At 7 o'clock they managed to get Dallas into the car. He had woken up early that morning, around five. They told him that they were going for a beer run and wanted him to come along. He heartily agreed. Now the only problem would be getting him into the place. Steve fixed that problem.
"Ponyboy, you and Soda run down there and move the sign so he can't see it, or put something' in front of it. Just so he can't see it." Sodapop nodded and hustled Ponyboy into a car that some fool had left on the street with the keys still in it. They drove down in record time, using the back roads and managed to park the vehicle in front of the sign. Thank god for tinted windows and low speed limits. Darry pulled in just moments afterwards.
Dally stumbled out of the car. He reeked of liquor and was still visibly drunk. "Where's tha beer?" he said, loudly. "Just inside, buddy." Steve said, picking him up from the pavement where he had fallen getting out of the truck. Dally nodded. "I wan... I wan... vodka!" he said, nearly yelling the last word. "Sure thing..." Two-Bit said.
Darry went in first and signed Dally in. The receptionist looked relieved. "I thought you wouldn't show." she said. "You were so sure you wouldn't be able to get him here." she continued. He went to the door and waved for the other boys. Two-Bit and Steve supported Dallas as he was having trouble walking. Sodapop and Ponyboy had opened the double doors.
"Hey! There ain' no beer ere!" Dally mumbled, trying to get away from them once he saw that he was in a waiting room. "Dally! Calm down, buddy!" Steve said. Darry turned to the receptionist who had just ordered two orderlies to come to the reception area. "I told you so." he said. She gave a feeble grin.
L
The two orderlies had managed to get Dallas into a room. It was an observation room. He couldn't go anywhere without being seen. The doctors told the gang that they would not be allowed to see Dallas for two weeks. They wouldn't be allowed to talk to him, even through phone calls or letters. They had best say what they had to say today, when Dally sobered up enough to understand.
Dally sat on the edge of a hospital-style cot, his hands shaking as he tried to light a smoke. He just couldn't get the matches to get to the end of the cigarette. That was if he could even get them to strike, the shakes were so bad.
They all visibly paled at the sight. It was pathetic. "Don't worry about them. They'll go away once he's de-toxed." the doctor said. Ponyboy nodded. "Can I talk to him, please?" Darry asked. Tears were welled up in his eyes. The doc nodded and pushed open a door.
Darry walked in the door, and Dallas immediately decided that he was the enemy. "Why did you do this to me?" he asked, barely above a whisper. Darry was almost balling. "You needed help, Da-" "NO I DIDN'T!" Dallas screamed, throwing a punch at Darry. To everyone's amazement, Darry did nothing. He took the feeble punch.
He knew for certain that the teen was weaker now. Before Darry probably would have been felled by the weight of Dally's punches. Now he didn't even shake his head. "Dal, calm down." he said, quietly, while tears rolled down his face. He wanted to sob. He wanted to check Dally out. He wanted someone to justify what he had just done to the boy who had already been through so much. But he couldn't find anyone or anything to do that in here.
"Please, Darry. Please, get me out of here. You put me here, now, damnit, get me out." Dally said, sobbing now. Darry shook his head. "You know I can't do that, Dallas. I wish I could, but I can't. You need help. You're going to get it here." Dally didn't answer him. Darry tried to brush a hand over the blonde hair on the boy's head, but he moved his head when Darry approached.
Darry was almost out of the door when he heard Dallas speak. "You know something, Darryl? You want to know something? I hate you. I really do. I hate your fucking guts." Darry let out a strangled sob and walked out of the room. It was the best thing he could do for the angry alcoholic teen bent of self destruction.
L
When Dallas was allowed to have visitors, he refused them. He wouldn't see the gang at all. Not even Ponyboy or Two-Bit or Sodapop. He did see Tim Shepherd once, but Tim never came back after that. Dallas was released after 3 months, a sobered up man. The Detox unit had called Darry to let him know that he was released, but that was all.
Dallas didn't come back after that. He had run off, it seemed. No one ever heard anything from him, not even a peep about him. It seemed that he had run off from Tulsa all together.
20 years passed, in which Two-Bit had sobered up, mostly, Darry had gone to college (but found it very different from high school and didn't like it much, although he stayed), Sodapop had met-and married- a girl name Kelly Winchester from Virginia who was attending college with Darry, Ponyboy had graduated from high school and a 4 year college and was working for children's welfare, and Steve had gotten Evie pregnant and had to marry her. They should have gotten divorced 3 days after they married in everyone's opinion.
The Gang had all grown up, but they still thought tenderly and fondly of Johnny, and wonderingly about Dallas. He would be thirty seven now... Ponyboy walked out of the house he still shared with Darry to get the mail. He pulled out a semi-thick wad of envelopes, shuffling through them on his way back to the house and into the kitchen. He was standing next to the table when he reached the last envelope.
Their address was scrawled not-so-neatly across the center. Ponyboy didn't recognize the return address. He may have had their name, but there wasn't. Casually he opened the envelope and a letter on yellow legal pad slipped out. It was only a single sheet of paper, and it was very short, but it was a letter.
Dear Guys,
The letter started. Ponyboy raised an eyebrow. Obviously whoever this was knew them. He glanced down at the bottom, adn his heart nearly stopped. In scrawling ink, much like the letter, Dally's name stood out with perfect clarity.
Coming to see you guys.
Need to talk about some shit.
Will show up later.
Dally
It was hardly even a letter. More like a note, but who cared. Dally was back! He hurriedly dialed the numbers on the phone for Darry's workplace. "Darry!" he yelled into the phone, obviously excited. "Dally's coming back!" Darry's breath came short. He paled. "What?" "He's coming back, Dar! He's really coming back! I have it in my hand in ink and paper!" click. The phone went dead. Darry had hung up on him, but he didn't care.
He raced down to the DX where Sodapop and Steve still worked. They looked up as his car's wheels screeched on the pavement. "What the hell--" Steve started. Then they raced over to Ponyboy to see what was wrong that caused him to screech in like that.
"Guys! He's back!" He yelped. "What? Who's back?" Sodapop said at the same time as Steve said, "Who came back?" Both men were now confused. "Dally! Dally's coming back, damnit!" Ponyboy said, showing them the letter. Soda gave a whoop and snatched the document from his brother and read it, Steve reading over his shoulder. All three men raced to high school to tell Two-Bit.
He was nearly as ecstatic as them. Eventually they all calmed down and went back to their respective jobs and Ponyboy went home.
A few days later, everyone was lounging when they heard a car pull up. "Soda, get the door!" Darry called from upstairs where he was getting some bills done. "Whatever!" he said, then "Steve! Get the door!" Steve shook his head. "Make Two-Bit get it." He shook his head and pointed at Ponyboy, who sighed and was making his way to the door when it opened.
Dallas Winston walked in the door. Everyone froze. The only sound that came was from the TV. Darry walked down the stairs to see who had died and stopped the racket his friends were making. He stopped halfway down the stairs when he saw what had stopped the noise.
Dally's white-blonde hair was slightly darker now, and he had two small children and a brunette woman in toe. One of the children, a little girl, was riding on his hip. She looked just like him. He set her down. "Well, now... This is awkward." he muttered. "Daddy, are we going to get ice cream after this?" the little boy asked. "shh." his mother said. They all walked into the house.
"D-d-dally?" Steve asked. "Steve." Dallas said, nodding in his direction. "Actually, I wanted to talk to Darry." Darry gulped, and then nodded, gesturing upstairs. He and Dallas disappeared upstairs.
"Mommy, who are these people?" the little boy wined. "I don't know, honey. They're Daddy's friends." his mother replied. The gang was dumbfounded. The woman was wearing Dally's ring, as well as a wedding band. A matching one had been on Dallas' hand. And these two children! Who would have thought that Dally would have children? Let alone a wife?
Suddenly, the little girl jumped up and ran over to the TV. "Mickey's on! Mickey's on!" she yelped, seating herself in front of the TV. The 38 year old greaser who she was sitting in front of merely raised an eyebrow.
It was an ice-breaker. The gang, the woman, and the two children were soon talking. A few minutes later, Dallas and Darry reappeared. "Ready to go, sweetie?" Dally said, picking the little girl up again, whose eyes were still glued to the TV. "No, Daddy!" she whined. "Mickey's on!" He laughed and put her down, but she stayed by his side and didn't return to the front of the TV.
"Glad to see you all, but we've go to get going. Gotta get to Phoenix by tomorrow night." he said, taking the little girl's hand and walking out of the house. They all gathered around the window, watching a beat-up black car leave the front of the house.