Pony didn't wake up that day, but the doctor was impressed by the calming influence his brothers seemed to have on him, so he agreed to send him home in the morning. Darry and Soda were there at 8 am, and they had Pony back in his own bed by 10. Once Darry deposited him there, Soda looked down on him with a relieved smile.
"It's good to have him back here," he said, reaching down to smooth the sheets, and then looking up and grinning at Darry for what seemed like the first time in days. Darry grinned back at him, but his smile quickly faded, replaced with the worry line that had become etched into his face. Soda assumed he knew what was worrying his brother, and he said, "Dar, don't worry. You know we'll figure out a way to have someone with him all the time. We'll juggle our work shifts. It'll be fine."
Darry smiled at Soda then but shook his head. "No, I know that will work out. That's not what I was thinking about, though. Soda… Johnny's funeral's tomorrow. You want to go. I want to go. Two-Bit and Steve obviously want to go. And if he were awake, you know Pony would want to go too. There's obviously nothing we can do about him, but I don't know what to do about the rest of us. We can't leave him here by his lonesome."
Soda nodded, obviously thinking hard.
"Mrs. Mathews?" he asked suddenly. Darry blinked in surprise.
"I never thought of her. Let's ask Two-Bit later if she was plannin' on goin' to Johnny's. If not, little buddy, well, I think you might just have hit on our best solution."
Soda grinned again. Having Pony back at home was doing wonders for his mood.
When Two-Bit arrived later, they asked him about his mom, and he turned right to the phone and called her to ask if she would mind… well, he said babysitting, and since Pony wasn't awake this time to hear it, no one wrestled him to the floor. She agreed immediately, but she made Two-Bit promise to bring a card to the funeral for her, and when he hung up, he turned and smiled at the Curtises.
"She'll be here first thing tomorrow," he said, and they let out sighs of relief.
"That's great," Darry said, but they all knew this wasn't the ideal solution, and they all knew what that would be. The ideal solution would be not to have a funeral to go to at all.
Steve showed up at the house an hour later to find Two-Bit watching Mickey and Darry in the kitchen making dinner. Soda was sitting in the armchair they'd pulled up to his and Pony's bed, and his eyes were closing. None of them even responded now when Pony called out his and Darry's names in a low voice. They were afraid of what kind of conversation they might spark.
After they'd eaten dinner, they were all laying around the living room watching television. This time, Darry was the one in the bedroom, and Soda was stretched out on the couch, an arm over his eyes. Steve and Two-Bit were trying not to wake him, but when they needed to leave, Steve shook Soda's arm gently.
"Listen, Soda, we need to go. We'll be back here in the morning at 9, ok? That way we can all go together." Soda mumbled something in his sleep, and Steve sighed. He looked over at the open door to the bedroom and called softly, "Darry?"
"Yeah?" came the equally soft response, and Steve walked over to the door. He repeated what he'd said to Soda, and Darry nodded tiredly, rubbing his eyes and yawning hugely.
"That sounds fine. We'll see you in the morning."
Steve and Two-Bit walked out of the Curtis house, closing the door behind them. They glanced at each other once they were out on the front steps, and Two-Bit sighed.
"Man," he said, digging in his pocket for a cigarette and then handing it over to Steve and pulling out another one for himself. "I don't know how the two of them are doing this. They're about to fall asleep standing up."
Steve nodded in agreement, staring pensively out onto the darkened street.
"Yeah, but at least Pony's home," he muttered, and Two-Bit looked at him in surprise.
"I thought the kid drove you crazy," he commented as they began to walk.
"Oh, he does," Steve assured Two-Bit, but then he was quiet for a moment, and Two-Bit understood before he even finished his thought. He continued softly. "It's just… I don't think any of us could have handled losing another one, least of all Soda."
"Yeah," Two-Bit mumbled in agreement. Neither of them could look at each other as they both thought of what could have been. They walked the rest of the way in silence.