Chapter Twenty: Yin and Yang

"She makes her S a little more curly…"

"Does she spell her name with an I or a Y?"

"I know how to spell 'Sandy,' guys."

"How the hell do I know if she spells it with an I or a Y?"

"Well, you're the one who scribbled her name on Pony's wall with that marker…"

"There. It's done."

"Yuck. That's the pinkest thing I've ever seen. It's revolting."

"I know. Isn't it great?"

"No."

"Well, maybe Soda'll buy it."

"I hope so. Hey, are you sure it's not against the rules to fudge facts?"

"I've done it before. Nothing bad has happened yet."

"So mail it already."

"Yeah, get to."

"I'm getting, I'm getting."

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"Mail call!" Darry hollered, stepping inside. "Bill…bill…junk mail, more bills, no surprise," he muttered to himself as he flipped through it. "Hey, Soda!" he shouted. "There's one here for you!"

Soda darted into the kitchen where Darry was standing and took the letter Darry handed him. He stared at it. It was pink, lacy, and scented. And that was just the envelope.

"Are you sure this one's for me?" he said curiously, holding the letter between his thumb and forefinger as though it were a dirty rag.

"It's got your name on it, buddy," Darry said. Soda stared at it. Indeed it did.

Sodapop Curtis, it read. Soda squinted at it closely. "Hey…" he said. "That looks like Sandy's writing!"

Ponyboy, who had just entered the room, stopped dead in his tracks. It broke his heart to hear his brother getting so excited.

"Oh, boy, Sandy! D'you think she's back in Tulsa? Is the baby really mine after all?"

"Calm down, Soda," Darry advised. "I wouldn't even open it if I was you."

"Not open it? Are you crazy! I've gotta open it!" He whirled around and spotted Ponyboy. "Pony!" he exclaimed gleefully. "Didja hear the good news? Sandy wrote me back!"

"Don't get your hopes up, Soda," Ponyboy warned as dread filled him. He knew it wasn't Sandy. What the hell did Suze think she was up to, hurting his brother like that? He would give her a piece of his mind…

Soda was shredding the envelope in his effort to get to the letter. He finally got it in his hands and began reading eagerly.

As his eyes moved slowly down the page, they narrowed. Finally, Soda finished reading. He crumpled the letter in his shaking hands, threw it on the floor and stomped on it. "Who needs her?" he said in a low voice. Anger blazed in his eyes. "I hate her. I'll never forgive her. I don't need her. I got over her once, I can do it again." He stormed out of the room.

"What does it say?" Darry asked as Ponyboy bent to pick up the crumpled pink paper. He smoothed it out best he could and began reading aloud:

Dear Sodapop,

I know it has been a long time, but I owe you the truth. I'm so sorry to be dredging up things that should be in the past, but I have to let it out. It's true my daughter Ann Marie isn't yours. But it wasn't the father's fault either. You see, it happened that night we fought. I can't even remember what we fought about, it was that trivial, which makes what happened seem like I'm an easy lay. But Soda, you know that's not true. That night, I was at Buck's without you. He was having a wild party, and a lot of people were drunk. I was just getting tipsy, but S. (I can't write his name) was out of his mind with the booze. He asked me if I wanted to go upstairs. I should have said no, but I was angry with you and looking for revenge. So I agreed. A few months later, I had to leave for Florida. I don't expect you to write me back (I haven't even left a return address, so I don't see how you could) or forgive me, or to even understand what I was thinking that night. I don't understand it myself. I just thought you had the right to know.

Sincerely,

Sandy.

"My god," Darry said in a hushed voice. "Poor Soda. I wonder if he's…hey! Just where do you think you're going?"

Ponyboy ignored Darry and made sure to slam the door on his way out.

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"How will we know if he got it or not?" Dally demanded impatiently.

"He was supposed to get it by today," Suze replied, staring out the window.

"Uh oh," Johnny said quietly. "I think he got it. And I think Ponyboy read it, too."

"Why do you say that?" Dally asked.

"Because he's coming over here now, and he's madder than hell," Suze said, leaping up and dashing to the door to lock it, but she got there a second too late. Ponyboy barged in, smoldering.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he roared at a cowering Suze. "What's your problem, doing that to Soda? He didn't have to know!"

"He doesn't know," Suze tried to explain, but Ponyboy was having none of it.

"Whaddya mean he doesn't know? He knows everything!"

"No he doesn't!" Suze had recovered from the initial shock and was shouting back now. "I only did it to set Johnny and Dally free, and I screwed up the facts as much as I could with it still being the truth!"

Ponyboy stopped, breathless. "W-what?" he stammered.

"Wonder who 'S' is? It's Steve. Steve Randle. Soda's best friend. We told him who it was without really telling him. Oh, and Sandy wasn't tipsy. She didn't even have a fight with Soda. She wanted to. And that was the only plausible way we could let him know that he would believe!"

Ponyboy was reeling from all this information. But he bounced back quickly, and countered with, "Well, you still broke his heart."

"Not as badly as I would have. And he's over her, or he will be. He's only sixteen, Pony. There'll be other girls," Suze snarled.

"Okay, okay," Ponyboy said gently, putting his hands on her shoulders to either restrain her or relax her, or both. "Just, calm down, Suze. Don't bite my head off. I got it, okay? Soda'll be fine."

"Right," Suze said, taking deep breaths. "It's all over now. For both Dally and Johnny."

"Are they still here?" Ponyboy asked. Suze looked around and saw them. They were fading fast, waving and grinning at Ponyboy and Suze.

Suze smiled. Of all the ghosts she had set free, it had never been as rewarding as this before.

"They're fading fast," she said softly.

And they were. They were fading, for the last time, into their afterlife. Their souls would spend eternity in nirvana.

"Will they have each other there?" Ponyboy asked. His hand found Suze's. "They can't stand it without each other for too long."

"I have a feeling they will," Suze said, grinning, but for a different reason this time.

Johnny and Dally were like opposites. Johnny was timid, sweet, innocent and small. Dally was all over the place, loud and anything but innocent and small. They reminded Suze of yin and yang: polar opposites, but unable to stand alone. Only together could they remain in harmony.

The end.

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Epilogue coming up.