After I finished walking and sorting out my thoughts, I went home. When I walked inside, I felt like an ice cube that was melting. It was so incredibly warm inside. Our heat wasn't all that great, but when you've been outside in twenty-degree weather, you can't help but feel like melting when you walk inside a house.
I studied what everyone was doing before I did anything else. Johnny was laying stretched out on the couch, both his legs bandaged up, watching TV. Steve was sitting in Darry's recliner because Darry was not home and at work. Dallas was in the kitchen, probably trying to cook some food for Johnny. Poor guy, always wanting to help Johnnycake out as best as he could. Two-Bit wasn't there. And I didn't see Sodapop anywhere.
Johnny smiled when he saw me. "Hey, Pony," he said quietly. I walked over to him. "Hey, Johnnycake," I replied. "How ya feelin'?" Johnny shrugged. "I'm doin' okay," he said. I smiled, trying to look like I believed him. "I hope so." I looked around. "Is Sodapop here?" I asked. Johnny nodded. "Said he didn't feel well earlier. He went to his room. I wanted to go see if he was okay, but Dally made me stay here," he explained.
"I'll go and see if he's all right," I said. Then, I walked to the bedroom I shared with Sodapop. Soda was laying in bed, covers over him, eyes closed. I quietly walked over to him and shook his arm to wake him if he was asleep. He slowly blinked to focus on me. "Soda?" I said. "Oh, hey, Ponyboy," he said weakly.
I bit my lip as I heard his voice. He sounded pretty hoarse. "Are you okay?" I asked, concern and worry in my voice and on my face. "Yeah, Pony, I'm-" Sodapop let out a deep cough, then winced and closed his eyes. "-I'm fine." I shook my head. "No you're not." I felt his forehead. Sweat was pouring down it.
"Soda!" I exclaimed. "You've got a fever!" "No I don't..." Sodapop trailed off, keeping his eyes closed. "Dally! Dally! Get the phone! Call Darry! Soda's sick!" I yelled, running out of the room and into the kitchen. Dally looked at me worriedly when I reached him. "What? Is he okay?" he asked. "I don't know. He has a fever. He sounds really weak. I don't know what to do!" I ex-plained. Dally looked more worried than I'd ever seen him. "Call Darry. Tell him to get here as fast as he can," he said, sounding calm. That's when Johnny came limping into the room. I always hated watching him walk ever since he'd gotten out of the hospital.
I mean, it was like I could feel his pain whenever I saw him walking. "What's goin' on?" he asked, wincing as he limped the rest of the way to us. "Is Soda all right?" "He's fine, but you won't be if you don't go sit down," Dally said. He looked in the living room. "Steve!" he called. "Come in here and carry Johnny back to the couch!" We heard a winy groan and then Steve came into the kitchen, picked Johnny up, and carried him out.
I ran into the living room and picked up the phone. I dialed Darry's number so quickly that you'd think I'd dialed 911. While I was waiting for Darry to answer I looked at Johnny who was sitting on the couch, staring at me worriedly. "It's okay," I mouthed. That's when Darry an-swered. "Darry! Darry!" I exclaimed. "It's an emergency! Get here as quick as you can!" "Wait, what's going on? Are you okay? Are the Socs there?" Darry asked. "The Socs aren't here. And I'm fine. It's Soda-" I stopped because that's when I heard Soda yelp and Dally gasp. I dropped the phone and ran to the room Soda and I shared.
"Soda! Are you okay?" I asked. Sodapop's eyes were squeezed shut, his teeth were clenched. And Dallas looked more sad than he ever had. "W-What's wrong?" I asked, not wanting to hear the answer. "Look, there's no time to explain, we just need to get him to a hospital," Dally answered. Then, Steve came running into the room. "Guys, what's going on?" he asked. "Soda got bit by a dog. Apparently one with sharp teeth. I don't know. But either way, that's why he's got a fever. We've got to take him to a hospital... now!" Dally explained.
I looked at Sodapop. His eyes still closed, his teeth clenched. He looked terrible. And it was all my fault. "This is my fault!" I cried. "What? No it's not," Steve said softly. "It is! I knew some-thing was wrong and I didn't say anything! I knew he was sick, but didn't tell anyone!" I explained. "He told you?" Dally asked. "No, but I could tell!" I cried. Steve walked over to me and put an arm around my shoulders. "It'll be okay, man," he said. "Where's Darry?" Soda asked weakly. "He's on his way," answered Johnny, coming into the room. "I thought I told you to sit on the couch and stay there!" Dally said. Johnny shook his head. "Soda's my friend, too. I need to know if he's okay," he explained. Dally nodded, looking stubborn, but being reasonable. "What are we gonna do, you guys?" My voice was rising and I was worried sick about Sodapop. "Are we gonna wait for Darry or go ahead and take 'im to the hospital?"
Dally looked at Steve. "We should take him to the hospital," Steve said. "Okay, c'mon, let's get in the truck. We've gotta go!" I exclaimed. Sodapop groaned. "No," Dally said slowly. "Pony, you and Johnny should stay here and wait for Darry." "What?" I yelled. "Sodapop is my brother! I can't stay here and let him go to the hospital without me!" "Pony, you have to under-stand. And if you won't do it for us, do it for Johnny. Johnny can't come in his condition and he'll need you to stay with him," Steve said calmly.
Johnny looked at me and tried to cock an eyebrow, but didn't succeed. "I dunno, Pony. May-be I should go for a checkup today," he said. I gave him a sneaky smile. "Yeah. It's about time for you to have one, anyway," I agreed. Dallas narrowed his eyes at Johnny. "Darry and I have been keeping track of the days you need to go back to the hospital for a check-up. Your next check-up is tomorrow, not today," he explained. "Aw, c'mon, Dal', it wouldn't hurt anyone for me to go a day early," Johnny replied. "I said no and that's what I meant!" Dally yelled. Johnny looked taken aback and limped out of the room.
Dally sighed and scratched his head. "Pony, c'mon, you can come. But only because Soda's your brother," he said. "What about Johnny?" I asked. "We can't drag him out of the house. He'll only get worse off if we make him walk. You've seen how much walking distance it is from the parking lot to the hospital, anyway," Dally explained. I nodded. "I guess you're right." So then, Dally carried Sodapop out to Steve's truck and Steve and I made sure Johnny was all right.
"Hey man," Steve said as we walked into the living room to find Johnny sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. Johnny looked up at him. "Are you sure you'll be okay here by your-self if we all head to the hospital with Soda?" Johnny nodded. "Okay, see ya later," Steve gave Johnny a pat on the arm. Then, he walked outside to his truck.
"You sure you'll be all right?" I asked. "Always am," Johnny answered. "Make sure Soda stays safe; okay?" I nodded. "I will. See ya, man." Johnny smiled unenthusiastically and waved. I smiled back then ran out the door and quickly got into Steve's truck.
A little while later, we were at the hospital. We all got out and headed to the emergency room. When we got inside, we ran to the counter so fast that we almost fell over it. The lady sitting behind the counter peered at us over her black glasses. "Ma'am! Ma'am! It's an emergency! We need to see a doctor right now!" I exclaimed. The woman didn't make any kind of expression. She just flipped her shoulder-length black hair over her shoulder and picked up a piece of paper off the desk in front of her.
"First, you have to sign this. I need the name of the patient the doctor will be seeing today, his age, his phone number, his address, and an emergency phone number in case something goes wrong," she explained. "What?" Steve yelled. "An emergency phone number? This is a hospital!" The lady glared at him. "Just fill out the paper and have someone who's over eighteen to sign it," she said meanly. "Over eighteen?" Dally yelled. "No way! This is an emergency! He needs to see a doctor now!"
Looking a little afraid of Dallas, the woman mashed a few keys on her computer, then pressed the enter key. That's when a doctor and three nurses came in with a wheel chair. Dally sat Soda in it and then we all rushed down the hall and to a room. The nurses got Sodapop out of the wheel chair and put him on a hospital bed and started to take his temperature. "102 degrees!" one of the nurses reported to the doctor. I gasped and Dally put an arm around my shoulders. "It's gonna be all right, Pony," he said calmly. I hoped he wasn't lying.
~Meanwhile~
"But he's my friend!"
"I don't care who he is! You weren't here with the group of boys that just came through here, so, you're not going back there until I see some identification!"
"What? I'm sixteen! I don't even have a driver's license yet!"
"No identification card, no goin' back there to see your friend."
"But I've already told you, I don't have any identification! And even if I did, it would be with my parents, but they're not here right now!"
The woman behind the counter glared at Johnny and crossed her arms, but didn't say anything.
"Ma'am," he said quietly. "Can you at least tell me what an identification card is, please?"
The lady shook her head. "If you don't know, you don't have one," she said.
"But-" the boy was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. That's when Darry and Two-Bit came running up beside him.
Darry pulled a card out of his pocket. "Darrel Curtis. My brother is Sodapop Curtis. This boy right here is with me. That's Two-Bit Matthews and that's Johnny Cade. We've gotta see Soda-pop!" he explained. "What's that?" Johnny asked, referring to the card. The lady took it from Darry and scanned it. "Oh. That's my identification card," Darry explained. "Oh. Well, I'm sure it makes sense that you have one. I mean, with you being twenty years old and all," Johnny said. Darry smiled. "No. Ponyboy has one, too," he replied.
The sixteen year old looked at the woman behind the counter, then back at Darry. "Wait, so, he's fourteen and has one and I don't?!" he exclaimed. "Yep, pretty much," Two-Bit replied. "Anyway, we need to get to Soda." The woman handed Darry his card back and they all dashed to room 13 where the woman told them Sodapop was in.
~Back with Pony and Steve~
The doctor and the nurses had made Steve and I step out of the room for a minute so that they could talk to Dally. He was the oldest, so, he had to be the one who heard the news and had to make a decision about it.
I sighed and started to bite my fingernails. My right foot was nervously tapping on the floor and I felt so nervous and twitchy that I thought I would pass out at any minute. "Dude! Will you stop that?! I can practically feel how nervous you are! Chill out," Steve told me. I quit biting my finger nail, but didn't stop tapping my foot. "Sorry," I said.
A minute later, I couldn't take it any longer! "When are they gonna let us back in there? Why in the world is it taking so long?" I exclaimed. Steve looked at me, surprised. "We've only been standing out here for two minutes, Pony," he explained.
"I know," I said. "But it feels like two hours!" "It's okay, Ponyboy. I'm sure everything's fine," Steve said softly. "Maybe I should call Darry," I suggested. "Pony, I'm positive that Darry's on his way. In fact, he's probably in here right-" Steve was interrupted by footsteps running to-ward us. Then, as if on cue, Darry, Johnny, and Two-Bit appeared, panting and studying my face. "Hey, Dar', we were just talkin' about you," Steve said.
I was happy to see Darry, surprised to see Two-Bit (because of his lack of being around lately), and a little mad to see Johnny. How had Two-Bit known that something had happened? And why did Darry bring Johnny along with him if he knew how bad off he was?
"Johnny, sit down on that chair over there," Darry ordered, motioning to a chair beside the door. "You've been walking too much today." Johnny obeyed and sat down. "Hey," Two-Bit said, patting Steve and I each on the shoulder. "How's everyone?" "Could be better," I answered. Darry looked at me with a concerned expression. "Where's Soda? Is he okay?" he asked. "He's in that room. Dally's in there, too. The doc said he wanted to talk to him. Made me and Pony go out of the room," Steve explained.
"Can I go in? Y'know, since I'm Sodapop's older brother?" Darry asked. "Guess so," Steve answered. At about that moment, the door came open and Dally came out of the room, looking pale. "Woah, man," Darry said, grabbing Dally's arms, probably to make sure he didn't pass out before getting all the way out of the room. "Everything all right?" Dallas nodded tightly. "Yep," he said shortly. "What'd the doctor say?" Two-Bit asked.
"He said that Soda'd have to have stitches," Dally explained. "And you're all pale about that... why?" Two-Bit asked. "Because I hadn't seen Sodapop's wound back at the Curtis house. I just have seen it," Dally answered. "Oh," I said. "Was it bad?" Dally nearly cocked an eyebrow. "If you wanna know, go in there for yourself. I ain't going into detail about what I saw," he said. "What else did the doctor say?" Darry asked, his face looking calm, but his eyes blazing with fear.
"He said that Sodapop's fever was partly from the dog bite, partly from the weather. They said that he'd have a fever for a while and that his cold might take weeks to get over. That dog bite sure as heck didn't come at the right time," Dally explained. I looked at my feet, wishing that I could just take all of Soda's pain and sickness away from him, but I knew that I couldn't. Sodapop was hurt and sick and there was nothing I could do about it except pray.
Hope everyone likes it so far! =)