12. Perils in the wind

Pony's POV

And as agreed, I went to the lot the next day to pick Claudia up to show her the neighborhood.
I had not to wait for a long time at the lot until she came.

"Hey, Claudia. Are ya ready? Can we go?" I asked her.

She nodded.

At first I would like to show her the park.
That's why I walked with her in this direction.
I was quite reticent on the way there.

The park still was one of the few places where I don't like to go that much, since there were still memories - in this case very bad ones - on this place.

Johnny and I went over here in that one night, when I was hit by Darry; here we were jumped by the Socs later on; here I was nearly drowned by them in the fountain and Johnny had stabbed Bob here to help me.

Our fate ran its course here!

The memories of it, when I was ducked here into the fountain and when the dead Soc had lain at the ground then; these pictures always surfaced in me again at entering this place and I can't do nothing against it.

That place still hasn't lost its fright for me!
So I doubted, if it was a mistake to come over here with Claudia or not.

"Ya would tell me somethin' 'bout yesterday, wouldn't ya?" Claudia was asking me.

"Oh, yeah, right. Sorry."

And so I explained Claudia the thing with the Socs and us greasers and what's going on between us at all and everything.

Then I added, "We had beaten the Socs after one of these rumbles, but that win didn't mean anythin' at all. It couldn't change the injustice between our groups. We're still the poor and the Socs the rich; it will always stay this way and nothing's ever gonna change it, no matter how many rumbles we do and also win. We'll always be at the bottom!"

Claudia listened with a dismayed face and said after that, "It's awful, when people make war 'cause of such little things and hate each other. There they're all humans; nobody's different than the other one. All just humans.
It's sad, when people were expelled only 'cause of the money or the race, the color of the skin or the kind. There humans are all the same.
The amount of money or the descent as well ain't decisive. I hope, the human race will understand that sometime, before they completely destroy their earth and themselves."

I nodded and was about to reply something, when I suddenly stopped frightened and caught sight of three figures coming towards us: Socs.

Claudia noticed it and asked me, "What's the matter, Ponyboy?"

"These are Socs." I even could whisper to her, before the Socs came directly towards us.

But before the Socs reached us, Claudia said, "Hey, y'all ain't here in ya territory. Ya know that, don't ya? Leave us alone!"

I was too scared to warn Claudia of provoking the Socs unnecessarily.

But the Socs didn't seem to take any notice of Claudia, because they came straight towards me and one asked sneering, "Well well well, what does a little greaser do here all alone?"

I still knew very well what happened last time, when I was jumped by Socs.
I stiffened scared. I could neither move nor say something.

I considered desperately, what I should do now, how I could protect me and above all Claudia from the Socs.
But my usually smart brain nearly didn't work in daily things at all.
I just couldn't think straight. Everything was as deleted, blank.

There Claudia did it on her own initiative.
I heard as she said to the Socs that they should go away and leave us alone.
After that she insulted the Socs.

Just imagine this for once: a perhaps 10 year old girl insults the by far older Socs, which are also older than I am in addition, with such a self-assurance and firmness that it just was incredible.

I got the creeps and I didn't know if it was coming from fear or from Claudia's words.
But that wasn't actually important, because Claudia's words didn't seem to propitiate the Socs.

One of the Socs came closer to me than they already were, and answered her, whereas he only looked at me the whole time, "Ya better shouldn't be that cheeky to us, damned greaser!"

Then the Soc swung back and punched my stomach.
I wasn't ready for that and breathed out whistling while I held my stomach.
Maybe I should quit smoking, when already a single punch nearly knocks me out, came to my mind.

And while my thoughts were after that consideration, Claudia said to the Socs, "Leave him alone, will ya? He hasn't done nothin' at all to y'all! If ya wanna jump a greaser, then choose one in ya high, one who also can defend himself!"

I writhed a bit and still held my stomach.
That's why I didn't see the Soc drawing a blade.

The Soc replied threatening, "Ya better be quiet or do ya perhaps wanna end the same way as Bob or the other little greaser? Ya can have it if ya like!"

I murmured Claudia's name and finally looked up, because I feared that the Soc has meant that to Claudia and would hurt her now.
But when I looked up, I saw the Soc standing directly in front of me, with a switchblade in his hand.

I stared at the blade fearfully and my fantasy ran away with me again in this moment: I imagined that this Soc would stab me the same way as Johnny had stabbed Bob in self-defense.
They would let me bleed to death here and then they also would go after Claudia and kill her as well, since she witnessed then the murder of me.
And then they would bury our dead bodies somewhere and Darry, Soda and also Claudia's parents would worry about us and search for us, but they wouldn't never ever find us, or then when we would be only skeletons...

The Soc with the blade came closer to me more and more and I backed away to avoid to come too close to the blade.
But that was no use for me, because his both friends came towards me and seized my both arms, so that I couldn't back away any more.
I would shout to Claudia that she should run and get help, but I couldn't. I couldn't bring out a single tone.
So I just stared silently and a bit shivering for fear at the blade, which the Soc was holding against my throat with a sneer now.