39. Rita
The knock on the door startled all of us, and I glanced over at Sodapop, wondering if he knew anything about who it could be. Obviously not, because he was giving me the same look. Officer Charlton hadn't called, but maybe he'd found something! I didn't even let myself think that it could be Pony waiting for me at the door. That would hurt too much. I'd done that to myself once or twice the first week he'd gone missing…glory that hurt like nothing else. Steve and Dally were the only other ones here, Steve and Soda together on the sofa and Dally cross-legged on the floor. We didn't really have enough people for a decent game of poker, so we had been playing rummy.
Soda didn't want to go out, and it seemed like Steve was fine with that.
We were all waiting for Pony to call. It had been almost a week now. I was doing my best not to worry. He was probably busy.
No. Not busy. Something was wrong. I knew it. Something was wrong and I was about three seconds from tying Dallas up and making him call James. Then I would force James to put Pony on the phone and demand to know what was going on. It all sounded ridiculous, even to me…but I needed to know what was going on. Pushing all of those thoughts away, I dropped the cards on the table, standing slowly and heading over to the front door, pulling it open.
The girl on the other side was wearing a pair of jeans and a man's t-shirt like Pony would wear to bed. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail and hidden under a blue baseball cap. She was probably around Soda's age, but the thing that took me back was the bruise around her eye. When she looked up at me, her face emerging from the shadow under her baseball cap, it was the first thing I saw. The blue and brown skin surrounded her partially swollen eye, and her lip had a cut going through the middle, the skin there bruised as well. Her arms, too, were covered in bruises shaped like fingerprints that went all the way from her wrists to her short sleeves, and I would bet some good money that they were under her sleeves on her shoulders too. They peeked out from under her collar in ugly splotches, and I had to fight to make eye contact.
Never in my life had I hit a girl. Our father had drilled it into all three of us, and our pals too, that hitting a woman was one of the most contemptible things you could do. Even Dal, rough as they came, never got rough with girls. Well…I thought back to the girls he'd been harassing at the movies and amended that. Sure, he'd bug 'em and mess around with them, but someone had beat this girl. She looked like one of us after a rumble, but it looked worse on her somehow.
She didn't quite meet my eyes, her expression distant and uninterested, but when I asked if I could help her, she finally forced her eyes to mine, teeth digging into her lower lip. "Are you Darrel Curtis?" she finally asked, her voice almost too soft to hear.
I nodded. "Yeah."
Behind me, the guys were quiet, obviously trying to listen in. I waited, wondering if she was going to offer anything else.
It took a minute, but she did.
"Are you...you're Ponyboy's big brother?"
I felt my blood freeze like ice in my veins as I nodded again.
"Yeah, I am."
She nodded, looking decisive as she almost smiled up at me. "I'm Rita. His foster sister." The almost-smile disappeared as soon as it had appeared. "Can…can I speak to you, for a moment?"
I nodded immediately, probably too quickly. "Yeah...of course. Come in." I stepped back, giving her room, but she still hesitated for a long minute, her eyes watching me warily before she stepped inside.
She froze again in the doorway when she caught sight of the other guys.
Dal nodded, just a tilt of his chin, but his expression was pretty friendly, considering. Soda stood, Steve following suit, and they stepped away from the sofa, giving her some space. "You, uh…wanna sit?" Soda offered, gesturing toward the seat, and she nodded after a second.
"Thanks," the girl murmured, taking the seat and making herself as small as possible, her feet tucked under the sofa, her body all the way back, arms crossed as she shrank from all of us. Dal didn't move from where he sat, and I returned to the recliner. Soda sat in the chair and Steve sat beside him on the floor, all of us watching her. It was rare that we actually had girls over...not since Sandy had left town…at least, it had been rare until Susie had started spending most of her time in our living room, reading or watching TV, obviously bored but rarely complaining.
After our parents, I hadn't really had much time to meet any girls…they'd pretty much been the last thing on my mind. Girls wanted to go out and do stuff together, and with two little brothers to look after and bills to pay, I sure didn't have much time for that. Soda hadn't been up for it after Sandy, and I wondered if he would be anytime soon. He'd been pretty broken up about her, not that he'd talked to me about it. That had been more his and Pony's thing. Not that I hadn't tried. And Pony...well, he hadn't really had any friends over after our parents. I wondered about that for a second, the thought taking me aback.
It was exactly what I'd worried about after we'd lost them. He'd seemed to withdraw from everyone, especially any friends he'd had at school. Before, when our parents had been alive, I'd sometimes get home from work to find him and some friend of his I didn't recognize at the kitchen table, working on a project or reading something for class. Not once since our parents had died had he brought anyone from school over. I wondered briefly if he'd thought he couldn't bring people over or something. I mean…it hadn't been true, but I hadn't hated him either and yet I'd somehow given him that impression.
Even when our parents had been alive, he'd never had girls over. I think Sodapop had worried a little, sometimes asking Pony if there were any pretty girls in his class, and Pony would always shrug, not really giving an answer. I figured he was just too young to notice girls, or maybe he was embarrassed and didn't want to talk about it. I had a feeling he was going to be quieter about stuff like that. Either way, neither of us had pushed. I'd figured I had more important things to worry about for the moment.
"So…" I prompted, smiling a little. "What can we do for you?" I made sure to lean back, arms loose at my sides as I watched her. The other kids in that house had been beaten plenty, and according to the other guys in that house, that's not all Richard had done to her.
Ponyboy's foster sister glanced over at the other guys, her eyes lingering on Soda, and she gave him a small, almost secretive smile, eyes going kind of soft. "You're his other brother. Sodapop."
He grinned. "Yeah, I am."
"You look just like him. Or...he looks like you, I guess." She hesitated, looking at the floor for a moment. "I was…" She broke off, shaking her head. "I want to help." Rita spoke the words like they had been dragged out of her mouth. "He...your little brother...shit." She smiled at the floor, the curse sounding kind of weird in her soft voice. "I don't even know where to start."
We were all quiet, waiting, except for Soda. "You want some water or something? Beer?"
She finally looked up, shaking her head as she seemed to relax a bit, her shoulders coming down from where they'd been tensed up against her ears.
"No…thank you though. I just...he's alive, right? Ponyboy. He's alive."
"Yeah," Soda answered her.
She nodded, a disbelieving smile growing as she looked down at the floor in front of the coffee table for a second before meeting my eyes again. Her own eyes were a little wet, like she was real relieved to hear it, and I wondered suddenly if Ponyboy hadn't lied…he'd said they'd never talked. But she sure did seem happy to know he was alive.
"That cop came by before we all left. Officer Charlton, right?" I nodded. "He told us that they suspected he was alive and asked if we had any information. Then they asked us about Richard. Course, none of us said anything. He was in the other room. He would have killed us." She didn't even hesitate, speaking so matter of factly that I had to believe she really meant it. "So he's hiding somewhere, and I assume you know where..."
"If you think we're gonna tell ya…" Dally started, and she turned and pinned him with an almost mischievous smile, her finger making a gun she pointed at his face.
"You came to the house," Rita broke in. It wasn't a question, but he nodded, and she glanced over at Soda and Steve. "You too. Both of you."
I frowned, staring at my brother who was refusing to meet my eyes all of a sudden.
"I thought it was him…from the road, you looked like him." For a moment, she was quiet, then the smile dropped and her eyes were haunted and far off. "I was there," she told us, then went on, clarifying. "The night that Richard and his friends killed Lianne. I know at least two of the men there. I saw them try to kill your little brother. And I'll testify for you…for him. I'll tell your cop friend everything."
Silence. Absolute silence.
My limbs were numb, my mouth dropping open. Our friends and my brother all looked the same, a hope that scared me growing in Soda's eyes. I couldn't bear to see that hope crushed. Not again. Steve must have felt the same, because he spoke up. "Why?" he snapped a little, and she cringed, the confident expression dropping as she leaned back against the sofa. He must have noticed because he softened his tone. "Why would you want to risk everything to help some kid?"
The girl looked him straight on, biting down on her lip, then dropping her eyes again, apparently unable to hold eye contact. "Because he risked everything to help me," she admitted, her voice barely audible. "Every day…well…every night."
There was silence for a minute, all of us waiting and her trying to gather the courage to go on. Finally, she crossed her arms, looking all of us straight on, eyes scanning the room like she was giving a speech.
"It wasn't so bad for him for the first few days," she explained, the random statement taking me back a little. Apparently, she'd decided to start at the beginning. "Then Richard caught him smoking about three days in and…well, you know what he does to smokers, I guess."
"Your foster brothers told us," Soda told her, and she smiled a little, the look sad.
"They said they'd found you." Rita looked like she wanted to say something else about that, but shook her head and continued her story. "That first night, after the social worker brought him back, he heard Richard..."
She hesitated for a long time, and we were all silent, knowing what she was going to say but all too afraid to tell her. Dal stared at his hands in his lap, jaw tight, and Steve leaned back, arms crossed. Soda was looking at her, though, eyes sad and tired.
"Ever since I came to that house, he'd come into my room at night sometimes. Since I was thirteen. And that night Ponyboy heard. Your little brother came into my room and pulled Richard off of me...punched him right in the nose. Richard...well his wife didn't know, at least not for sure, so he couldn't make a whole lot of noise at night when she was asleep. Pony got about two good hits in before Richard got a hold of him…"
My blood turned to ice once more, and I clenched my hands in my lap.
"How bad?" Soda asked like he was forcing the words out.
I knew he was okay now. Ponyboy had gotten away. I should be able to hear this, I told myself firmly. Rita gave a sad smile and looked at me instead of my brother.
"Honestly?"
I nodded. I needed to know. I needed to know what Pony had been through. All of it. I mean…he'd lived through it. The least I could do was hear it.
"I thought I was going to have to take him to the hospital. Didn't know how I was going to, though," the girl admitted. "I tried to get him on the bed but he was too heavy. I mean…he's pretty small, but he was unconscious for almost an hour. When he finally woke up, he refused. Told me he wasn't going to the hospital, and besides, we would have had to steal Richard's truck…no way he could have walked. He wouldn't get on the bed either. Said he was fine on the floor...maybe because he couldn't get up. Coughed up blood all night."
I flinched and Soda dropped his head into his hands, shuddering a little.
"Every night afterwards, Ponyboy came into my room at night. The first night, I was so scared it was Richard…but he just sat down. Laid on the floor at the foot of my bed, like a dog." She laughed a little, wiping at her eye. "Richard came in and Pony just stood up…crossed his arms and stood there, like Richard hadn't just about killed him the other day. Every night he'd disappear, but he'd always be back before Richard came into my room, and he'd sleep at the foot of my bed. Hell, I don't think he slept much. Sometimes Richard would hit him and Ponyboy would try to fight him. Other times he'd just leave. Lianne slept on the other bed when she moved in, and I heard her tell him once that if he didn't stop, Richard might settle for him sometime. He didn't say anything, but he kept sleeping in our room. It's why Richard wouldn't let up on him. If he'd have just kept his mouth shut and stayed out of his way, Richard would have left him alone like he did the other guys for the most part. But...Ponyboy wouldn't let him hurt me."
He hadn't let that man hurt his foster sister. My little brother, who was a full head shorter than me and probably half my size, had stood up to the man who had beaten and outright tortured him every night…because he wouldn't let him hurt those girls. Glory, I was proud of him. I mean…I'd always known that my little brother was no coward. He was a good fighter for his size and he did just fine when we rumbled. But he was still just a kid, and Richard was a grown man who'd beat him half to death, and still he'd stood up to him, over and over, no matter how often he'd hurt him.
I could see it in Soda's eyes too, and even Steve and Dal were grinning a little.
Then I remembered our conversation with Mark and Tyler. They hadn't known that Pony was sleeping in the room across the hall from them. So how could they know that their foster father had never hurt him in the same way he'd hurt the girls in the house? I mean…Ponyboy had stopped him from doing something he'd been at for years. He would have been angry.
"Did Richard ever...settle for him?" I made myself ask. If anyone would know that, this girl would. In the chair, Soda stiffened, his breath catching. Dally crossed his arms tight over his chest, glaring at his lap now, and Steve watched the girl intently. The other guys, Mark and Tyler, had said no, but they hadn't seemed to know about this part of the story, so maybe they hadn't seen it. Or maybe they just hadn't wanted to hurt us.
The girl shook her head slowly. "Not that I know of. He did his homework at school, or at the house, and then right before Richard got home, he'd sneak off, I guess to that bar or the library or something. But he'd almost always be home before Richard came into my room."
After a moment, Rita sighed and continued. "Richard wouldn't always come in, but Ponyboy stayed on my bedroom floor every night, just in case he did. I don't suppose he got much sleep, but he never complained. And as far as I know, he kept doing good and school. Then…I don't know this part for sure, guys," she admitted, rubbing a hand down her face. "Richard chose that bar on purpose. I think he knew that Ponyboy would hide out there…and I think he wanted to kill two birds with one stone."
"How?" Dal wanted to know.
She shrugged. "No idea. I can't even know that for sure. But he seemed to know everything. He has friends all over town…maybe one of them spotted your brother. I was in my bedroom, and Lianne was in the kitchen. Mark and Tyler were out, and I heard him tell her to come with him. And I knew…I mean, I didn't know where, but I knew. She'd been worse than usual. I told her to stop…that she shouldn't antagonize him. Ponyboy tried to stick up for her. He took plenty of beatings for her. But it was like she couldn't stop herself." I thought of Two-Bit and cringed a little. "They took his friend's truck, so I took Richard's. Idiot was always leaving his keys on the table. Locked himself out all the time and he'd wake everyone up beating on the front door at three am when he was out drinking with his friends. I followed them…"
"He didn't see you?" Steve was incredulous, and I shared the feeling. But Rita only smiled, looking disgusted.
"He was too drunk. He drinks all the time…it's why he can't keep a job. His friend, a cop, was driving. They were following another car with three of his biker buddies and another cop. I didn't get there until they had her out of the car and he hit her. I parked around front and went around…I think he saw Ponyboy. Looked right at the bar where he was hiding. I think your brother was looking at Lianne though…I thought he was going to go over there…try to help her. That might have been what Richard wanted, but I can't be sure. He could have got the cop to kill him…tell everyone that he'd attacked the cop first or something. No one was going to look into some foster kid with a history of attacking people."
"Ponyboy didn't attack anyone!" Soda snapped, leaning in. I was afraid he'd scared her, but she just shook her head.
"You and I know that, but you know how people are. It would be easy for Richard to make your brother look like some hood that went around starting fights. He has half of the police department to back him up." The girl sighed. "Ponyboy just stood there, though. There was nothing he could do…I don't know if he knew that or if he was just in shock. They…well, I think you can guess what they did. Not all of them but…Richard stabbed her in the end." She broke off, reaching up and wiping at her bruised eye. Her voice was weak when she continued. "He screamed then. The cop came after him…had a busted bottle and he got Pony in the head with it while one of the others grabbed him. Got a hold of his jacket and stabbed him in the side."
"Then…how did he get away?" I asked, clearing my throat so my voice wouldn't give out. I knew why Ponyboy hadn't tried to help. Just like Dal had said…he'd been in shock, and I thanked God for it. Had he been thinking right, he'd have rushed in and gotten himself killed. But I knew he'd feel guilty. Like it was his fault. He wouldn't be able to see that he'd been set up…that Richard wanted to kill him and the girl both. That they were getting in his way. I'd need to talk to him about that. Or rather, I'd need him to talk about it. He hadn't yet, I was sure of that.
He'd bottle it up until he blew up.
"I don't know," she admitted, sniffing and brushing at her eyes again. When she looked up at us, they were red, and her face was pleading, like she was asking something of us. "I don't know. I thought he was dead. They had him…he should be dead. I knew if he caught me…that if he somehow found out that I'd taken his truck, he'd kill me too. So I went home and…I hid in my bedroom." Rita wiped her eyes again, the tears coming too fast for her to keep up with. "He stood up for us. He put himself in Richard's way and…he risked his life for me. Every night. There were times when I thought Richard was really going to kill him, all over me. And then…I couldn't even watch…"
Soda was so white he looked like he was about to fall over. He dropped his head after a second, wiping at his own eyes, and Steve put a hand on his shoulder, looking kind of sick himself.
"You know better than that," Dal spoke up, surprising us all. Rita looked up at him, tears still dripping down her face, lips trembling. "Wasn't nothing you could do, no more than Pony. If you'd have butted in, he'd have been trying to keep you safe, and they'd be three dead kids behind that bar instead of one. Ponyboy's a good fighter…fast too. He got away and came to me, and I got him out of town. He's fine…him and his friend are staying with a buddy of mine. So don't worry about the kid." He was gruff, almost mean sounding, but the girl smiled at him, the tears slowing as she managed to wipe them away.
"You're probably right. Either way, I'm glad he's safe now. I never…I never even thanked him, you know? Never told him how much it meant to me…I…no one ever did anything like that for me before. Heck…I kind of wish he was my real brother. You're lucky to have a little brother like him," she told me, and I felt pride and guilt mingle in my chest.
How would she feel if she knew that I'd let myself get so upset with him that I'd hit him, driving him out of the house and starting all this.
"Yeah…yeah, we are," Soda told her, sniffing a little and looking up with a weak smile.
"So you wanna help?" Dallas asked. She nodded, pulling herself together.
"If your cop wants to try to put him away, I'll testify. I'll tell them everything…and there's a lot to tell. I'll tell that cop all of it. Today if you want, then, well…maybe he can arrest him. Soon. Before another kid ends up in that hellhole." She was quiet for a second. "And if Ponyboy talks too…well, our testimony of seeing him kill Lianne and how he's treated us should be enough to put him away."
"He the one that gave you that bruise?" Steve wanted to know.
She hesitated, then shook her head. "No…wasn't him."
"Then who?" Soda asked, his voice dangerous. Ponyboy had protected her. Hell, more than that, he'd risked his life for her. The least we could do was pick up where he'd left off.
She gave him a brief smile. "My boyfriend turned out to be as big of an asshole as Richard. But I took care of it." She shrugged. "That's the last black eye a man's gonna give me without getting one back."
I didn't doubt her. Still, she sure wasn't going to be alone in that if we had anything to say about it.
"And the guy's friends? The cops?" Dal asked, changing the subject.
"Not all of the cops are bad. I can give you a list of the dirty ones…or most of them. They come to the house all the time."
"And…you'll talk to Officer Charlton?" I confirmed.
"We can go now if you want. Or call him and get him to come here."
I couldn't believe it…it was too easy. After everything, I felt like it should be harder.
"You can stay here…if you want," Soda told Pony's foster sister quietly. I nodded, then remembered the brick through our window. He knew where we lived.
"Or with one of our buddies," I put in. "Two-Bit…he's a good friend of ours, would let you stay. He lives with his mom and his little sister. They wouldn't mind." With Two-Bit either home or over here every night and Tim and his boys patrolling the neighborhood, no one had dared to bother them again.
She hesitated, then nodded. "Actually, that would be great…if I could stay with your friend for a day or two." She paused, looking me up and down. "You got a gun? I mean…you seem like the kind of guy who'd have a gun. No offense."
I grinned a little. "Yeah, we got a gun. A gun and a spare room in case you need it."
She smiled then, pushing her hair back and showing another bruise on her neck that she seemed unaware of. "Thank you."
She could take turns staying with us and with Two-Bit, since Tim and the rest of us were keeping watch. Glory, if she helped us get our little brother back, she could stay forever.
"You'll talk to him now?" Soda clarified, looking like he was about to jump out of that chair, and she smiled at him, nodding. It was hard to watch...he was getting his hopes up. He'd gotten his hopes up before...Steve met my eyes, looking as worried as I was.
"You can call him and have him come here, or we can go to the station…either way, I'll give him a list of names and I'll tell him what Richard did to me. Whatever lets you get your little brother back. I'll do it."
Soda looked like he was about to blow up, but I couldn't even move. I couldn't believe it. It was too easy. I couldn't let myself believe it…if it turned out not to be true, I was gonna die. I wouldn't be able to take it.
"Darry…are you gonna call or what?" Soda suddenly demanded, jumping to his feet, and I nodded, trying to smile and grabbing the phone. This was my chance to get Ponyboy back. This girl was gonna testify…suddenly my heart was racing as I held the phone to my ear, dialing.
I was going to get my little brother back.
I was going to get my little brother back!
Ponyboy was going to be able to come home!
Taking a deep breath and willing my eyes not to water, I greeted Officer Charlton and did my best not to hope too much.
