If you're tuning in to this story, I wanted to say-I like the Outsiders movie, and all the guys in it did a great job. With that being said, though,
I get my inspiration mostly from the short-lived television series spinoff of the movie, I think it was on in the 90's. When I write these
guys, I see the television actor's faces and hear their voices, more so than the movie actors. Check out the show on Utube if you get the
chance sometime. Stay Gold.
When Soda and I carried the grocery bags thru the living room into the kitchen, Darry was there, flipping flapjacks.
"You were gone long enough," he said, in greeting.
"Soda's fault," I said, at exactly the same moment that Soda said, "Junie's fault."
"Did you get everything on the list?" Darry asked, using one hand to pull a grocery bag closer to look inside, and keeping the
spatula in the other hand.
"Yeah. There was a sale, too," Soda said. "Got five boxes of cereal for the price of four." He pulled out a box of Lucky Charms cereal
and held it up in triumph.
"Great," Darry said, dryly, going back to turn the flapjacks again.
"We're havin' flapjacks for supper?" Soda asked.
"Nothin' wrong with that," Darry told him.
"I love Darry's flapjacks," I said, and Darry grinned at me.
As Soda and I finished putting the groceries away, in the cabinets and in the refrigerator, Darry was piling the flapjacks onto
a plate, and setting it in the center of the table.
"Where's Pony?" Soda asked.
"At the library," Darry said. He cast a look at the wooden clock on the kitchen wall. "He oughta be home any time."
"I'm not waitin' on him," Soda said, sitting down at the table, and forking several flapjacks onto his plate.
"Get out the butter, will you?" Darry told me.
"Okay," I said, and went behind him to the refrigerator, bending down to retrieve the butter, which had gotten pushed to
the back of the second shelf.
Darry, turning back to the stove, stepped closer to me, and sniffed a couple of times.
"How come you smell like smoke?" he asked me.
"Rhonda was smoking in the truck," I said.
"When did she start smokin'?" Darry asked, turning off the stove burner, and going to sit at the table in his usual
spot. I went to my own chair, and put the butter in the center of the table.
"This week, she says," I answered.
"Don't be gettin' any ideas," Darry said, pouring syrup over his flapjacks. "Hear me?"
"I have lots of ideas, Darry," I said, spearing two flapjacks for myself. "Smoking isn't one of them."
"Good thing," Darry said.
I had just launched into telling Darry about the drawing that was being held at the drugstore, as Pony Boy
arrived, coming in and going to the sink to wash his hands.
"Hey," he said in greeting.
"You're late," Darry said.
"I had to wait for Steve to pick me up," Pony said. "Remember? You said to get a ride?"
"Yeah. Okay," Darry said.
"Where's Steve?" Soda asked him.
"In the living room. Says he's not hungry," Pony said.
Soda yelled out to Steve to come and eat and Steve yelled back that he'd already eaten.
Pony slid into his seat, and took four flapjacks for himself.
"Pony, listen," I told him. And I went on, telling about the prizes that were going to be drawn the next day.
Soda joined in, expanding on the excellence of the prizes being offered.
"The television is a 19 inch," Soda said, with enthusiasm.
"There's hundreds of names in those jars," Darry said. Similar to the warning Soda had offered at the beginning when
Rhonda first told us. He'd said, "There's a million people registering for that stuff, Junie."
I'd won Soda over, though, and I thought to do the same to Darry. Maybe not as easily, but I could still try.
"What chance do you have?" Pony added, sounding skeptical.
"Soda and I have a great chance," I said. "We each put our name in the jar for the television seven times."
Pony laughed. "Well, alright! Let's clear off the table and throw out the old television, Darry. That new one is as
good as ours already."
"Keep on laughing," I said. "Soda and I won't let you watch with us when we win, will we, Soda?"
"Gotta keep the faith," Soda said, getting to his feet, and putting his plate in the sink.
"Where you goin'?" Darry asked him.
"Down to the bowling alley with Steve," Soda said.
I was used to Soda going out at night. I caught his hand as he walked by. "Bye, Soda," I said.
"Bye, June-Bug. Bye, Pony," Soda said.
"Don't be late," Darry said.
"Yeah. Okay. Bye, Darry," Soda said, and went to the living room. We could hear him and Steve talking, and then
the door flapping shut.
I was nearly finished eating, too. I cast a glance to my right at Darry.
"Tomorrow's the drawing for the prizes," I said. "Can I go down there when they do it?"
"What time?" Darry asked.
"I think at ten or ten thirty in the morning," I said.
"Get stuff done around here before you go," Darry said.
"I will," I said, and I got up to go to the sink and start running hot water for the dishes.
"I'll come along with you tomorrow," Pony said, and I turned around to look at him.
"Aha," I said. "Now you're interested!"
Pony Boy grinned at me.
Outsiders
I had to stay in the shower for an extra long time that night, to get the smell of smoke out of my hair. I have really long
hair, and it takes a good while to wash it, and then even longer for it to dry.
I was in there so long that both Pony Boy and Darry were banging on the bathroom door. When Pony did it first,
I didn't rush too much. Sometimes it's fun to tease him. Even though I was out of the shower, and dressed, and was only brushing
out my hair.
When Darry did it, though, I listened, and opened the door right off.
Outsiders
When I went to the kitchen for breakfast, Soda was there, at the stove, scrambling eggs, and wearing a blue apron over
his jeans.
Darry and Pony were already sitting at the table. Darry was going thru envelopes, opening the bills. Pony was reading, as
was usual for him.
"Morning," I said, and they all said 'Morning' in return.
"What time you gonna be home today, Soda?" Darry was asking.
"Four. Buck's lettin' me have more hours," Soda said.
Darry nodded, and I thought he looked relieved.
"I've gotta work overtime today, too," he said. "It'll be six or so when I get home. Who's cooking tonight?"
We all exchanged glances, and Pony and I both shrugged.
"Come on," Darry said.
"It's Pony's turn," I said.
"Yeah, okay," Pony sighed.
Darry started naming off chores around the house, and I waited until he was done, before I
said, "I'll have to do some of that later on."
"Why?" Darry asked, looking vaguely irritated.
"The drawing, remember?" I reminded him. "At the drugstore?"
"Oh, yeah," Darry said.
He was looking at me sort of doubtfully, and getting to his feet.
"You said I could, Dar-" I said.
"I know." He gave me a long look. "Don't be disappointed when you don't win, alright?"
"You gotta keep the faith, Darry," I said, repeating what Soda had said the night before.
Outsiders
When Pony and I were walking to downtown, to the drugstore, we started talking about things. We both like to
read, and so we talked about the book he'd been reading. And we talked about Darry, and whether we thought
he was looking more, or less, frazzled lately.
The drugstore was packed, even more than it had been the afternoon before. Pony and I found a place, as close
to the front as we could get. They picked some little kid out of the crowd, a girl, to be the one to draw the winning
names. They did the fishing poles first. The winner was some kid that I recognized from the junior high. He got to
go up on the makeshift stage, and accept the two fishing poles. He turned beet red in embarrassment. I felt sorry for
him, even if he had won something. There was a guy from the newspaper or something there, and he snapped a picture of the
boy holding the fishing poles.
Next was the binoculars. Another middle school kid won those. Soda gave me a sideways glance, and I
shrugged. I didn't care about the fishing poles or the binoculars, anyway.
The television was next. I was saying, 'please, please, please' to myself while the little girl was reaching into
the jar of names.
When they called out the name, I think it was some lady named Gladys or something, I actually felt really let down.
Even though I knew it had been a long shot, I'd still been hopeful.
"Sorry, Junie," Pony said, in my ear, so I could hear him over the crowd.
I shrugged. "Let's go," I said. He turned and started to work his way thru the crowd, and I moved to follow him.
And then they announced the winner of the camera. Pony stopped so suddenly that I nearly plowed into him.
They'd announced my name. Mine. June Curtis.
Pony started pushing me back towards the front again. And, I finally worked thru the crowd, and went up on the
stage thing, and they handed me the box with the camera in it. The man there shook my hand, and told me
congratulations. The guy there that was taking pictures snapped a picture of me, too, and I was feeling sort of
stunned, still, when I went down the few steps to where Pony was standing and waiting for me.
"Holy heck, Junie, you won!" Pony said.
By the time the crowd started thinning out, since the drawing was over and all, and Pony and I were outside,
on the sidewalk again, I was still feeling stunned.
"Let me see," Pony said, taking the box from me to read over what it said.
"This is one of those really nice ones," Pony was saying. "These cost like over a hundred dollars, or something like that."
He handed me back the box as we started walking. I heard a squeal from behind us, and Rhonda came running towards us.
"You won!" she said, clutching my arm so tightly that it hurt.
"I can't believe it," I said.
"Let's go tell Soda," Pony suggested.
I was all for that idea, and Rhonda wanted to come along. To see Soda, of course.
Outsiders
Soda was excited about me winning the camera, and he put his arm around my shoulders and gave me
a squeeze.
"That's great, Junie," he said.
"It would have been better if I'd won the television, though," I said. "I mean, we need it. What am I gonna do with
a camera like this?"
"You could sell it," Steve suggested.
"That's a good idea," Rhonda said, smiling at Steve.
I thought at that moment, that Rhonda will flirt with anything in pants. And, I wasn't sure that Steve adhered to the same
age-standards as Soda did. He might give Rhonda a whirl.
"Naw, you don't wanna sell it," Soda said. "You can have a lot of fun with this, June-Bug."
"I don't even know how to work it," I told him.
"Pony will help ya, won't ya, Ponyboy?" Soda said.
Pony nodded, from his seat on top of the Coca-Cola cooler.
"You all can figure it out," Soda said. "If not, wait till I get home."
As Pony and I were getting around to head home, Rhonda was dropping hints about coming along with us.
Practically inviting herself to supper. I looked towards Soda, and he was giving me the eye. Warning me off of telling her
she could come over.
I told Rhonda that Pony and I had a whole bunch of chores around the house we had to do this afternoon, but that I maybe
could come over to her house the next day.
She still walked out with Pony and me, but before we left, I said to Soda, where only he could hear me, "You owe me, Sodapop."
Outsiders