Dallas
Twenty-six hours. Twenty-six hours! Ugh. We were leaving at six, stopping in to visit my mother's grave and driving all the way to Illinois in one day. Then we had to drive all the way to the topmost corner of Ohio to stay in this itty-bitty town called Greenwich. Zoe kept stressing that it's spelled the same as the village in New York, but pronounced 'green-witch.' What kind of freaks does it take to call a town Green-witch? But I'll go along with it. Johnny says it's a tuff name for a little town.
"Besides," he'd told me earlier, "some kid in Greenwich is probably wondering how Tulsa got named… how did Tulsa get its name, anyhow?"
I didn't know, of course. Neither did Zoe. But she was a Green-witch girl until High School (she moved out here to stay with her grandma when her mom died, I guess.) I annoyed her the morning we left by making up names for people from Green-witch. Green-witchers. Green-Witches. Green-Wizards. Green-Lizards! At this point she stopped me and told me to get my stuff in the car or I was sitting in the trunk. (She also banned me from eating pixie stix, but I'm just naturally hyper in the morning. Being nervous made it worse.)
When we were all ready, Zoe told me to get Johnny. I ran down the road to his place and walked in. Mrs. Cade told me I didn't have to knock if Mr. Cade wasn't home, so I never did. Johnny was laying down on the couch, probably trying to go back to sleep. His mom was in the kitchen making lunch sandwiches. I grinned at her and went over to Johnny. Hehe. Johnnycake wasn't a morning person. He was much more of a night-owl, even for a little kid. John got mean and ornery and stubborn in the mornings, really unlike himself. It was like we switched roles in the day; he acted hyper at night-time, I only acted like that in the morning; he was a grump in the morning, and if I didn't get to sleep fast enough at night I got real cranky. We were both pretty mellow in the day time, though. I thought he was funny when he woke up too early.
So I poked him.
Repeatedly.
Until he kicked me in the side, which hurt. Glory, but he was cranky! "Johnny?" I shook him lightly. "C'mon, man, we're leaving in a little while. You wanna say goodbye to the rest of the guys?" Johnny jumped up, yawned, and walked out the door, leaving me there to wonder just how odd my friends were. I ran after him, towards the Curtis house. They'd be up. Steve and Keith had probably stayed overnight. I'd wanted to, but my father said I couldn't, same with Johnny's. So this was the last time we'd see them until summer. I'd miss 'em. They were my brothers.
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Johnny
I felt a little bad for kicking Dal like I had. Just a little. Mornings were not good things for me. They needed to drop off the face of the earth. But I was going to miss the gang, and my mom, and Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, and Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Randle. Oh, and probably Mrs. Shepard. She used to baby-sit me when Mom had to work. She was really nice. But I'd already said goodbye to her, so now the gang was my main worry. I mean, glory, they were my brothers, my best friends! Yeah, we'd see each other again… but we'd all have changed. Ponyboy especially. He was just a little kid, and they change real easy. He'd probably have his tooth back by next summer….
It was freezing outside, at five in the morning. Made me wish I had remembered my jacket. Dallas was jogging to catch up with me. He's so disgustingly cheerful and hyper in the morning. It's horrible. But at least he's not all mushy about us leaving the guys behind. My mom, and the Curtises (mainly Mrs. Curtis and Sodapop), and then Mrs. Mathews were all so darn emotional. That really didn't help the situation for me. Thank goodness Mrs. Shepard just congratulated me and Dal. But I can't blame 'em. They're all natural mothers (and Soda is just overly emotional about some things.)
Finally we got to the Curtis house, me shivering slightly and Dallas humming some tune I'd never heard. As soon as I stepped onto the porch I was pretty much attacked by none other than Keith Mathews. He moved on to crush Dallas and another (smaller) person hugged me. Ponyboy. Pony was hugging me, not crushing me, but it still didn't seem like he wanted to let go. Whenever Ponyboy wasn't trailing Steve, he was following me or Soda. He was really a sweet little kid. Pony tugged on my shirt and I looked down at him. He handed me a book; a journal, actually. On the inside was a picture of the whole family (meaning all of us boys, the Curtises, Mrs. Mathews, Emily - Keith's sister, my mom, Steve's mom, Zoe, and Fish - the dog,) that had been taken almost two months ago on the fourth of July.
In the picture, Keith was laughing at Dally who was covering his ears (I think that was because Keith said he had elf-ears, or something.) Steve was tickling Ponyboy, who kept trying to hide behind me to escape. I was trying to get away from Darry, who was messing up my hair. Emily kept trying to hold me still, and laughed when she couldn't (she was only six). Soda had his arms around his mom's neck from behind, his chin on her head, both grinning at the camera. My mom, along with Keith's and Steve's, were sitting beside Mrs. Curtis. They were half-turned, laughing at us and Zoe, who was trying to get the Frisbee back from Fish. Mr. Curtis was trying to help the dog, and even then, I think Zoe was winning. It was the greatest day I had ever had in my life, corny as that sounds. I grinned down at Pony.
"Mommy got it for you. She got one for Dally, too. It gots a different picture, though. He gots a picture of his birthday party," I remembered that too. Pony had cake everywhere, along with Emily. She's giving us our best memories, I thought.
I hugged him, and the rest of the boys, at least five times each. Then I went looking for Mrs. Curtis. I hugged her as well, burying my face in her shirt. I just started crying then, for no apparent reason, really. She rubbed circles on my back and hugged me tightly. I felt a little better, but the amount of time I'd be away had finally hit me like a brick, and it scared me a bit.
I thought I'd be alright, though.
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Zoe
My husband was nowhere to be found, which I cannot honestly say surprised me. Actually, the only reason I married him was because of that little boy. I fell in love with Dallas, not Cody. He was sweet, maybe not innocent, but sweet nonetheless. I think he hated me for a long time. I knew his mom. Dallas has her heart. It's a shame he inherited Cody's looks and temper.
I had finished packing the bags into my car, including the ones Leanna had brought over for Johnny. She was real attached to her baby. John was the only child she'd ever be able to have, unfortunately. Leanna couldn't carry anymore. I felt kind of bad, but I knew the other boys made up for her lack of children, just like they did for me. All of them were all of our babies.
I decided to leave the car at our house and walk over to the Curtises. On the way, I met up with Allyson Randle. She and I had never gotten along much in High School. Probably because my grandmother had been technically classified as a Soc, therefore making me a Soc. Allyson was a Greaser, as were a lot of my friends. Now we got along okay, and all because of our boys being friends.
"You're going to be tired as anything driving all day," she said, smiling. "Especially with those boys."
I laughed. "Yeah, I just have to remember to hide the caffeine and sugar is all. I think Dallas already found it. Or do you think it's just his morning mood?"
"Dallas being hyper? That's his morning mood, sweets. He's been that way for as long as I can remember. Good luck, by the way, getting Johnny up tomorrow morning," Ally winked at me and walked into the house. Leanna and Ilene were already there. Ilene was Keith's mother. From what I could tell, Keith had her sense of humor, his father's grin, and an insane logic that was all his own. I knew Ilene's husband, though, and I knew their marriage had been rocky from day one. Once I caught Keith talking with Dallas about his parents, and how he didn't want them to split up. He didn't want to have to choose between them. It was sad, how old he sounded. An eleven-year-old shouldn't sound like that.
I spent the next half-hour talking and answering questions. Most of them were from Steve, and a few made me laugh.
"What town did you live in?"
"Greenwich."
"Why's it called that?"
"Because my aunt used to live there. Nobody really liked my aunt."
"How come you're going back?"
"Because it's a tradition my mother started when my oldest brother got married. Every year the family members who can come out and visit for a few months."
"How old is your brother?"
"Thirty-eight."
"How old is your dad?"
"Fifty-seven."
"How old are you?"
"Steve!"
"It's okay, Allyson. I'm thirty-two."
"Oh, you're not that old, then."
"Thank you, Sodapop."
"You're welcome."
I was going to miss those kids. No matter what, between Soda and Keith alone, they'd have you laughing like nothing else. And Steve, he loved to ask questions. You could tell him anything, really. And Darry. Well, Darry was just Darry. You had to love him for trying to act like an adult and a kid both at the same time. Ponyboy was just cute beyond belief. And he'd give you a hug anytime you asked him. Or, you know, anytime he thought you looked like you needed one. Like I said, they were my boys. You had to love them.
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Okay, short, yes, I know, thank you! Sheesh, I'm sorry! But at least I did update, right? If you think I'm slow now, I'm sorry to tell you you'll be waiting for a lot longer after the 27th of August. School starts the 28th. Bleh. Anyhow, sorry again. Review, if you don't hate me. Flame if you do, but make it constructive. Stupid non-constructive flamers coughmoontartcough Lol. I'll try to get another update up here soon! Promise!
Peace, love, and pixie stix,
Nash