Chapter Twelve

Owen finished making the bed at his grandfather's house. He walked over to the bedroom door and paused a moment before opening it. He had stalled as long as he could before having to go downstairs for breakfast in the hope that his father had left for the day. Owen opened the door, heard his father's voice and realized Johnathan was still in the house.

Begrudgingly, Owen headed down the stairs to face his father for the first time since his mother's incident. Owen walked in to the kitchen to find his sister quietly eating her cereal while his grandfather sat next to her with a hot cup of coffee and a worried look on his face.

Across the room Johnathan turned his attention from the toaster to his son. "Owen, for gosh sake, what on earth happened last night?"

Owen didn't care for his father's tone or insinuation that the situation could have been avoided. Owen snapped back, "What happened was your wife threatened your daughter, bludgeoned your son then attacked your future daughter in law! Don't try to pin this on me!"

"Owen, you know how she gets!" Johnathan began to defend his wife without knowing all the facts.

"Yeah, drunk!" Owen snarled at his father, "So when I left the house to give her time to cool off or pass out she called the cops, told them she killed her son and once again threatened to destroy this family!"

"Just because she said that doesn't mean the police know any different." Jonathan tried to reason with him.

Owen stared at his father. "That's where you're wrong! I tried to get her to shut up, but she wouldn't. I denied everything she said until they threatened to take Oliva and Scout to the station and question them for the truth. I wasn't going to let them have to suffer like that. I'm not like you! I'm not going to make the younger ones bear all of the burden, so I told them everything. The cops know the truth now." Owen grabbed his car keys and headed towards the back door. "Good luck with that!"

Johnathon called out to him. "Owen! Where are you going? We need to talk and figure out how we are going to handle this!"

Owen yelled back as he walked out the door. "I'm going to the house to get a clean shirt then I'm going to school! You get to figure this out all on your own!"

I shook the medicine bottle and two aspirins fell into my hand. I swallowed them and hoped it would cure the pounding in my head from my lack of sleep. I stepped out of the bathroom and looked over at Ponyboy.

"Don't forget to find Owen before class, and be sure he is okay. Okay?"

Pony stood up from the dining room table with his empty cereal bowl. "I told you I will, and I will."

"Tell him I'll call him after court. Okay?"

Pony smiled, "Okay."

"Don't forget…"

"… To ask him if he's going to be at home or his grandfather's house, and if it's his grandpa's get his phone number." Pony finished my words as he walked off to the kitchen.

"I'm ready!" Casey called out to no one in particular as she walked past Ponyboy headed to the living room.

"Whoa! Someone's looking like a church girl!" Two-Bit called out after he saw Casey dressed in a button up shirt and knee length skirt.

"Do I look appropriate to go with them to court?" Casey asked him but didn't wait for an answer as she looked to me. "I know you wore this to court once, so it should be appropriate. Right? I just didn't want to wear anything that would make the jury think you weren't telling the truth, not that I know what that would be either, but still."

"You look nice and appropriate." I told her and flopped down on the couch.

Casey sat down by my side. "How you feeling this morning? Don't be worrying today, okay? Everything is going to work out fine. Mrs. Jasper's gonna forget all about everything, cause that's what drunks do, and you're never gonna have to see Mr. Young ever again."

I laid my head back against the sofa and closed my eyes. "Casey, I sure hope you are right!"

"Pon, lets' go!" Steve called out and grabbed his car keys.

My twin came from the kitchen with his school books in hand and headed out the front door.

"Don't forget!" I yelled out one last reminder.

"I won't forget." Pony assured me as he let the screen door slam behind him.

Owen shook his head so his bangs would hide the bandage hiding his wound. He kept his head low and walked fast through the school parking lot trying not to be noticed.

"O!" Pete called out from behind his friend. "Wait up!" Pete jogged to catch up with his friend. The closer he got the more he could sense his friend's agitation. When Pete was close enough he noticed what his friend was trying to hide. "Troubles at home again?"

"No." Owen said quietly as he often did to hide the truth. "I tripped over a toy and hit my head on a table."

Pete knew better then to press his friend for the truth out in the open. The two walked into school in silence until they reached their lockers. Owen opened his and kept his head tucked inside to avoid attracting attention. Pete opened his locker door, leaned towards his friend and quietly asked. "Was it worse than usual?"

"Yeah," Owen answered with a sigh. "This time she hit Scout too."

"What? Is she hurt?" Pete quietly asked.

Owen shook his head no. "I'll tell you about it, but not here or now. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Peter!" Bethany's voice sang out as she and Charlotte approached the two boys. "Last few days of school. Are you ready for final exams on Wednesday or should we get together and study some more?" The two giggled together.

Pete replied with a sneaky grin, "You know I love to study!"

Owen thought about the difference in his life compared to Pete's life. While his friends were fooling around with each other when they should have been studying, he was waiting for a verdict to free his girlfriend from a maniac while his mother was busy acting like one. Owen shut his locker to prepare to walk away from the happy couple.

"Here comes Scout's brother." Charlotte announced. "Wonder what he wants?"

Pony walked up to Owen. "I promised Scout that I'd check in with you to see how you were feeling."

Owen smiled kindly and faked a conversation. "I'm good. I'm not as nervous about opening statements as she is."

For a second, Ponyboy was confused, but played along to figure out Owen's angle. "She worries about everything."

Owen pulled at my brother's arm, "Come on. I'll walk you to class."

"Okay." Ponyboy followed Owen and began to realize that Socs' didn't talk as openly about getting smacked around at home as greasers did.

"How was Scout feeling this morning?" Owen asked.

Pony shrugged his shoulders. "She seemed okay. She's more worried about you than anything else. She told me she wants to be able to call you tonight, but she doesn't have your grandfather's phone number."

"If I get my way, I'm going to see her in court after school." Owen said.

"What if the cops call you in for questioning or something." Ponyboy replied.

Owen sighed. "They better not. I've got nothing else to say, but I better give you my grandfather's number just in case." Owen grabbed Ponyboy's note book, flipped to the last page and wrote the number down. "Did anything happen last night after I left?"

"No sign of anyone from the Northside gang if that's what you mean." Pony told him.

"Good." Owen said with relief.

"How about you?" Ponyboy asked.

"I got back to my grandfather's before my dad was back in town, so I just went to bed."

"Was your grandfather mad?"

"Yeah, he's mad, but not really at me, just the whole situation."

"Does he know the truth?"

"Yeah. He knows." Owen said, "I'm starting to think he has always known."

Ponyboy stopped at his class room door. "I hope everything works out."

"Thanks, Pony. Do you want to ride with me to the courthouse after school?"

"Yeah, that'd be great."

"Cool. I'll meet you in the parking lot." Owen said then walked down the hall to his classroom. Owen walked in and sat down at his desk as the morning announcement bells chimed out of the classroom speaker.

The lady's voice sang out, "Good Morning Tulsa High School! Let us begin today with congratulating the winners of the student government elections from Monday. For the senior class your new president is… Owen Jasper!"

Darry, Casey and I walked down the hall to the courtroom to hear closing arguments. We entered the gallery and I noticed an unfamiliar commotion in the front row behind the defense table. A handful of hoods from the Northside gang were waiting for the trial to begin. I cautiously walked to the front row behind the prosecution and looked at the boys. I eyed the group and found it odd that they would choose to come to court today.

I whispered to my brother, "something doesn't seem right."

"I was thinking the same thing." He told me.

I was about to say the same thing to Casey when I heard Kathryn's voice call out to Darry. I turned to notice her walking down the row to sit next to her husband.

"What are you doing here?" Darry questioned her sweetly.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I just kept thinking that I should be here."

"Do you think you'll be okay hearing all of this?"

Kathryn smiled sweetly at her husband. "Mom is here too. Of course, she is busy in conversation downstairs with some of the clerks. She thinks hearing all of this might do me some good, and I brought nearly a whole pack of Kleenex in my purse." Kathryn looked past my brother to greet me. "Scout, Casey, how are you two this morning?"

"We're good." I answered quickly for both of us and grabbed Casey's hand to remind her to keep quiet about last night's incident at the Jasper home.

Before I could give more thought to the Northsiders the door on the other side of the courtroom opened, and James walked in with his attorney by his side. I hated how he stared at me whenever he had the opportunity. The two men approached their table. The attorney began to sort through the paperwork in his files. James smiled at the sight of his friends who all stood up to greet him. I watched the commotion as James broke the rules and stood by the railing to welcome his buddies. They leaned over the railing to form a huddled and James stepped towards them. I heard the hoods wishing James good luck as they patted him on the back and uncharacteristically hugged him.

"Hey!" the bailiff yelled. "Sit down! Get your client to sit down!"

The bailiff ran across the room and pulled James away from the boys. His attorney then pushed him into his seat.

I leaned towards Darry. "Do you think this is odd?"

"Yeah, keep your eyes open and keep close to me."

"What's going on?" Casey asked to no one in particular. "They can't be doing all that, can they? That just don't seem right. Does it?"

James smiled at the bailiff. "Sorry man, sorry, I didn't know." James laughed a little. He turned to look at me then he smiled and winked which sent a chill up my spine.

"Stand up!" The bailiff instructed James. The young man stood and raised his hands up as the bailiff patted his pockets to search for contraband.

One of the hoods in the gallery joined James in apologizing to the bailiff. "Yeah your majesty, sorry. We didn't know. We aint ever been to court on this side of the railing before." The hoodlums laughed.

"Yeah man, we'll leave. It's cool." Another Northsider added.

I watched the bailiff step away from James, and agree with the boys that it would be best if they leave because "this is a court of law, not a circus."

As the hoods filed out of the front row into the center aisle one of them mocked the bailiff, "this aint no circus."

I thought I heard a second boy say, "it's about to become one."

My blood pressure rose and I became concerned about the boys blocking the center aisle. I scooted closer to towards Darry.

Casey grew agitated with the mockery. She stood up and walked the hoods out of the room, "just keep walking cause you aint wanted here!"

I watched the bailiff turn his back to approach the bench to prepare for the start of the proceedings. The court reporter came in from the jury entrance door with a second bailiff to police the crowd. I looked back to the hoods who were being distracting as they sauntered out of the courtroom. I scanned the crowd of people remaining and noticed all eyes were on the small gang of boys who were leaving the scene.

One of the last boys in line smirked and announced. "Nice knowin' ya, Scout."

I stood up from my seat to figure out which boy had said those words. I turned and watch the boys gather at the courtroom door. My ears caught the scraping of a chair on the wood floor followed by a clicking sound. My eyes widened and I turned my head around towards the sound just in time to see James dart out of his seat. Fear took my breath away! I couldn't yell to warn anyone about the switchblade. I froze and focused on the green-eyed menace as he hurdled the railing with his fist clenched around the deadly blade.

"He's got a blade!" Darry yelled out. He pushed Kathryn down the bench to keep her away from danger.

The spectators gasped and screamed.

Indecision held me in my spot. I put my hands up to prepare to hold him away from me.

"Watch out!" Casey screamed in fear from the aisle, a few rows away.

James landed on his feet as he snarled, "You're MINE!"

I looked at the metal blade of the knife. I grabbed James' arm with both hands and desperately tried to defend myself from the weapon.

POP! … POP! … POP! The sound of gunfire echoed in the courtroom!

Spectators ducked, screamed and began to run from the courtroom. Across the aisle, Delores screamed out in shock. Darry pulled me backwards into his chest to shield me with his arms. Behind us, Kathryn let out a horror filled scream. I looked up from my protection and noticed the second bailiff standing nearby. The barrel of his gun was smoking as he held the weapon as tightly in his hand as James had held the knife. I sat up to watch him check the defendant's body for signs of life.

James appeared to lay motionless in front of me on the wooden bench.

"Miss Curtis, are you okay?" Mr. Berta leaned across the railing and yelled above the chaos that was brewing in the room.

Darry grabbed me and twisted my body towards him so he could look into my eyes. His eyes were wide in fear as he questioned me, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Darry began to pull at my blouse and sweater to check me for injuries.

My breath began to quicken with anxiety. I couldn't find the words to answer him. I stood up and didn't feel as if I had been stabbed or shot. I raised my trembling hands to feel my clothes for any bullet holes. I reached up to touch my cheek and felt something wet on my fingers. I pulled my hand out in front of me and saw the blood spattered on my fingers. I turned towards my brother with wide eyes.

He grabbed my head in his hands, looked me straight in the eyes and asked, "Scout! Are you okay?"

In a quiet panic, I lifted my hands to show Darry the blood splattered on my fingers, hands and arms. I looked down at my sweater and blouse and noticed the blood splattered there too.

"That's his blood!" Darry intensely told me. "That's not your blood. That's his blood. Are you hurt?"

Darry continued to look me over for wounds we hadn't found.

"Whose blood?" I asked with a whisper. "Whose blood is this?"

"It's James' blood. He's dead, Sissy."

I looked down at the young man. I noticed the switchblade still clenched in his fist as a puddle of blood was forming under his torso and dripping off of the edge of the bench onto the wooden courtroom floor.

Mr. Berta climbed over the railing and told me, "Don't look, sweetheart."

"Roll him over." The lead bailiff instructed the other baliff who had come in from a neighboring courtroom.

I watched as the two men flipped the body revealing James' face, his eyelids were still open to reveal his devilish green eyes. The bailiff who shot him reached down and removed the switch blade from the boy's clenched fist. He looked up to the attorneys and the judge who had gathered around the scene for comprehension of what had transpired. "He's dead!"

"No, he's not!" I warned the men.

Mr. Berta reached down to attempt to rouse the corpse but there was no reaction from the defendant. "He's dead, Miss Curtis."

I yelled out, "No! He's a liar! He lies about everything!"

"Ma'am, I assure you; he's deceased." The bailiff who shot him announced.

"No!" I could feel my whole body begin to tremble in fear. I looked to Darry and rambled, "I want to go... let's go... we need to go before he gets up ..."

Delores pushed her way to the second row of benches. With tears in her eyes she reached down and grabbed her son's hand to see for herself that he was gone. She spoke softly to her son. "Oh, James. You are such a fool."

Casey had finally been able to push her way back through the crowd to our side. "Scout, honey, are you okay? Darry, is she okay? Okay, I'm real scared right now, and I need you to be okay!"

"She's okay. She's okay!" Kathryn said through her fear. She motioned for Casey to come by her side so she could hug her and both girls could have some comfort.

I looked to Darry. "We need to go... he's going to wake up and kill us!"

"What is she talking about?" Casey asked Darry, but as usual she didn't wait for an answer before turning towards me. "He's dead, Scout! That man shot him dead before he stabbed you! He aint gettin' back up. He's a dead as he can get!"

"He's not dead! He's a liar!" I cried out.

Delores' grief began to grow stronger as she lashed out at me. "You've got what you wanted! He's dead, and he'll never bother you again. Just leave him in peace!"

"I didn't kill him!" I yelled back at her.

"Don't be yelling at her!" Casey yelled at Delores to defend me. "It's your boy causing all this trouble. She didn't do nothing wrong. He wouldn't leave her be and he got what was coming to him!"

Kathryn pulled on Casey's arm to get her to be quiet and leave Delores alone. "Casey, let's be respectful. That's still her son." Delores didn't offer up a rebuttal. She knew the trouble her son had been.

Mr. Berta suggested, "Let's get her away from this. We'll go across the hall where we can calm her down in private."

Mr. Berta and Darry tried to move me from my stance. I refused. "No! He'll escape and come after us."

"He's not waking up again. Sweetheart, he's dead." The prosecuting attorney attempted to convince me.

"Let's go, Scout." Darry pulled me away from the scene. He kept a tight grip on me as we walked together into the hallway and into a crowd of people. I looked at the floor and found a few of the Northside gang members hand cuffed on the floor waiting to be questioned or arrested.

"Kathryn! Kathryn!" Mrs. Ottavi's voice rang out from the end of the hall as she tried to pass by people to get to where we were.

"Mom! We are going in here!" Kathryn pointed to the conference room door that Darry had pulled me into. Darry loosened his grip on me. I walked into the corner of the room. I put my back against the wall and sat down so I could see anyone who may come in through the door.

Casey walked over to me and knelt by my side. Her hands were trembling as she grabbed my hand. "Oh my! Scout, you okay? You okay? Cause I'm not sure I am okay. My heart's racin' and I don't feel too good."

Mrs. Ottavi was the last one in the room. "My lord! What is all the commotion about? I heard someone got..." The lady interrupted herself when she noticed me in the corner with blood on my hands and clothes. Mrs. Ottavi crossed the room to look at me and gasped at the sight. "Oh my dear God! Scout, darling are your hurt?"

"It's okay, mom. It's not her blood. She's okay." Kathryn encouraged her mom to calm down in order to not panic anyone further. Kathryn opened her purse and began pulling out tissues. She tried to wipe the blood from my skin. Some of it had already dried, while some of it smeared and refused to come off. Darry quickly intervened and kept the Mrs. Ottavi from touching me. "She's in shock, but she's not hurt."

"Mrs. Ottavi, they shot him!" Casey almost yelled as the horror of the event began to sink. "He tried to stab her and that man shot him dead right in front of her, but they could have killed her too! What if they had missed and shot her instead?" Now it was Casey's turn to begin to panic as reality was sinking in.

"Let's not get upset about what could have happened." Mr. Berta tried to bring rational thought to the room. "Let's all just calm down. We are safe now. "

I absently rambled as my memories began to scramble from the panic attack and the adrenaline overload. I looked at Casey. "Is Duke back? Is he here?" I looked at Darry with concern. "He'll shoot them! We need to tell Casey and Ponyboy to run!"

"Listen to me." It's not Duke! He's in jail. Casey is right there and she's alive." Darry almost yelled at me as his concern for everyone grew.

"I'm okay, Scout. I'm right here. Aint nobody gonna hurt you while I'm here." Casey announced as tears ran down her cheeks from the memories of her father attacking her and her mother.

"He shot you! He shot me and I saw you. I held onto you." I thought about what Duke's next move may be. "He's, gonna shoot Ponyboy! We have to tell Dallas, he can't show them that gun! We have to help him!" I stood up quickly and the dizziness further disoriented me.

Darry grabbed me and announced. "I did! I did all that before we came in here. I warned Dallas and Ponyboy and they're safe."

Casey was confused as she looked at my brother, "Darry, Dally's dead! The cops shot him last year!"

"Shut up, Casey!" Darry barked at her.

I looked up at my brother in surprise. "Dallas is dead?"

Darry's mind tried to race ahead of this deja vu nightmare. He yelled, "Everybody just shut up! Nobody says another word till I figure this out!"

The room was quiet as everyone waited for Darry to tell me what I already knew. Darry thought a moment to himself. He turned to Mr. Berta and quietly told him. "We may need to get her a sedative. Can you go find a medic?"

"Sure thing. Mr. Berta turned to leave just as the door opened and two police officers walked in. One of them leaned out the door and yelled, "she's in here!"

"Officers, with all due respect. This is a really bad time for you to be here." Darry told them.

"They shot him." I said quietly.

Darry looked at me with worry as he tried to predict my next unexpected move.

I backed up into the corner again and braced myself for the horrible news. "Is he dead? Is Ponyboy dead?"

Across the room, Mrs. Ottavi told the officers that they believed I was in shock from the situation and needed medical attention before I would be able to talk to them.

Darry grabbed my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. "Ponyboy is alive. He's at school right now."

"Sodapop is okay?" I asked with a whimper.

Darry smiled, "Sodapop is fine. He's at work."

"But...but..." I my lip quivered with sorrow as I began to feel deep pain in my heart and the tears feel faster, "...mom and dad are dead?!"

Darry's mouth dropped open in shock as he realized he was going to have to tell me again that my mom and dad weren't ever coming home. Darry took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he answered. "Yeah, Sissy. I'm sorry, but mom and dad are dead." The grief from the news overcame me. I fell backwards into the wall then slid down it into a puddle of despair on the floor and bawled. Kathryn handed me a wad of clean tissues. Darry sat close to me and held me in his arms like he did the first time I had learned of their passing, but this time was different for Darry. This time he let go of his emotions and cried with me for the loss of his parents.

Kathryn knelt by Darry's side to embrace him and share in his grief.

"I miss my mom too!" Casey whimpered. "I wanna go home and see her."

Mrs. Ottavi took Casey in her arms to comfort her and told everyone in the room. "Eventually, it's all going to be okay."

Owen walked into his fourth period art class and sat down at a table next to Pete.

"Congratulations, President Jasper!" Pete greeted his friend.

Owen forced a smile. "Yeah, at least the people love me."

Pete ignored his friend's sulky attitude because he knew it was all part of Owen coping with troubles at home.

"So, you gonna tell me what happened?" Pete whispered.

"Later," Owen answered then changed the subject. You want to go to court with me and Pony after school?"

"Sure, I'll go with you."

Mrs. Cray, the art teacher, instructed her students to get out their charcoal drawing projects to complete and submit for their final grade. The students moved around the room grabbing their projects from the art racks and their boxes of charcoal sticks. Pete and Owen gathered their stuff and sat down again near the teacher's desk. Mrs. Cray turned on the radio that sat on the edge of her desk. The radio blared out the song, "Groovin" by The Rascals. At the end of the song there was a slight pause as the disc jockey seemed to have failed to have a second record ready to play. Then the radio called out, "KRWL interrupts this program to bring to you this local news flash! Early this morning, defendant James Earl Young…"

Pete heard the name and yelled out, "Everyone, shut up!"

Owen grabbed the radio and held it closer so he could hear the broadcast.

"… shot and killed by a court house bailiff after attempting to stab Scout Curtis as she prepared to listen to closing arguments in the case against, Mr. Young. Mr. Young was accused of assault and attempted rape against Miss Curtis and attempted murder of her brother Darrell Curtis at the Wash N Fold laundry mat this spring. KWRL will bring you further information as it develops."

Owen set the radio back down on his teacher's desk and turned to Pete. "I've got to get to her."

Without permission, Owen ran out of the classroom with Pete following behind him. "Owen! Where are you going?"

"I've got to find, Ponyboy!" Owen said in a panic.

"Okay, let's go to the office and ask where he is. You're not going to find him by running up and down the halls."

Owen agreed and the boys ran to the main office. When they entered they could hear the radio station in the background. They could also tell by the look on the secretaries faces that they had heard the news. Owen leaned on the counter. "We've got to find Ponyboy Curtis. Look up what room he is in!"

"Please!" Pete added appropriate manners to his friend's demand.

The lead secretary stood up. "Now, you boys just calm down. We heard the news and have already called Mr. Curtis to come to the office. There is really nothing we can do, but wait."

Owen turned towards Pete, "I'm going down to the court house."

"Mr. Jasper…" The secretary attempted to talk some sense into the boy.

"I'll go with you." Pete told his friend.

"Boys!" The secretary attempted to get their attention to no avail. "You'll be marked tardy!"

Owen and Pete stepped back into the hallway as Ponyboy called out to them. "Owen? What's going on?"

Owen and Pete ran towards Ponyboy. Owen pulled him along with them. "Come on, we'll tell you on the way."

The three boys arrived at the courthouse to find groups of bystanders, news reporters and police men gathered outside. Owen parked his car and looked around for Darry's sedan. "There, that's Darry's car. Right?"

"Ponyboy looked, "Yeah, that's our car."

"Let's head inside and see if we can find them." Owen said as he led the three boys across the courthouse lawn.

"Hey!" An officer yelled at the boys as they approached the courthouse doors. "What are you boys doing here?"

"We're here to see Scout Curtis, this is her twin brother and he's worried about her." Owen said.

"If you don't have legal business to do, the courthouse is closed." The officer told the boys.

"She'll want to see him. We just want to know she's alright." Owen pleaded with the officer.

"I can't let you in." The officer said. "I can tell you the girl is unharmed."

Owen and Ponyboy both breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Pete asked hoping to get more information.

"I'm not at liberty to say, and I'm not an investigating officer. My only job is crowd control, so I'm going to need you boys to be on your way."

"Thank you officer." Pete said then he tugged at his friend's shirt. "Come on guys, let's go and let the man do his job."

The three boys headed back to the parking lot in time to see Mr. Ottavi rushing towards the courthouse with an officer by his side.

"Mr. Ottavi!" Ponyboy called out and the man walked towards him. "They won't let us inside. We want to see if everyone is okay."

Mr. Ottavi put his hand on Pony's shoulder. "Son, why don't you head over to my house and wait for us there. We're trying to get everyone out of here and home where things will be better. Okay? I got to get back in there and help out. Wait for us at the house." The attorney said as he walked off into the courthouse.