Chapter 9
Puppies, Love and a Rain Dance
Sorry I havn't updated this one is so long...I'll try to update more often. Enjoy.
Soda woke up on the morning of his seventh birthday to find it raining outside. Any normal child would've been devastated, but Soda, being himself, absolutely loved the rain, and was even more excited.
He ran out into the living room where he found now five-year-old Pony sitting on the couch.
"Where is everyone?" Soda asked.
Pony shrugged. "Mom said they were going to go get a present for you, and that they'd be back by lunch time."
"Well, where's Darry then?" Soda asked.
"Right behind you kid." Darry said, coming up behind Soda, and tackling him to the ground.
"Happy Birthday buddy. You're seven." He said.
"Thanks Darry. Am I old now?" Soda asked, getting out of Darry's grip and going to sit by Ponyboy.
"Nah. You still got a couple years to go." Darry replied.
"I gots a question." Pony said, looking up from his book.
"What?" Soda asked.
"If Darry's older than you, how come you got a girlfriend and he doesn't?"
Soda laughed, but Darry's face went cold.
"Well, that's just something that we won't talk about. Besides, Soda's too young to have a real girlfriend." Darry said, looking around.
Soda stopped laughing, and looked up at Darry indignantly.
"No I'm not! Alyssa is my real girlfriend, and I can prove it!" He said, crossing his arms across his chest, and sticking out his tongue at Darry.
"Whatever kid. Lets just not talk about this. Look, mom and dad are home with your present." Darry said, going to the window.
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis came into the house carrying a box covered with a blanket. They laid it down beside Soda and told him to open it.
"What is it?" Soda said, in an awestruck voice.
"Well, you'll have to open it and find out, won't you?" His mother replied, smiling.
Soda wasted no time, and pulled the blanket off the box. Underneath was a kennel with a small puppy inside.
Soda shrieked with excitement. "It's a puppy! A real puppy! Is he mine?" Soda asked, bouncing up and down.
"Mr. Curtis laughed. "He's all yours Soda. You can name him whatever you want."
The anger seemed to have gone out of Darry, because he was smiling, and looked almost as excited as Soda at the sight of the dog. Pony was kneeling down beside the kennel, sticking his small fingers inside, and laughing as the puppy licked him.
Soda joined his brother on the floor and opened the kennel, letting the dog run loose.
"I want to call him…Pluto." He said, triumphantly. "So now, Mickey Mouse has a friend."
Everyone laughed at this and enjoyed playing with Pluto for the rest of the day.
Alyssa, Steve and Johnny came over later to see and play with the new puppy.
"He's so cute." Alyssa exclaimed, as the puppy ran circles around her feet.
"Why'd you call him Pluto?" Steve asked.
"Because my horse's name is Mickey Mouse, so I thought it would be cool to name my puppy Pluto, because Mickey's dog on TV is Pluto." Soda said, scooping up Pluto and letting him crawl over his shirt.
"I like it. I think it's cute." Alyssa repeated, taking the puppy out of Soda's hands, and holding it in her own arms.
"Do you like him?" Soda asked.
"I do. I always wanted a puppy, but my parents wouldn't let me." Johnny said, quietly, taking his turn with Pluto.
"He is kinda cute." Steve replied.
Everyone stared at him, and finally, he sighed.
"Ok, he is really cute." He said, petting the puppy, and letting it lick his face.
After Johnny and Steve went home, Alyssa and Soda were left alone with Pluto.
"I wish I could have a puppy, but my dad doesn't want one." Alyssa said, rolling a chew toy around on the floor.
"You can come over and see Pluto any time you want." Soda replied.
"Really?"
"Of course. I mean, you are my girlfriend, so you can come over to my house." Soda said.
"I came over to your house even before I was your girlfriend though." Alyssa stated.
Soda didn't answer right away, but looked at her thoughtfully. "That's true. But, now you can come over more often."
"Hey, if you ever get married, is the dog still gonna be yours? Or are you gonna share it?" Alyssa asked.
"I dunno. I guess that depends on who I marry. Like, if I were to marry you, then I'd definitely share him, but if I married someone I didn't like, then I probably wouldn't." Soda said, seemingly satisfied with his answer.
To his surprise, Alyssa started to laugh.
"Why would you marry someone you didn't like? I thought you're supposed to love someone when you marry them? That's what my dad always told me. He told me that when he first met my mom, it was love at first sight." Alyssa replied.
"Well, I guess I have to marry you then." Soda said.
"Why? You're only seven." Alyssa said, looking confusingly at him.
"Well, if I'm supposed to marry someone I love, then I guess it has to be you." Soda restated again.
"But why? Alyssa asked, still not getting what Soda was telling her.
"Cause I love you. You're my best friend, and my girlfriend for that matter." Soda stated.
"But, you don't mean like, real love. We're too young for that." Alyssa said, pushing her long, brown hair out of her eyes.
"I guess we'll find out when we get older then." Soda said, and picked up Pluto.
After Alyssa left, Soda went into the living room where Darry was sitting.
"Darry, can I ask you something?" Soda asked.
Darry looked up from his magazine and sighed. "No matter what I say, you're going to ask me anyways, so I may as well say yes. What is it?" He said.
"Do you think it's possible for me to be in love?" Soda asked, quietly.
Darry didn't answer, but there was a trace of a smile on his face.
"Not real love. You can't experience that until you're older than I am." He said.
"But can I be in some kind of love?" Soda repeated.
"I dunno. I've never been in love, but that's just me. I mean, I guess it's possible for your seven-year-old head to think that you're in love with Alyssa, but in reality, I think you just like her a lot." Darry replied.
"Wait. How did you know I was talking about Alyssa?" Soda asked, putting his hands on his hips.
Darry rolled his eyes. "What other girl could you possibly be talking about? What other girl do you know for that matter?"
"Well, there's…"Soda started, counting on his fingers. Darry stood up and interrupted him before he could get any further.
"I don't want to know, kid. It was a rhetorical question." He said.
"What's…rhetorical mean?" Soda asked.
"It means that I'm talking to myself, and I don't want you to answer." Darry replied.
"Kind of like…sitsofernia?" Soda asked, not pronouncing the word correctly, and straining to get any of it out at all.
"You mean Schizophrenia?" Darry asked, trying not to laugh at his brother's mispronunciation.
"Whatever. Don't get technical on me here." Soda replied, using his best grownup voice.
Darry laughed then, and left the room. Pony came in and sat down beside Soda.
"Are you in love?" He asked out of no where.
"Were you listening?" Soda asked.
Pony shrugged. "I didn't mean to. My ears wouldn't let me leave."
Soda had to laugh at Pony's analogy.
"So, are you in love?" Pony asked again.
"I guess so. I'm not quite sure yet. I have to figure this whole love thing out first." Soda replied.
"It's Alyssa, isn't it?" Pony said, looking up at Soda.
"Yea." Soda said, sighing. "She's real pretty, isn't she Pony?"
"What do I know about pretty?" Pony asked, redundantly.
Soda laughed. "You will some day. You're only five."
"Well, you're only seven. What do you know?" Pony stated.
"Two years more than you do. I'm starting to study the opposite sex closer than I had before." Soda stated, sitting up taller in the chair.
Pony giggled.
"What is so funny?" Soda asked, rather annoyed. After all, to a seven-year-old, this was a very serious matter.
Pony responded through giggles. "You…just said…sex." He said, almost rolling out of the chair with laughter.
Soda sighed. "Little brothers are so immature." He said, knowing all the while that if Darry had said the exact same thing, he would've laughed just as hard as Pony did.
Soda went out into the kitchen, leaving Pony in the living room laughing. His mother was doing the dishes in the sink.
"What on earth is Pony laughing at in there?" She said, motioning towards the direction of the laughter.
"I said the word sex, and he lost it." Soda replied, picking up a piece of bread, and sitting down at the table to eat.
His mother smiled. "What brought that conversation on?" She mused.
"I didn't even mean it that way. I just meant like, a girl. The opposite sex. I heard Darry say it once, and I wanted to sound grown up." Soda retorted.
"Well, Pony doesn't quite understand the difference of the two yet. Actually, I'm amazed that he understood it at all. He is only five after all. "
Soda didn't answer, just sat at the table and ate his piece of bread. Mrs. Curtis noticed the unnatural silence in her middle son, and decided to inquire about it.
"You seem quite dear. Is everything alright?" She asked, sitting down beside Soda, and brushing his hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a bit…confused about something." Soda replied.
"Well, tell me what it is, and maybe I can help. After all, mom's know everything right?" Mrs. Curtis said, smiling at Soda.
"Well, I think I may be in love, but Darry said that I'm too young to be in real love." Soda said.
Mrs. Curtis was smiling on the inside, but she decided to humor her son, and make it sound like a serious problem.
"Well." She said. "Being in love is a big step. You have to be able to handle it, and be old enough to know what it means. I'm not saying that you're not in love, but Darry is right in saying that you're a little young. It took me years to finally fall in love with your father. He used to torment me terribly, and pester me to date him all the time. He really annoyed me, but finally, after a few dates, and spending lots of time with him, I realized that I was in love with him. There's no doubt in my mind that you care for Alyssa very much, but I don't think that you really understand the concept of love. It's not only an emotion, it's something very serious. I'd wait a little while until you say that you love her again."
"I did say that I wanted to marry her. But, I don't think that she believed me." Soda said, quietly.
"Well, whoever you do end up marrying, she's going to be a very lucky woman. Don't ever think that you have to decide right away. You still have a long wait before you can get married. Enjoy being young, it doesn't last forever, believe me. That's why your father has gray hair." She whispered, and Soda laughed.
Mr. Curtis came in the door then to see Soda and his wife looking at him and laughing.
"What did I do?" He asked, looking back and forth from Grace to Soda.
"Nothing dear. Don't worry." Grace said to her husband.
"Yeah daddy, it's nothing. We were just teasing you." Soda said.
Mr. Curtis decided it was better not to ask, and went on with his work.
Soda decided to go outside and play in the rain, but had to promise his mother that he would where a rain coat and keep an eye on Pony, who had wanted to go out with him.
He agreed, and soon, he and Pony were outside, splashing in the puddles.
"Why can't it rain more often?" Pony asked, jumping in a rather large puddle, and splashing Soda.
"I dunno. I guess it rains whenever it feels like it." Soda replied, jumping in an equally large puddle, and soaking little Pony even more.
"Well, I think it should feel like it more often." Pony said, wiping some of the water off his face.
"We could always do a rain dance." Soda suggested.
"How do you do that?" Pony asked.
"I dunno. I guess you just dance around until it rains."
"But, it's already raining. What good would that do?" Pont replied.
"Well, maybe if we dance around, it will keep raining forever." Soda said.
"We could always try it." Pony said.
"Ok, lets dance." Soda said, starting to jump around and twirl in the falling rain.
Pony soon followed suit, and before long, they were both dancing and laughing in the rain, and hadn't even noticed that the sun was going down, until Mrs. Curtis stuck her head out the door and yelled for them to come in.
They were both soaking wet, and Mr. Curtis made a fire in the fireplace, and they all sat around it keeping warm, and drying off.
"So, did you have a good birthday, Soda?" Mr. Curtis asked.
Soda and Pony were playing with Pluto on the floor, and Soda looked up.
"I sure did. This was the best birthday ever."
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis left the room for a few minutes to bring in some marshmallows to be roasted. When they reentered the room, Darry motioned for them to be quiet, and pointed to the floor.
Soda, Pony and puppy were all sprawled out, fast asleep.
Hope you like. Please R&R!
Jess