The money from Uncle Pat had come a few days after I had talked to him and had been sitting in my drawer since. Not only did I have the dilemma of how to get to a store to buy the gifts, I was stumped as to what to buy them. I had been shocked to open the envelope and find, neatly folded inside a piece of white paper, a one-hundred dollar bill. I had never held that much money in my hands before, and I thought Uncle Pat must have been out of mind to send it through the mail, though I knew it would have only made things more complicated if he had sent a check.

Included also was a note.

Dear Scout,

Thanks for helping me out on this. Make sure to get something for yourself, too. I'll be thinking of you and your brothers this Christmas season, and wishing I could have gotten Darry to agree to come down. Take good care of yourself and the boys, and remember, you'll always be my girl!

Love, Patrick

One hundred dollars. I am sure he was thinking $25 for each of us, but I had no intention of spending any of it on myself. There was really nothing I needed or wanted that badly – nothing I could ever actually get, anyway. So that left a little over thirty dollars for each brother.

I thought and thought about what I could get them. Ponyboy was easy- anything having to do with books or art and he would be thrilled. Soda and Darry, however, were tough. Usually our parents gave us each a couple of bucks to buy each other small gifts – I think last year I had given Pony a pocket-sized sketchbook and some colored pencils, Soda got a baseball hat, and Darry got a new pair of gloves for hunting with dad. I knew the ante had been upped this year, and I was assuming none of us were planning to get each other anything, so I wanted what I picked to be good. To be honest, I was also a little wary of how Darry would react to the gifts. I didn't want to lie to him about where I got the money – I couldn't really, I mean, where else could I even say I got it? - but I knew how he hated accepting help. On the other hand, Patrick was family… it didn't seem like charity to me. He really did care about us.

After agonizing for a week, I finally decided to ask for some help. I'm not usually the kind of person to not be where I am supposed to be, especially at school, but that morning, instead of reporting for a study hall, I headed across campus to the high school looking for Two-Bit. As it turned out, I didn't even have to go into the building, I found him outside smoking against the side of his car with some other guys from our side of town. He looked concerned to see me coming; it was definitely odd for me to be wandering around during school hours, especially on the high school campus. He threw down his cigarette and started toward me.

"What are you doing over here, Scooter? Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I'm just skipping a study hall. I was looking for you. Don't you ever go to class?"

"Not usually on Tuesdays," he said. I'm sure there was a reason for that which made sense to him but I did not pursue it. "Whad'ya need me for?" he asked.

"I need a favor, Two-Bit. But you can't say anything to my brothers about it."

He looked skeptical. I knew he was under strict orders from Darry – and maybe even Soda, too – to report on my every move. And not even Two-Bit would lie to Darry.

"What exactly are we talking about here?" At least he was willing to hear me out, which I appreciated.

"Well, you remember my Uncle Patrick?"

"Yeah, I met him at the funeral. He was tuff. A lot like Soda,"

I thought it was interesting that Two-Bit had made the connection between the two in such a short time.

"Well, he wants us to go down to Texas to be with his family for Christmas, but Darry wouldn't agree."

"Well, that's Darry for you. Stubborn as an ox." Two-Bit knew Darry as well as anyone.

"Yeah. Well instead he sent me some money to get everyone gifts, behind Darry's back. And I don't know what to get them and I have no way to get anywhere to buy it anyway, so I was wondering if you could give me a ride downtown sometime and help me out so I can buy them Christmas presents."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Well, shoot, kid, that's easy! I thought you were going to ask me to do something illegal, buy you beer or something!" Two-Bit laughed.

I just looked at him like he was nuts, which he clearly was, if he thought I would be asking him to do something like that, knowing full well that he would march straight over to Darry and squeal on me and I would not be allowed to leave the house again until I was about thirty.

"So you will take me? I asked.

"Course I will, Scooter. Nobody deserves a good Christmas more than you and your brothers. You know you don't really need any money to get some pretty good gifts, though… pocket-sized ones, if you know what I mean…"

Two-Bit was referring to his infamous shoplifting expertise. He was quite a legend in the petty larceny department.

"Not while you're with me, though, OK Two-Bit? You get caught and they'll either haul me in with you or I'll get stuck downtown with no ride. Plus Darry would kill you for it."

"I guess I can control myself for a few hours," he said. "When you wanna go?"

I knew Darry wouldn't let me out on a school night, and I had basketball after school, so I had to think.

"Maybe Saturday? After lunch?" Two-Bit looked at me strangely.

"Darry gonna be home then?" He was right, it would look pretty strange for me and Two-Bit to be taking off alone together in the middle of the day. And with Darry's roofing job, the hours were unpredictable. Depending on the job and the weather, he could come home anytime. There was no set schedule.

"I'll ask Ben to come too," I said. "We can say you're driving us to the movies. Darry won't mind if you are with us and we're not walking. Then we'll just go shopping instead."

"You know, Miss Curtis, if I didn't know you better I'd think you've done a lot of making up stories to sneak around on your brothers. You're a pretty quick thinker."

"Yeah, well, you know as well as I do, Mr. Mathews, that I don't get any opportunities to sneak around anywhere. And the only reason I'm able to do it this time is because you are willing to take my side and not go reporting back to Darry like the FBI on what I'm doing."

Two-Bit laughed. "I think I'm more like the CIA," he said. "You know, an international man of mystery."

"Right, Two-Bit," I said. I don't know about the international part, but he certainly was a mystery to the rest of us sometimes.

"Speakin' of reporting in, you better get your butt back over to the junior high 'fore I rat you out for cutting class." He smacked me good-naturedly on the butt and I turned to leave.

"Bye, Two-Bit," I said, walking away.

"See you Saturday," he said.

Now I just had to figure out what to get them.

_________________

A/N Any ideas? Seriously, what does Scout get them? I have a million chapters waiting in the wings but they are waiting for me to finish the Christmas stuff!