It was around 7 p.m. Darry was sitting in his recliner sipping beer and watching the news, Pony was in his room reading. The phone rang. Darry went to answer it. "Hello, is this the Curtis residence?" A female voice on the line said.

"Yes, who is calling please?"

"Hi Mr. Curtis, my name is Ashley. I'm a nurse here at LaGuardia hospital. We have Sodapop Curtis, he is unconscious but we found your phone number in his wallet is he your son?" Darry felt blood immediately rush to his temples. "He is my younger brother, what's wrong with him?"

"He has a knife wound in his chest."

"Oh god," Darry mumbled.

"He should gain consciousness soon but in the meantime we thought we'd inform you."

"Can we visit him?"

"If you wish."

"Thank you, bye."

Darry hang up the phone. "Pony," he yelled.

"What's wrong?" Pony entered the room.

"I just got a phone call from the hospital Soda had been admitted with a knife wound." Pony gasped. "We got to go visit him."

"What happened?"

"They don't know, he's unconscious they found our phone number in his wallet. Pity the soc who did this." Darry jammed his fists.

In about half an hour Darry pulled up by the hospital. They went inside. Darry felt blood boiling inside his veins - he was mad. He promised himself that he would get Dally and Steve, and find the soc who did this and make him pay for what he did.

Darry walked up to the reception area. "Hi ma'am my name is Darryl Curtis, I received a phone call that my brother Sodapop Curtis was admitted here " She looked through some papers on her desk, "That's right he's on the list of admitted here today. I'll let the doctor know that you are here, and he'll talk to you." For once the receptionist did not sound condescending, and didn't look down on him because he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and a greaser hair cut. He was used to people just automatically look down on him, but not this time, and he was thankful.

In about ten minutes the doctor entered the waiting room. "Family of Sodapop Curtis." Darry and Pony got up and met the doctor.

"So how is he?"

"Well he gained consciousness just now. The wound is deep it ruptured his lung but he's lucky that it missed his heart. Apparently there was…" the doctor looked a little puzzled saying this, "a plastic bag with money rolls in his chest pocket so the knife slipped puncturing the dollar bills, and missing his heart" Darry raised his eyebrows, a bag with money what's that about, he thought.

In the meantime the doctor continued "He lost a lot of blood so he'll need a transfusion so if," he hesitated a moment, "you are up for giving blood. We can proceed right away. We cleaned the wound, and we didn't get a chance, but we will apply stitches. We hooked him up to the ventilator that's helping him to breathe. The lung will recover, but it will take time." The doctor paused then continued – "whoever did this, you know that you can press charges."

"Sure," Darry replied thinking that the cops are not going to care to investigate who hurt some hoodlum, but that's ok, Darry thought, he will take things into his own hands. The soc who did this will regret that he was born. "Can we see him?" Pony piped in.

"Ok, just not for very long."

Darry and Pony walked into Soda's room. The curtains were closed, and it looked a little dark in the room. The air was stuffy as if it needed to open the window and have some fresh air. Soda's eyes were opened, but he looked a little disoriented. When he saw his brothers he gave them a weak smile.

"Hey," Darry said in a soothing voice that Pony rarely heard from him, "You are awake." Soda nodded. Pony walked up to his bed and took a seat on the edge.

"Does it hurt?" Pony asked.

"A little," Sod said then added, "the doc said I lost a lot of blood, will need a transfusion."

"Yeah," Darry said, "we know. Listen," he added, "I need you to know that whichever soc did this to you he'll be sorry he was born, I'll look into it." Soda smiled - "it wasn't a soc."

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't a soc, Darry, it was Tiffany's boyfriend." Darry gasped, and Pony raised his eyebrows. "Shit," Darry said, "I haven't even thought of that. I told you to be careful, what happened?"

"The bastard took me to the races. The race was fixed so I won $1,500 then he asked me to take the money and split until he and Tiffany leave Tulsa. He figured out she was going to leave him for me."

"Was she?"

"I dunno, but I know that she likes me." Darry sighed, and Pony looked down.

Then Soda grinned, "The doc said I'm a lucky bastard the knife didn't get to the heart. The damn money in my pocked saved my life," he chuckled, then added in a serious tone, "So I have a second lease on life." Darry looked Soda right in the eyes, "We'll think of something, we will show this bastard that he doesn't just hurt us and leaves."

"What are you going to do?"

"We'll figure something out. And I don't care which gang he is from or who he is. You get some rest Soda. We'll take care of it."

At this moment the nurse opened the doror and looked at Darry – "Mr. Curtis if you are ready to give blood we'd proceed right away." Soda's eyes widened a little. "Thank you Darry for doing this."

"Sure thing kiddo, get some rest. We'll be back tomorrow." With that they left.

On the ride home Darry kept thinking how to get back at Andy. "Why don't you just tell him you'll notify the fuzz that he stole the fiddle and he has in his possession?" Darry was thoughtful for a minute. "That's actually a good idea. Maybe you do use your head for something other than books and movies." He ruffled Pony's hair.

When they got home, they didn't eat, didn't have the appetite. Pony looked up at Darry – "I think we have to let Tiffany know what happened. She'll know what kind of a jerk she is dating." Darry looked thoughtful – "Yeah, you are right, and I'll tell her how he tried to drown Soda the other day."

"Yeah, maybe then she'll leave him for Soda," Pony replied. Darry immediately went to the phone – "Hello, Tiffany…"

Darry was on the phone with Tiffany for quite a long time. He told her about Andy nearly drowning Soda, and the races, and he also told her about how Andy made his money by stealing and cheating and being in a gang. Finally Darry hung up the phone. "How did she take it?" Pony looked up at Darry.

"First she started crying, then," Darry smiled a little , "started cursing like a sailor, then said she'll visit Soda at the hospital tomorrow," Pony didn't know what to make out of that, "I guess that's a good sign," he finally mumbled.

"We'll see," Darry replied, "I'm not sure I want my brother to date someone who could get mixed up with someone like this bastard."

"But she didn't know…" Pony started.

"It's all the same," Darry replied.

Tiffany hung up the phone, tears rolling down her cheeks. How could Andy do such a thing, and more importantly how could she get mixed up with someone like that. She should've known he was into something dirty - the way he had so much money and told her not to ask questions about how he got it. She took a seat on the bed and hung her head. Andy walked into the room, - "hi, beautiful," Tiffany quickly wiped the tears and feigned a smile. She felt blood pumping in her veins and an adrenaline rush as she looked at Andy, now fully realizing what kind of monster he really was.

"I'm going to take a shower, then we'll go downstairs get something to eat." It sounded as an order, and Tiffany bit her tongue trying not to say anything harsh. In the meantime Andy went to take the shower, and closed the door behind him.

Tiffany got up from the bed, she knew he had it, he boasted he had a gun. Now where is it? She was frantic – she opened all the drawers of the desk – nothing, the nightstand, under the mattress – nothing. She frantically opened the closet. She pulled Andy's suitcase out and started going through the things, throwing his clothes out onto the floor as she proceeded. Finally she got it – wrapped in a towel, a semiautomatic, revolver. She checked it – loaded.

The bathroom door opened and Andy emerged in his bath robe, barefeet. Tiffany's hands flew behind her back, a tight grip on the gun.

Andy walked into the room – "I feel tense, why don't you massage my shoulders a bit." – BANG! The next thing Tiffany knew Andy was falling down, blood splashed everywhere. Oh, my God what have I done, she thought. She was panting and frantic, Andy moved on the floor, he was not dead. She had no desire to help him.

Suddenly she heard footsteps. Someone was running up the stairs. They must've heard the gunshot she realized. What should she do, what should she do, they'll call the police, she'll be arrested. Frantically she ran up to the window and looked down. It wasn't that high, she took a deep breath and jumped. She landed on her stomach but got up quickly. She could hear somebody was entering the room. She left just in time. She was close to hysterics. It was dark by now. Tiffany did the only thing she knew to do in these circumstances – run.

Darry was getting ready to go to bed, and Pony had already gone to his room, when there was a knock on the door. Darry raised his eyebrows. He went to the door and opened it – it was Tiffany. She was panting and she didn't realize it but she was still clutching the gun in her hands. Good thing it was dark already and people on the street didn't notice that she had a gun. Darry was lost for words, "Tiffany…" he croaked.

"I shot Andy."

"What?"