They were about an hour into the card game. Dally and Will were losing miserably at Canasta to Johnny and Caroline. That was when the phone rang.

Only Dally heard Tom pick it up and say, "Oh, hello Soda! Would you like to talk to Johnny?... Oh, Dally? Yes, he's here. Just a minute."

Dally found this mildly interesting that any of the gang would be asking to talk to him before Johnny. Johnny hadn't noticed. He and Caroline were busy planning their next strategy.

"Come on, you two! No planning! You shouldn't even be talking to eachother!" Will practically whined.

Johnny just laughed. He looked up briefly as he noticed Dally going to take the phone. He frowned slightly, knowing it could only be one of the gang. He was surprised when he felt somewhat insulted as he, too, wondered why Dally had been asked for first. But he lost interest quickly and turned his attention back to Caroline.

Dally stepped into the kitchen and put the phone up to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Dally..."

Dally could tell immediately that something was horribly wrong the minute he heard Soda's voice. He quietly stepped further into the other room. "What's goin' on?"

"It's Pony..." Soda blurted out frantically. "He..he's gone!"

"What do you mean, gone?"

"He and Darry had a fight- a big one- Darry didn't mean to- he...he" Soda was talking too fast and sucking in air like he was panicing.

"Soda, calm down... what happened?" Dally tried his best to keep his voice down. Soda sounded like he was holding back tears.

"Darry... hit him... he didn't mean to, I know he didn't, but Pony ran off and he hasn't been back since yesterday."

"He was gone overnight?"

"Yeah...well, he ran off last night and he hasn't come back yet. We can't call the police and even if we did, it hasn't been 24 hours and-"

"All right, all right- calm down. How long has he been gone?"

There was a pause. "Since about 2 a.m. last night... and I know it ain't that late yet, but it's dark and I-"

"Yeah, I know, I know...Ok, look, I was planning on coming home next week sometime anyow for his track meet. I'll take the next train out of here and I'll be there as soon as I can."

There was silence on the other end.

"Relax, man. It's gonna be all right." Dally tried to sound reassuring. "He's hidin' out somewhere to cool off. He'll come back."

Soda took a shaky breath. "Yeah."

"Soda, I'll be there as soon as I can. Find some of the boys from Shepard's outfit.. let them know. Make sure everybody's lookin' for him."

"Oh, they know all right." Soda said, sounding almost angry all of a sudden.

"What do you mean?"

"Curly and Pony been hangin' out all the time. Pony's been darn near flunking out of some of his classes cause Curly keeps talkin' him into cuttin' school! He came home at 2 in the morning last night and Darry just blew up! There won't be a track meet if this keeps up."

"Oh man... he's probably with Curly right now! Have you talked to any of the Shepards?"

"Yeah, he ain't with Curly. He and Curly weren't getting along. I think maybe Ponyboy had finally come to his senses that Curly was nothing but trouble. He'd come home from getting in a fight with him, but it was too late. Darry didn't want to hear any more. They were just yellin' at eachother and... and then..."

"Ok," Dally said calmly. "I'm comin' home. We'll find him. You'll probably find him before I get there. All right?"

"Yeah," Soda said shakily.

Dally hung up the phone and chewed at his lower lip. Damn! I just go from one problem to another, he thought. Although, Johnny seemed to be doing fine.

It's time for me to go home anyhow, Dally thought. I don't belong here. I need more action, I need the gang, the rumbles, the bars. Yeah, he told himself. I gotta get outta here. Part of him knew he was lying to himself.

"Everything all right, Dally?" Tom's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Dally looked at him, at first ready to say everything was fine, put up his usual front. But before he knew what had happened, a word had escaped his mouth. "No."

"No? What's wrong?"

Dally hesitated. He felt like he could tell Tom there was something wrong, but he didn't trust him enough yet to tell him what. "There's some... stuff... going on back home. I'm going to have to catch the first train out."

Tom got a glass of water from the sink and wrinkled his brow. "Anything I can help with?"

Dally stood defensively. "No," he said simply. He was not used to opening up to anyone, let alone an adult. He hoped he had not made a huge mistake. He could have said nothing was wrong and just left. That would have been the smart thing to do. What's wrong with me, he thought. Why didn't I just tell him everything was fine? Dally wathced Tom carefully, prepared for a barage of questions.

But to his surprise, Tom just nodded. "Ok. We'll get you to the train station as soon as you want to go. You want to call the station? Find out when you can catch the next train?"

Dally hid his surprise and nodded. He took the phone book that Tom offered.

As Tom turned to go, Dally stopped him. "Hey,"

Tom paused and turned back to Dally.

"Don't tell Johnny yet. I'll talk to him."

"You got it," Tom said simply.

"Hey Dally! What's the hold up?" Will yelled.

"Nothin'! I'll be there in a minute!" Dally called back.

"Want me to go play your hand? He doesn't stop nagging once he starts," Tom said with a slight smile.

Dally looked gratefully at him and nodded. He dialed the number for the train station, uneasiness forming in the pit of his stomach.