Chapter 3

Father and Sons

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own any of the original characters...

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

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Soda opened his eyes, and the sun shone through his window.

"It's summer! Mommy! It's summer isn't it?"

He ran out into the kitchen where his mother was making a cake.

His mother laughed and turned to him. "Soda, you still have one day of school left before vacation."

"Yes, but then it's almost my birthday. Will I be six mommy?" Soda asked, jumping up on to the counter again, with a grin on his face.

His mother lifted him up and sat him down on the floor.

"Sodapop Patrick Curtis, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times. That counter is for food, not for your behind!"

Soda laughed. "But, where will I sit then?"

"That's what chairs were made for, dear." Mrs. Curtis said sternly, although she was trying hard not to smile.

Soda ran out into the living room, where Darry , who had recently turned 11, was sitting with Ponyboy, who had recently turned four.

"Am I six yet?" He asked, leaning on the arm of the couch.

Darry sighed, and continued reading the book he had in his hands.

"Not yet kid." He said.

Pony came over to where Soda was. "Soda? You have cake?"

Pony could talk well now, and he had learned to say his brother's name's properly, although he had a hard time putting sentences together.

Soda laughed, and sat down on the floor next to his brother.

"No cake yet Pony. Not till my birthday."

Darry stood up and went out of the room. "I don't know how I'm supposed to get any reading done at all, with you two talking all the time."
Soda stopped talking and followed Darry into his room.

"Whatcha doin?" He asked, leaning on the doorpost of his brother's door.

"Go away Soda. I'm busy." Darry said, turning his back to Soda.

Soda came farther into the room, and sat down on the bed, leaning on Darry's shoulder. "But, what are you doing?"

"Soda, seriously, go away." Darry replied, giving Soda a shove.

Soda, taking the hint, left his brother's room, but was back a few seconds later, and dumped Ponyboy inside the doorway.

"Soda, get him out of here, now!" Darry said, his voice growing louder.

Soda didn't move Pony, but could be heard giggling from outside the door.

"SODA! GO AWAY!" Darry screamed at his brother.

Pony jumped at the sound of his brother's raised voice, and started to cry.

Mr. Curtis came in from the living room, picked up Pony, and turned to the two boys.

"Boys! Please! It's the last day of school, Try to get along. By the way, it's time to go."

Darry ran after his younger brother, and Soda squealed as he was chased.

"BOYS! Stop it! Soda, Darry, it's time to go, now!" Their mother called from the kitchen.

The way over in the car, Darry sat in the front seat, and Soda in the back, as to separate the two brother's from any further fighting, and their mother from any further headaches.

When they arrived at the school, Soda ran into his classroom, and sat next to Steve. Alyssa had also joined their table , and the fourth person was Johnny Cade. The shy boy that didn't talk much.

On one occasion, Soda had seen a bruise on Johnny's arm, but hadn't bothered to ask about it.

"Hi Steve, Hi Alyssa, Hi Johnny." Soda said.

Alyssa laughed. "Are you hyper today Sodapop?" She asked.

Soda continued to bounce around. "Yup. It's the last day of school, and it's almost my birthday."

Steve turned to Johnny. "Hey Johnnycake, what are you doing this summer?"

Johnny timidly replied. "Prolly nothing. My parents don't do much. They're too busy fighting."

Soda looked at him worriedly. He knew his parents didn't fight, and didn't know a lot about what went on behind Johnny's front door.

All during the day, Soda couldn't sit still, but on the other hand , and the other side of the school, Darry couldn't be in the classroom long enough. Over the course of the year, he had taken quite a liking to Kaley. He didn't want to call it a crush, but he liked her a lot. They had been over to each other's houses numerous times. Although, every time he went to her house, he had never met her father.

They sat together throughout the day, and during reading, they read in the corner.

When they had almost finished the book, the bell rang for the end of the day. Kaley and Darry went out into the hallway to get their jackets.

"Am I going to see you this summer Darry?" Kaley asked.

"If you want to come over, you can, whenever you want." Darry said, helping her with her coat.

"I don't know, Darry. My dad might be coming home for a couple weeks this summer, and I don't know if I want him to know about you."

Darry was surprised. "Why not?"

"Well, because, you're a Greaser. My dad doesn't like them too much, so he might not like you Darry. I like you a lot, and I don't want to not be able to play with you, just because of my dad."

"Shoot," Darry said. "I won't be no trouble for your dad. You know how quiet I can be."

Kaley shook her head. "That's not the point Darry. The point is that my dad hates Greasers. Something happened one time, a long time ago, with a Greaser, and he's never been able to forgive, or forget. I don't think it would matter too much, even if you is only eleven. You'd still be a Greaser".

Darry was stunned, but tried not to show it. He walked to the door of the school, in silence, to wait for Soda and his mom. Soda came bounding over to him, and sensing that something was wrong, wisely decided not to say anything. He may have only been five, but he was still smart enough to know when not to talk to his brother.

Their mother drove up several minutes later, and when Darry and Soda got in the car, she also sensed that something was wrong with her eldest son, but also decided not to say anything directly to him, until they got home, and if he wanted to talk about it.

"How was school today guys?" She said.

Soda was the first to talk. "Great! Guess what mommy! Alyssa said that I'm invited to her birthday party in August, so can I invite her to mine?"

"Of course you can invite her. Who else are you planning on asking?"

Soda pondered this. "Steve and Johnny." He said, proudly.

"Ok, Steve I know. Johnny, I don't think I've ever met." His mother replied.

"He doesn't talk much. It's not cause he can't, he just don't like talking, and he's real shy." Soda answered.

"Well, if he'd like to come, then he's welcome too." Mrs. Curtis said.

Soda let out a excited noise from the back seat, which caused his mother to laugh. She looked back at Darry through the rear-view mirror.

"How was your day, sweetie?" She asked, nicely

Darry didn't move, but she could scarcely make out a small "Fine" from him.

Once they drove into the yard, Mrs. Curtis went over to her husband.

"Dear, can you please try to talk to Darry? Something happened, I know it. He's more quiet than usual, and he seems upset."

Mr. Curtis nodded. "Sure thing. Here, you take Soda and Pony inside, and I'll talk to him."

Mrs. Curtis smiled, and motioned for Pony and Soda to follow her inside. "Come on guys, we're going to pick out a cake for Soda, and then you can help me make it Pony."

Pony ran after her with a smile on his face, and Soda followed.

"Oh boy, cake!" He said, jumping up and down, while his mother opened the front door.

Mr. Curtis waited till they were inside, then he went over to the car, where Darry was still sitting.

"Hey sport. What's going on?" He asked, putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

Darry shrugged. "Nothing."

"Come on buddy. Something's bothering you. You can tell your old man."

Darry looked up at his father, and saw genuine concern in his eyes. Everyone always said that Mr. Curtis understood everybody. A trait, some said, that he had passed down to Soda.

"Something happened in school." Darry said quietly.

"What's that?" His father asked.

"One of my friends, told me something, and I don't really understand it too much, but I don't like it."

"What did they say?"

Darry sighed. "Well, my friend, Kaley, said that I couldn't come over to her house when her dad was home, because her dad hates Greasers, cause of something that happened a long time ago that he couldn't forgive, or forget. Why do people hate other people just cause they don't have a lot of money dad?"

Mr. Curtis sighed, and at down on the other side of the car.

"Well son, it's a funny world that's we're living in. Some people just have these idea's that one group of people is better than another, just because of the amount of money they have, or because of the color of their skin. Sometimes, it's even because they're male or female. I don't know why people think like that, but they do, and there's really nothing we can do about it. All the talking in the world, can't change their minds sometimes. Now, I don't know what happened with Kaley's dad, that he thinks he has to hate Greasers, but I will tell you, that your mother and I have both tried to teach you and your brother's that you are never to hate another person because of something so trivial. I'm so proud of my boys, because you don't hate anyone, please keep it that way Darry, and don't let this situation get you down."

Darry could feel the tears forming in his eyes, but tried desperately to hold them back. He didn't want his dad to see him crying, but as he tried to keep them in, that caused them to spill over his eyes, and as soon as his dad saw them, he embraced his son in a hug, and let him cry into his shoulder, which Darry did.

Darry finished crying, and soon, father and son went inside. When they went in the door, his mother took a look at Darry, and then looked at her husband. Mr. Curtis gave her a nod, and she went back to baking her cake.

Pony was standing on a chair beside his mother, playing in a pile of flour.

"Where's Soda?" Darry asked, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"He's upstairs I think. I told him he couldn't see his cake until his birthday." His mother replied.

Darry walked slowly to the foot of the stairs and saw Soda sitting on the second bottom step, holding a make-shift telescope, peering through it into the kitchen.

""What are you doing?" Darry asked, trying not to smirk at his little brother.

Soda looked up at him with an annoyed look on his face.

"I'm TRYING to see into the kitchen to see my cake, DUH." He said, rolling his eyes at Darry.

"Soda, there's a wall there, you can't see around it, so you're just wasting your time." Darry replied.

Soda didn't pay attention to him, and continued looking through the telescope. At one point, he leaned so far to the left, that he lost his balance and toppled down the one stair that separated him from the floor.

At the sound of his falling, his mother came running , and saw Soda on the floor.

"Soda, are you ok?" She asked, with Pony peering from behind her.

Soda rolled over on to his back.

"I'm fine mommy, my mission just went horribly wrong."

Mrs. Curtis laughed, and helped him to his feet. "And what mission would that be?"

Soda stopped. "Um, I was just trying to see if Pony was…making a mess."

Darry gave a snort from the stairs, and Soda turned to him with a pleading look, as if begging him not to tell his mother, that he was trying to see his cake. Although Darry knew that his mother wasn't stupid.

Mrs. Curtis ushered Pony back out into the kitchen, and left the two brothers on the stairs.

"You're weird, you know that kid?" Darry said to Soda.

Soda grinned crazily. "I know you are, but what am I?" He laughed and ran up the stairs. Darry thought about following him, but decided against it. He was too tired, and it wasn't worth it.

During the rest of the day, Darry was quiet. Not extremely, but still somewhat. Soda wouldn't leave him alone now though. He knew his brother was feeling better, and by ignoring him, that was wasting precious time, that could be spent tantalizing him.

During supper that night, Soda didn't stop talking about his upcoming birthday. Darry was happy, cause it meant that he didn't have to talk at all. He was feeling better than he had after school, but he was still a little upset, and he didn't want to talk to anyone about it, in fear, he would get upset again.

That night, when Darry was laying in bed, he felt something tap him on the arm. He rolled over and saw Soda standing beside him.

"What do you want?" He asked, sitting up.

"Darry, I meant to ask you when you got home, but I forgot, so I'll ask you now."

Darry turned to his little brother. "What's that?"

Soda climbed up into Darry's bed. "Are you ok? I know something happened today, but I don't know what it was. I just want to know if you're ok."

Darry smiled in the darkness. He knew now, that what people said was true. Soda had inherited the gift of understanding from his father. He laid back down on the bed.

"Yea, I'm ok kid. Thanks." He said, giving Soda a sort-of hug.

Soda smiled, and walked out of Darry's room.

Before he fell asleep, Darry thought to himself that he'd have to get Soda something extra special for his birthday.

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That chapter is probably my favourite so far. But, I'll update again soon. I'm on a roll.

Jess