Chapter 14

I was dressed in my best, well almost my best, when the social worker came. Everybody looked nice. Even Davanee. She was wearing a pink dress with little pink shoes with her blond hair combed neatly. She didn't have that much hair yet so it wasn't hard to keep it neat.

I was out in the living room when the social worker knocked on the door. I opened the door to see a very stern looking women. She looked old. 50's or 60's probably. Her face was wrinkled and her eyes looked like they where two pieces of coal. She had a strict look on her face. I could tell this was not going to be good.

"Hello" said the woman, "I'm Mrs. Cameron. You must be Ponyboy."

"That's me" I said, "come in."

She walked in and took a long look around the living room. Then she looked at me.

"Where are your brothers?" she asked.

"They're still getting ready. They'll be out in a minute. You can sit down if you want. Would you like something to drink while you wait?" I asked.

"No thank you. I'm fine" said Mrs. Cameron, sitting on the couch. Before I could saying anything more, I heard Davanee crying from the other room. Soda had her in our room.

"I'll be right back" I said, walking out of the room. I walked back to my room as quickly as I could.

"What's wrong?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"I dunno. She just started crying" said Soda.

"She's probably hungry. She hasn't eaten anything since lunch" I said, taking Davanee from Soda.

"That was only two hours ago" said Soda.

"Babies have to eat every two hours" I said, "you go out and talk to the social worker while I feed her, ok?"

"Ok." Soda walked out to the living room while I went to the kitchen.

SODA'S POV

"Where's your brother?" asked the lady.

"Oh, he had to go into the kitchen for a minute. He'll be out in a little while. I'm Soda" I said, smiling one of my famous smiles.

"You're the middle child, right?" asked the lady.

"Proud of it" I said, sitting down in Darry's chair.

"I'm Mrs. Cameron. I'll be checking up on you from now on."

"What happened to Mrs. Sylvia?" I asked.

"She retired last month" said Mrs. Cameron, "so, Soda, you work at the DX gas station, is that correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Aren't you suppose to be in school?"

"No ma'am, I dropped out."

"I see. And what made you decide to drop out?" asked Mrs. Cameron, adjusting her glasses slightly.

"To help bring in some sort of income. I couldn't leave that all up to Darry" I said.

"You like living with your brothers, don't you?" asked Mrs. Cameron. What kind of question was that? Of course I liked living with my brothers. It's beats staying in some boys home or some foster home with strangers.

"Yes, ma'am" I replied.

"And what do you think about the baby? Do you think your brother is a good parent?"

"Of course I do. I mean, he hasn't left her side since she was dropped on our doorstep. He's been up with her almost every night, he plays with her all the time. He even sings to her every night. She won't fall asleep if he doesn't. And on top of that, he has night school. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good parent to me" I said.

"It sounds like a good parent to me too."

PONY'S POV

I finished feeding Davanee and walked into the living room. Soda took Davanee from me while the social worker asked me all kinds of questions.

"So, Ponyboy" began Mrs. Cameron, "Soda tells me you've started night school. How is that?"

"Pretty good so far. Straight A's in every class."

"How do you find the time to study when you have to take care of the baby?"

"Well, Soda and Darry usually watch her when I'm studying but aside from that, I always watch her."

"What about her mother? Is she around at all?"

"No. Her mom moved to California a couple of months ago. She never bothered to tell me she was pregnant."

"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's ok. It's not your fault" I said, leaning back in Darry's chair. Mrs. Cameron went on to ask standard, procedural questions like if I liked living with my brothers or if I thought Darry was a good guardian, stuff like that. By the time we where done, Darry was ready. Mrs. Cameron asked him questions while Soda and I waited in the kitchen.

"So how'd it go?" asked Soda.

"Fine. How'd it go with you?"

"Good. It's the same every time."

"Yeah, it wouldn't hurt if they changed the questions every once in a while" I said, hopping up on the counter. We waited in silence until Darry and Mrs. Cameron where done. I walked Mrs. Cameron out to her car.

"You know, Ponyboy, the state may decided to take Davanee away. They might think that this will be a good home for her."

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think this is a good home for her but my boss may think differently." With that, Mrs. Cameron got in her car and drove away. I walked into the house silently with my hands in my pockets.

"What'd she say?" asked Darry.

"She said that the state may take Davanee away anyways. She said they may think this isn't a good home for her" I said, sitting down on the couch. Davanee was on the floor, playing with some of her toys. The rest of the afternoon went by slowly. The gang didn't come over till later.

"So how'd it go today?" asked Johnny. Johnny and I where playing cards at the kitchen table. Davanee was in the living room with everybody else, playing with Soda's shoes that where sitting underneath the coffee table.

"Fine" I replied, "the same as it always is."

"What'd she say about Davanee?"
"She just asked me stuff like if her mom was around. Stuff like that. I thought that question was a little too personal but I guess they had to know."

"Why would they have to know that?"

"I dunno" I replied. I looked over at Davanee and when she noticed I was looking, she smiled and laughed. I couldn't help but smile and laugh too.

"I don't think they'll take her away" said Johnny.

"Me neither but you never know."