He had been lying flat on his back and all of a sudden he was sitting bolt upright.

"Mom!" he yelled, and Darry and Soda jumped up, grabbing his arms to keep him from hurting himself. Pony twisted to get away from them, and his voice sounded more hysterical when he yelled, "Mom, Dad, they're hurting me! Tell Darry and Soda to stop hurting me!"

His brothers stared at each other, dumbfounded.

"Darry," Soda whispered, "… what should we do?"

Darry shook his head in confusion but said, "Just… don't let go. Try to talk to him. He listens to you."

Soda leaned close to Ponyboy and started whispering in his ear, and although none of the others could hear what he said, it seemed to be working. Pony's body relaxed, and he allowed his brothers to ease him back to the bed.

For a moment, there was silence. They couldn't bring themselves to look at each other, and Darry and Soda continued to stare at Pony. Two-Bit refused to move from his place by the door, and Steve stared at the sheets on the bed.

"Dally, I'm sorry."

They all froze. Slowly, each head turned to look at Pony, and he shifted restlessly.

"Maybe you were right. If we hadn't gone back in the church, we'd still have Johnny…" he trailed off with a whimper and even though he still hadn't opened his eyes, tears started to leak out from under the closed lids.

Soda didn't look at anyone else, but he grabbed a tissue off the night table and wiped his brother's face. Staying close to him, he muttered, "Pony, it's going to be ok. We're all here. If you just wake up, we can go home. Don't you want to go home?"

This time, they all heard him, and they all heard the pleading note in his voice. Darry didn't even realize he was holding his breath until it whooshed out of him like a deflating balloon. But nothing happened. Pony's eyes remained firmly closed but… he kept talking.

"No, Mom, I'm not hungry. I hate baloney. No, I don't want it. I don't want anything…"

Steve was afraid to look at Soda. With every mention of Mrs. Curtis, he noticed Soda's shoulders jerk out of the corner of his eye, and he didn't know what to say.

Darry looked up for the first time then, noticing a different movement out of the corner of his eye. Two-Bit slipped out of the room... and from the look Darry caught as he fled, he thought he knew why.

"Soda," he said softly, "will you do me a favor?"

Soda glanced up through his hair.

"Will you go find Two-Bit? He just left, and I need to ask him for something."

With a pained expression on his face, Soda looked from Darry to Pony and then back again, but Darry just nodded reassuringly.

"It'll be ok. It's just for a minute, and I need to be here in case the doctor comes back. Please?"

Soda sighed but stood and walked out. The minute he was gone, Darry turned to Steve.

"Listen," he said urgently. "I know you're here for Soda. He's going to need a break sooner or later for longer than a minute. You can see as well as I can how hard this is for him. Will you make up some excuse to get him to leave for lunch or something in an hour?"

Steve stared at Darry in surprise but nodded without hesitation.

"Yeah, of course. I'll do it. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep him out, but I'll at least get him to come to the cafeteria or something."

Darry tried to smile but it never reached his eyes.

"Thanks, Steve."

"Is that why you sent him after Two-Bit?" Steve asked, but Darry shook his head.

"No… I don't know if you noticed it, but I saw Two-Bit's face right before he left the room. I think … I think he needs someone to talk to now too. And I can't imagine anyone better than Soda for that kind of job."

He and Steve looked at each other for a moment in complete understanding. No one knew better than these two how well Soda could comfort someone who sorely needed it. And Darry knew that Two-Bit was about to find out.