Ponyboy's Point of View

I can't possibly describe to you the depth of the horrible feelings that seemed to entangle my stomach the moment that I arrived at the boys home. The bold steel gates had the name "Second Chances" on it, that made me wanna puke. What if I don't want a second chance because I had a great first chance with my brothers, it was like stereotyping me all over again, but this time, instead of being a greaser I'm going to be known as a foster child who wanted to be away from his "abusive" environment. They have NO IDEA what I want. "Well come along Ponyboy" the horrid woman said as she grabbed me by my arm and dragged me inside the gate. I heard the gate slam shut behind me, already feeling like I was trapped inside a prison, 'there is no way I was going to be able to get out of this easily' I thought to myself. I was pulled up to the front door as she rang the buzzer. I heard the scurry of feet inside as I thought about how many boys could be in there. The door flung open to a short plump woman who was holding a baby and had 4 or 5 young boys, maybe 4-6 years old, grabbing onto her pant leg, as if I was going to hurt them. Then I realized what I probably looked like to them, after all they were sheltered here, being about an hour away from my true home so they probably had no idea what a greaser or a soc was. To them, I probably looked scary with my jeans, white muscle shirt, jean jacket and my greased hair. Standing behind the woman were about 20 other boys varying from about the ages of 10-17. I realized then that the short plump woman was talking to the damn social worker who was still pinching my arm. She probably thought that I was going to try and escape, well I probably would but I'm smart enough to wait until night to do that, I wouldn't try anything in the daytime, that's just stupid. They were talking about my "situation" in my old neighborhood. Finally the plump woman turned to me and smiled, and for once in a long time, coming from a stranger, I saw a true genuine smile, not some fake one. It was then that I realized that she wasn't going to judge me by how I looked or where I came from, that was a weird feeling for me, but a nice one. "Hello, what's your name son?" She asked me, I hated it when I first told people my name. "Ponyboy Curtis" I answered, I heard a few boys look at each other puzzled, probably thinking that I was kidding. The woman however just continued to smile her sweet smile, "well Ponyboy, my names Suzie, but you can either call me Aunt Sue, or Mom, all the boys here have their preference, so whatever is more comfortable for you just call me hun."

The next few days were a little strange. I woke up during the middle of the night once and couldn't remember where I was, and then it all came back to me. I was really lonely without the gang, but the boys here are all really nice and they all welcomed me into their friendship circles. As much as I missed my true home, it was kind of nice, not to have to worry about walking outside and not having to worry about the Socs trying to come out and jump me. Aunt Sue, I decided to call her that because the word "mom" was still touchy for me, even trusted us kids enough to let us out of the property some days so that we could go to the park and throw around a football or play basketball.

Before I knew it, a month had passed. I still called Soda and Darry and talked to them about every 5 days that was the rule though so I wasn't allowed calling them more than that. Every time on the phone when I talked to them though, they kept promising me that they were coming to get me, part of me didn't believe them but hoped it was true, the other part of me was confused of what I wanted to do. I mean that I really wanted to be with my brothers again, but to be with my brothers meant that I would have to go back to the Socs and greaser constant battle, being jumped all the time, and being isolated at school from all of them. Here, there was no jumping, no different groups and I was always included, I even stopped using hair grease and let my hair fall were ever I wanted, it still looked tuff enough though. Actually, in fact, I was really popular here. The older kids thought that I was really cool so I hung out with them a lot, the kids that were around my age, we hung out a lot too and then the younger kids looked up to me, maybe because I was sweet but tough at the same time, so I played with them-I forgot how fun "Duck Duck Goose" was, and read them stories at night. The school here was pretty fun, we all were home school by Aunt Sue, but we got to do really interesting assignments.

It was Friday, and we were all tired out. All 19 of us, I counted when I first arrived here, were squished together on the three couches. We were watching the Disney Friday Night Special; they were playing a movie called "The Fox and the Hound." We mainly watched it for the little kids until they went to bed, then the older kids and I watched another movie, usually a funny western one. Aunt Sue came in with cookies for each of us, that was the tradition anyways, she'd come in with a tray full of cookies while we watched the movie. Tonight, sure enough right at 7pm she came in with the tray of freshly baked cookies yet she had an excited look to her. "Here you are children, now I have some wonderful news!" She cried excitedly. We were all looking at her. "Tomorrow, a husband and wife are coming over here so that they can see you boys and possibly adopt one of you!" The room erupted with noise, of coarse a lot of the younger kids were really excited, they wanted a home, they wanted parents, however most of the older kids, myself included, remembered where we came from and either they weren't ready to go into another home, and I still had hope that I was going to go home to Darry and Soda.

The next morning everyone was instructed to look their best, so we were all scurrying around finding clean clothes and unused wash clothes. I wasn't exactly attempting to look that nice though for I didn't want to be adopted, in my, Soda and Darry's mind, this was just a temporary situation and I was going to be going home soon, hopefully. The doorbell rang and all the little ones ran downstairs, probably thinking that if they got there first, they would be adopted by the couple, it was rather cute to watch though I thought. The young kids were at the bottom of the steps and the older kids and I, who didn't want to be adopted, were at the top of the stairs, trying not to look appealing. Aunt Sue opened the door and a wealthy looking couple walked in. The woman was wearing a pretty summer dress, and the husband was wearing nice pants and a nice shirt. They generally looked nice. Aunt Sue went around introducing all of the boy's one at a time, spending a little extra time introducing the kids that really wanted to be adopted. She came to the older kids last, she went around introducing everyone, then came me last. "And this adorable sweet young man, is Ponyboy" Aunt Sue smiled at me; she has a larger soft spot for me than she did the other boys. The couple both smiled and looked at each other, "Ponyboy, that's an original name. How did you come by that?" She asked. I didn't know exactly how to respond, it was hard to talk about my parents. "My father, he was very original, even my brother's name is Sodapop." I replied. "Oh wow, well I adore your father's creativity. Is your brother here too?" Asked the woman. I didn't know what to say to the woman, I noticed that she was spending more time with me than any other boy here, that was a scary feeling. "No, he's too old for a boy's home" I replied.

The couple, who were called Mr. and Mrs. Cole which I found out later, stayed and interacted with us boys for a few hours. Then they went into the kitchen with Aunt Sue, who instructed us to stay out of there. For the next half hour, the little boys were sitting on the floor imagining what it would be like if that couple adopted them. The older boys and I just sat there, unsure of what to think. After a while, Aunt Sue and the Coles came out of the kitchen. Aunt Sue had an excited but upset look on her face, "someone must be getting adopted" I thought to myself. "We have made a decision" started the Coles. "We would love to adopt one of you boys, we would adopt all of you, but I'm afraid out house isn't big enough" she laughed sweetly. "We are going to adopt, Ponyboy!" They exclaimed. The entire room went silent; everyone knew how I didn't want to be adopted, how I hoped that I was going to go home to my brothers. My entire body went numb; I had no idea what to do. They can't just MAKE me leave, can they? The whole room waited for my reaction, I didn't know what to do, for I was still waiting for a different reaction, rather than just not being able to move. "Well Ponyboy, go up and pack your things" Stated Aunt Sue. I slowly stood from the sofa, and walked upstairs, feeling everyone's eyes on me.

A half hour later, I was all packed. I walked downstairs with my bag. "Is that all you have son?" Asked Mrs. Cole. "Yes ma'am" I replied. She laughed at my remark, "you don't have to call me ma'am son, you call me mom" she replied. "And you call me dad" said the Mr. Cole. I didn't want to call them mom and dad, I already had a mom and dad, and I surely didn't want them to replace them. I said my final goodbyes to the boys, and hugged Aunt Sue tight. "Now Ponyboy, you take care, and I'll call your brothers and let them know about your exciting news" she replied as her eyes welled up in tears. I nodded in response and my insides slowly withered away and became a hollow empty pit, with only sadness covering it. I stepped inside their car and they shut the door behind me. The second we were out of view of the boys home, the woman turned to me and asked me sharply, "what's your middle name?" I starred at her wondering why her mood changed all of a sudden. "It's Michael" I replied. She seemed to think about it for a minute. "Well then you are from now on going to be called Michael, none of this Ponyboy nonsense!" She declared. I starred at her unsure of what to do, I couldn't believe it, she was changing my name. "But Mrs. Cole, I want to be called by my real name" I replied to her. She turned around in her seat and slapped me across my cheek, "It doesn't matter what YOU want, it matters what WE want. And don't ever refer to me as Mrs. Cole again, you are not worthy enough to say that, you will refer to me as ma'am and refer to my husband as sir. Know lets get something straight, you will not be allowed to hang out with friends, you will do whatever we say, you will obey every command or else we will punish you. You have no rights from this moment on, and if you dare to tell anyone what goes on within our household, you will wish you were never born!" She screamed at me. I rubbed my tender cheek, as I tried to sink in everything that she said. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND MICHAEL?" She screamed in my face. "Yes Ma'am." I replied. I looked out the window, seeing parents in the park with their parents, and teens playing basketball together on the courts, I knew my life was going to change, and I have never wanted my brothers more so than I did at that very moment while I felt my soul begin to wither away.