It's been a long, busy, and stressful week, but I'm back, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Thanks to ShinyLane1.2 and Indianagreaser for letting me bounce my ideas off of you and sending me in the right direction. Your thoughts are always appreciated.
Oh, and here's hoping the updates will come faster now.
Reviews please!
XX
When Two-Bit saw that Pony's breathing seemed lighter, he gently let go of his hand and started up a quiet conversation with Soda and Steve - something about how they needed to scrounge up some playing cards since they were probably going to be sitting around a lot.
Darry and Ron stood talking at the foot of the bed. Everyone was so involved in their own discussions, they didn't notice Pony's face scrunch up. "Darry?" he called out.
They all stopped what they were doing and Soda came closer to the bed. "He's right here, Pony, hold on," Soda said.
"Ponyboy?" Pony heard Darry's voice from what seemed like far away but then he felt a hand on his back.
Pony, still favoring his right side, didn't want to open his eyes or look at anybody. "Darry…" he said slowly, eyes still closed, "I can't sleep….the light...it's too bright in here."
"Pony, is the light bothering you?" he heard someone ask. He wasn't sure who it was so he didn't answer.
It didn't matter anyway. Pony heard voices and in the next moment, he felt the lights dim around him even though his eyes were still closed.
"Is that better?" Darry asked.
They could see Pony's body visibly relax. "Yeah…" he breathed out and then promptly fell asleep.
"Why do the lights bother him?" Two-Bit asked after a few moments.
"He's sensitive to the light, it's actually a really common symptom of meningitis," Ron answered.
"Yeah, he was complaining of it when we were in the car on the way here," Darry told Two-Bit.
"It's good that you told us in the emergency room," Ron said, "It helped us diagnose him quickly."
Ron yawned somewhat loudly, then looked down at his watch. "Well guys," he said, stretching, "I want to go grab something to eat before I go to bed. I have to get some sleep before my shift tonight."
He surveyed the scene, looking at Darry.
"Hey, I'll go with you," Darry said suddenly, "I could use another cup of coffee."
"Darry," Soda called out, his eyes shifting a bit, "Haven't you had like three cups already today? You're gonna be wired..."
Darry's eyes grew a bit dark, like he didn't want Soda to worry about him. Then the look quickly disappeared and he half-grinned, looking at Ron, "You can never have too much coffee," he joked.
Soda rolled his eyes. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you."
"Soda, I need to be awake," he shrugged, then grew more serious, "I do need a break though."
"Well, alright then," Ron replied. "You can always just get something to eat."
Darry didn't want to leave, but worrying about Ponyboy was starting to drive him crazy. And the room was suffocating. But he knew he couldn't go far, for many reasons, including the weather, so the cafeteria would have to do. It would be nice to have some company to distract him from his own detrimental thoughts.
He could feel himself exhale as he left the room. "Looks like you could use some air," Ron told him with a smile.
"Yeah, well it's been an exhausting 24 hours," Darry told him, "And it ain't over."
"You're doing what you can," Ron commended him, "You're a good brother."
Darry nodded, but he didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything at all. He certainly didn't feel like a good brother.
He wasn't used to getting compliments. He was only used to attempting to remain in control of his circumstances. But this was one situation that was quickly sliding out of his grasp - like a piece of ice.
They didn't speak for a while but Darry didn't feel uncomfortable ballhe silence. He spoke up again only after they were close to the cafeteria.
"I didn't realize you were on a shift last night when you showed up in the emergency room," he said.
"I wanted to help," Ron said in his gravelly, slow drawl, "I remembered you guys - it had only been a few hours. And I didn't have any patients with pressing medical issues so I had some time."
"You're not from around here, are you?" Darry blurted out suddenly, as they entered the cafeteria. He spoke quietly but still felt like his voice bounced off the wooden tables and the walls. It was so empty there.
Ron looked at him and smiled, "I'm from Texas," he said with his twang. "I grew up in Garland. It's near Dallas. Only came to Tulsa about...oh...10 years ago? Maybe more. My father was already a doctor here," he was being a bit vague and Darry didn't want to get into his business either, but he had figured Ron's parents had always been together. Now he was saying they weren't.
"I know what you're thinking," Ron spoke, as if he had read Darry's mind, "My dad got married again. I grew up with my mother in Garland. My dad moved to Tulsa. It's a long story. Let's get some food first."
"I think Dr. Reed - uh, your father - was already our pediatrician by then," Darry said.
"Yea, I was like...what, 17 when I came to visit my dad. You must have been all of..."
"8 years old," Darry finished.
"Ahh," Ron said, "Could have sworn you were older."
"I get that a lot," Darry laughed, "That's what happens when you get to start watching a group of teenagers when you're 20 years old," Darry responded.
"Aha," Ron chewed on that for a moment but didn't ask anything else for the time being.
Darry knew his own walk was always strong and full of purpose - there was always something on his mind - but he watched Ron's easy stride because it was just a little bit different - slow and intentional, like the Texas cowboys that Dallas Winston used to pal around with at the rodeo. Ron was friendly, a man everybody liked, and you could see that by the way he looked around to see who he knew there, so he could give them a warm smile.
"Pretty empty, huh?" Ron said, surveying the room.
"Well there was a blizzard after all," Darry replied, "I'm surprised there's even someone manning this place -"
Ron smiled as they walked up to an older woman standing behind the cash register in a buttoned up white smock, her gray hair peeking from underneath her hairnet. "Oh good ol' Martha's always here, rain or shine. She's been here since before I started working at this hospital. She always makes sure someone is running the place, even if it's just her all by her lonesome, ain't that right Martha?"
"You got it, Ron," she said and smiled at him like a loving grandmother, "How are the patients today? They keepin' you on your toes?
"No more than this crazy weather," Ron said to her, "How are you getting along in it?"
"Luckily, I don't live too far from here. If I can make it I will. Otherwise, who will eat?" she said, laughing heartily. Then she looked over at Darry and Ron realized he needed to make introductions.
"Martha, this is Darrel-uh, Darry - Curtis," Ron said, "His brother is sick." Ron didn't want to get into semantics - that Pony wasn't exactly his patient even though knew the whole situation. But Martha didn't ask anyway.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she replied, genuinely concerned. But she was really good about never pushing Ron to tell her about his cases and so she didn't pry with Darry either.
"So what'll it be today, boys?" she asked, "The usual for you, Ron? Black coffee? Bacon and tomato with your eggs?"
Darry's eyes went big, his mouth open so wide that flies could find a home in it.
"Let's skip the black coffee today, Martha," he said, winking at her, "I need to sleep today. Just eggs, bacon, and tomato, ma'am. In a sandwich."
Ron looked at Darry. "I know the bacon and tomato combo is a bit odd, but I like it," he said.
Darry closed his mouth. "No, no, I get it," he said quickly, "It's just - that's what I would order." Like exactly, Darry thought. "Eggs in a bacon-and-tomato sandwich. And coffee as black as you can get. To stay awake at the job," he said.
Ron raised his eyebrow, then clapped Darry on the back. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," he said. He turned to look at Martha behind the register, "Martha, get my friend here one of the usuals. I'll take the same, without the coffee," he said.
"Coming right up," she answered.
"Eggs with bacon and tomato isn't so strange right?" Darry said, as they waited to collect their food, "Soda likes his with grape jelly," he added, smiling.
"Your brother, well, he's a special person," Ron said and Darry laughed. It was good to do that in a place like this.
"So, what's this job that you need black coffee to stay awake for?" Ron asked as they walked to their table balancing trays.
"I'm a roofer. It's not ideal,"Darry added quickly, afraid Ron would judge him, "But I needed something stable with good pay to take care of my brothers," he looked down, "They don't have anyone else."
"You do what you gotta do," Ron responded in understanding, and Darry wondered if he would feel differently had he known that Darry had had to give up college to do this. "I can see that you - well, you would do anything for your brothers. I can see that," he said kindly.
Darry looked down at his hands - the thick, calloused worker's hands that he wished would spend less time on a roof and more time taking care of his brothers. They reminded him of his dad's hands, but in a different way. When he saw his dad's hands, he always admired them and noticed them with pride. His own hands, though, well, they didn't make him feel anything more than pity. Like he could be doing more.
"My dad used to be a big black coffee drinker," Darry told Ron, wondering what was making him reveal this information, "When I was a teenager, I would watch him sip the dark stuff every morning. One time I tried some, just to prove to him that I could handle it," he said, "I couldn't. I spit it out. My dad just laughed..."
"Now I can't live without it," Darry added, taking his first sip without even a shudder, "Imagine that." He let out an "Ahh" sound. For effect.
"Maybe you don't have a choice," Ron answered knowingly. When did you get so smart, Darry thought.
Darry shook his head slightly, almost hoping Ron wouldn't notice. If he did, he didn't say anything.
"What about you, Ron?" Darry asked, taking the attention off himself, "What made you start drinking the hard stuff?"
"Ah, well, I never minded it," Ron said slowly, "But really, I started drinking it in med school. Studying for exams. My buddies at school, they told me it was the best way to stay up at night without popping pills. We had exams to study for. Couldn't pull an all-nighter without it. And now when the night shifts at the hospital get long...well it's the only way to go."
Ron unwrapped his sandwich and took a big bite, the eggs and tomato oozing out of the bread and making a small puddle on his plate. "That's the good stuff," he said, talking with his mouth full. Darry remembered wistfully that his mother had always told her boys it was rude to talk with food in your mouth. He remembered the moment not long after her death that Darry had said something similar to Ponyboy, only not so lightly. It was more like, "Chew, swallow, and then talk, kid."
In fact, he had been worn out from work and had pretty much scolded his poor brother for no reason at all.
He wished he had been nicer about it.
The pain in his heart was sharp.
Darry quickly changed the subject. "So, uh, our family has been going to your father for quite some time now. He's a good man," Darry said, "What made you follow in his footsteps?"
"You mean how did I end up in Tulsa when I'm a Texas boy?" Ron asked with a sly grin.
"Yup," Darry replied, taking his own big bite of his sandwich. Times were tough but leave it to good ol' eggs, bacon, and tomato to be the bright spot in his shitty day.
Darry had no problem letting Ron do the talking while he continued to eat. Ron told him about how his parents divorced when he was 12 - old enough to understand what was going on, but not old enough to do anything about it. Something about his dad wanting to go back to Tulsa, where he had completed medical school but never done anything more with it, and his mother not wanting to follow him there. His mother, of course, got custody even though Ron didn't want to stay with her. They constantly butted poor woman tried, she really did, but by then, Ron was in his rebellious teen phase.
Whe he was 16, Ron's mother finally let him visit his father for the first time after more than a year of asking. When he got to Tulsa, he told Darry that he had felt a new sense of purpose, something he couldn't explain even now. A sense of satisfaction. And peace. There, he confronted his father about why the man hadn't kept in touch with his only child. It was there that he learned that his father had tried to make a connection - but was always told by Ron's mother that his son didn't want to talk to him and to respect his wishes.
Ron said he found out later that his father wished he had tried a little harder. He decided he would stay in Tulsa. He asked his father if he could move in and finish out his high school years there. His father agreed. By then he was already living with a serious girlfriend - the woman that would eventually become his wife - but she didn't mind. She liked having him around the house.
By then, Ron's father had opened his own pediatric practice. Ron liked to show up at the office after school and watch his father at work. Sometimes when his father was busy, he would find ways to make the scared sick kids laugh. It brought him great joy. He realized he wanted to become a pediatrician and entered the same program at University of Tulsa that his father had graduated from many years earlier.
"I'm glad I found a way to be close with my dad," Ron told Darry. He looked at the twentysomething in front of him, stoic and sipping his coffee carefully and decided he would use this moment to ask him about his father.
"Were you close with yours?" he questioned.
Darry looked up. He had heard every word of Ron's story and found his background to be super interesting. But he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about his own. Something about Ron's kind, laid-back nature put him at ease, though. Is this what they called good bedside manner?
"I didn't realize how close I was with my Dad, until he was gone," Darry began, "Then I understood how much I relied on him - how great it was to be around him," he paused, trying to find the words, "My Dad was my best friend. He came to every football game. He taught me the meaning of hard work. I was an ass about it. I took it for granted. You never know when you're going to lose someone," he added.
Ron had stopped eating and carefully folded his hands in front of himself at the table. "What happened to him?" he asked quietly.
Darry looked at him, swallowing the lump in throat. "He - they died in a car accident," he explained, "My parents were out for their anniversary. I wasn't home actually. I was at college. I started at the University of Tulsa - like you. I lived near the campus. Soda called me when the police officer showed up at our house..."
Ron nodded like he understood, even though he didn't. His parents weren't taken away from him so suddenly. But he had seen plenty of children taken away from their parents.
"So you came home to take care of your brothers," Ron said plainly, "Sounds like you did the right thing."
Darry was stunned. No one had ever said that to him before. They had asked why he wasn't in college. They had reprimanded him for taking such a shitty job to pay the bills. But they never complimented him for trying to keep his family intact.
"Well, it's not perfect..." was all he said, "Soda dropped out to work too. I didn't like it, but I let it happen. Pony is the brains in the family. I'm hoping he can get a scholarship, work his way through college," he said, the pride obvious in his voice.
"Don't sweat it, Darrel," Ron said, "You're doing the best you can." Who was this guy and how did he always know the right thing to say? Darry asked himself.
"Yeah, I guess I am," Darry answered.
Ron was tired and had had a long night. But when the yawn came, he tried to stifle it out of respect for Darry.
Darry noticed it anyway.
"Looks like I'm boring you," Darry said with a laugh, as he finished his sandwich.
"Nah, just a long night," Ron answered, grinning, "I'm sure you know how I feel. Anyway, I need to get back to my office so I can get some sleep before my next shift starts. And YOU need to get back to your brother," he said knowingly.
"Can't argue with you there, doc," Darry responded, and they picked up their trays to throw them away. "I need to get back to Ponyboy, anyway," he said.
They went back upstairs and parted away. Darry headed off down the hall and back to his little brother.
XX