A beat up car pulled up by Cade's residence. Dally rolled down the window and waited. The door opened and Johnny appeared carrying a duffle bag over his shoulder.
"Hey, Dal" he greeted. Dally looked over at Johnny checking if there were fresh bruises or marks. There seemed to be none but Johnny was spotting a black eye. "Are you ok?" Dally inquired.
"Sure, let's go" Johnny grinned.
Johnny was in a good mood, and that made Dally smile. "Get in" Dally said. Johnny got into the passenger seat. Dally put his sunglasses on and turned the radio up.
"So how long is the ride?" Johnny asked.
"About a day," Dally replied, pressing on the brake slightly, making a turn.
"Can't believe I am actually going to see New York," Johnny said.
They drove the whole day, and the next morning they finally made it to New York. It was a very nice Summer morning. The sun was rising. Johnny yawned and looked at the sun. He remembered briefly the poem Ponyboy told him when they watched the sunrise in Windrixville. No matter where you are it's beautiful, Johnny thought, and then looked over at Dally, who was smoking a cigarette.
"This is pretty," Johnny said looking at Dally.
"Sure," Dally exhaled the smoke, "but I know just the place you will say is beautiful," Dally smirked.
"What? Times Square?" Dally laughed, "Definitely not Times Square."
Dally put the cigarette out and started the car. Johnny gave him a puzzled look, "Where are we going?"
"You'll see."
They drove for about half an hour. They didn't talk. The radio was on and that was enough. Johnny was looking out the window and taking in the surroundings. They were passing apartment buildings and some nice areas. Johnny was waiting for Dally to pull up and show him the nice neighborhoods of New York. But then Johnny remembered – Dally grew up in Brooklyn, in a poor neighborhood. He probably didn't care for the rich soc neighborhoods so where were they going?
Gradually the area that they were driving through got less and less buildings and more empty space. Finally they reached a parking lot. There were a few cars, but that was it. Dally stopped the car. Johnny looked confused. It looked as one of those mall parking spaces. Surely Dally did not bring him to the mall.
Dally got out of the car and started walking ahead. Johnny got out as well and started following Dally. He was still confused as to where they were going, but didn't ask questions. He knew Dally well, and if Dally wanted to tell him where they were going he would've told him.
Soon enough Johnny saw a boardwalk. Dally started walking up the stairs, and Johnny followed him. Then Johnny saw it from the boardwalk – Atlantic Ocean. It looked magnificent. Johnny stopped in awe. Dally was quite a distance ahead now. He realized Johnny was not behind him, and turned around. Johnny was still standing in the same spot. He looked totally mesmerized. He saw Dally turn around and started walking towards him.
"So?" Dally asked.
"Oh," was all Johnny was able to say.
"Let's get closer" Dally suggested.
They walked to the end of the boardwalk down the stairs and into the sand.
"You can take your shoes off" Dally said as they reached the sand. Johnny took his shoes off so did Dally. Johnny couldn't contain his joy. He laughed and ran ahead of Dally his feet soaking in the warm sand. Dally chuckled as he looked at him.
The place was almost empty since it was early morning on a weekday. In the meantime Johnny reached the shore and stopped. Then carefully he proceeded to wet his feet, and started walking along the shore just a little bit in the water. The air was nice and felt moist. A soft Summer breeze was brushing against his cheeks and messing up his greased hair.
Johnny looked around and saw seagulls. They were making noises and trying to catch the fish out of water. The wind picked up a little and the water started forming deep waves. Johnny proceeded a little deeper into the water. Then the wave crashed his way and soaked him almost entirely. He could hear Dally standing behind him, laughing.
Johnny started to get out of the water. He looked down and saw a crab moving on the shore shifting awkwardly with his legs. Johnny chuckled.
Dally looked over at Johnny – "So?"
"Oh, Dal, this is great. I mean I've seen pictures of it and saw it on TV, but I never thought it's so… so beautiful." Dally chuckled, "wanna go for a swim?"
"Sure, I'm already wet anyway."
They got in a little deeper. The bottom was nice and soft not the way the river bottom was in Oklahoma with bumpy bottom full of rocks and twigs. Johnny prepared to start swimming when he was covered entirely by a wave. He shook his head and ran his fingers through his wet hair. Then he proceeded do spit the water that got into his mouth. "It's …salty," he said to Dallas.
"Don't you know that the ocean water is salty?"
"Sure I knew about it, but now I can actually taste it."
Johnny looked around at the vast surface of the water, never ending, you couldn't see the opposite shore and it just seemed divine. Another wave crashed into Johnny, taking him out of his thoughts.
After a while Johnny and Dally got out of the water. "Oh Dal," Johnny said smiling, "this is great, thanks for bringing me here."
"Wait here," Dally said to Johnny.
"Why?"
"Just wait," Dallas insisted.
"Ok," Johnny replied, he was getting a little cold from the wind.
In a moment Dally was back – a camera in hand. "Go a little deeper," he instructed Johnny. Johnny did as told.
"Now stand still." Johnny stood still and even managed to smile. Dally pressed the shutter. It was Polaroid so he could see the picture immediately. He waived the picture in the air. Johnny ran up to him and snatched the picture out of Dally's hand. "Oh, my hair," he cringed, "it's all messed up. Why didn't you tell me to fix my hair?" Dally only laughed in response.
"Your hair is fine, let's go grab something to eat, I'm starving."
"Ok, Johnny said still cringing at the photo," Boy, wouldn't he have something to tell Ponyboy.
I NEED A NICE ENDING TO THE STORY
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