That would be wonderful. Bless you, Delilah. His name is Darrel Curtis and his little brother... Ponyboy?" She placed a hand over the receiver. "It is Ponyboy, right?"
"Yes." I smiled, realizing that that had to have thrown her off in the back room.
"Yes, Ponyboy. That's all one word.... Yes, Ponyboy Michael Curtis and Darrel Shayne Curtis." She glanced at me to double check and I nodded. "Yes. I'll be right here. Thank you." She let the phone droop a little now that no one was on the other end for her to talk to. "This is quite an adventure, isn't it?"
I chuckled. "Yeah, sure is." I couldn't place the exact cause, but I was back to being nervous again. That awful uneasiness sat hard in the bottom of my stomach. Hopefully this /I would be over before long. I'd stay until it was okay to leave, but I hadn't eaten since my lunch break and it was heading on six in the evening. I sure hoped someone was making dinner now.
"Don't you worry about this now." I think she could tell I was losing my confidence in this all. I knew it would all work out fine, but that didn't stop me from worrying. "It'll be all right. They have the official files and they won't hesitate to make us a copy."
"Yes ma'am."
"Oh, don't call me that. My name's Nancy." I just nodded in response.
A moment later she was talking again to the woman on the other end. With the tone of her voice and the look etched on her face, there was something not right and I knew it right from the off. "No...! Is that even possible? Well, I reckon it is...but how did that happen?" She shot me a look of worry, but tried to cover it up. Didn't work. "Well, is there anywhere else it could be? Maybe under D for Darrel? Or P for Ponyboy?... Really?" She mouthed the words to me, 'She already looked'. "Are you sure? You double checked?... Did you get James to look as well?... Sam?... Oh dear.... All right then. We'll be getting back in touch with you about this real soon. Maybe even tonight. Most likely tomorrow.... No, not your fault, thank you for looking....Yup...Uh huh... Take care. Buh bye."
My entire body went numb throughout the duration of that conversation. Without hearing both sides, I was aware enough to get the point that something was really seriously wrong. It sounded like the file was gone. I didn't want to even think about how that could happen. All I could think about was the present. What was this going to mean? When would they be able to retrieve the file? They /I retrieve it, right? It wasn't a lost cause or anything?
"They don't have it?" I asked.
"It doesn't seem like they do. Now, of course it's just been misplaced and they'll find it, but –"
"But they don't have it now?" I cut her off, unintentionally. "When will they be able to find it?"
"There's no real way of knowing. They could find it today or tomorrow. Or it might take them a few months." She swung her chair to the left and opened up a small filing cabinet underneath the desktop.
"A few months?" I repeated. "But I need them now. If I don't show them to the army, they'll ship me out!" I wouldn't lose my cool, but if I got pushed far enough I might just.
"That's not your only problem at hand," she sighed and looked back at me. She handed me a thick pile of papers stapled together. I had seen these before...back in the beginning of it all.
"What?" My heart sunk considerably. What else could it mean? There's no way it could get worse than this.
"Until they find the files, there's not even a single record that claims you are Ponyboy's guardian. The temps they gave you won't be enough to fight with in a court system."
I stopped breathing. I wasn't all that sure what she meant exactly, but those two words, court system, were never welcoming. Never. "Court system?"
She shook her head. "Without verifiable records, and until they can get you a trial, I can pretty much guarantee you that... Until we can get this worked legally they won't accept you as his guardian. Period."
I almost started laughing. She had to be kidding. This was getting out of hand. It was a wild goose chase that wouldn't end. "So... He's not mine anymore? Is that what you're saying? I've got to go anyway?"
"Not necessarily!" She quickly stopped me. "We're going to find out exactly how long it's going to take for this to get all figured out and then we'll see. You'll get him back, you can take my word for it. He'll even be able to live with you until then. Nothing will be changed, except you'll have to go through the court again if they aren't able to retrieve those lost files."
"How do they lose files?"
She shook her head. "It doesn't happen usually. This is the first time I know of that it's happened this year, at this office anyway. It's a terrible thing to have to restore copies of lost records for an entire section of the filing system. Things like this are bound to happen. But we have a good enough system going that we can work this out quickly."
"How fast? I've got less than two weeks." I pointed out to her. They were shipping us out in eleven days. Was that going to give me enough time?
"As soon as possible. We'll get one of our representatives to go down there and speak to the officers on your behalf. Don't fret." She smiled big. I nodded at a loss of anything else to say.
Don't fret? You might as well tell a drug dealer that it wasn't certain that the cops were after them. Don't fret...
~*~
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