Mom

Princess Diana landed her invisible plane in a secluded field just outside of Tulsa. When she left America the last time, she gave most of her possessions and money to charity; luckily though, she kept a few outfits and some money on the off chance that she would one day return. She put on a red dress with white polka dots and a wide skirt with a white scarf tied in a bow around the waist. Black shoes with a white heel and a black hat with a snood holding her hair and a pair of short white gloves completed the look. She should blend in very well. She grabbed her black purse and exited the plane, walking the short distance to town.

"Oh my, things have changed a little bit more than I anticipated," Diana said to herself, quickly removing the hat/snood and gloves. She looked around at how different everything seemed since she was last in America. The women's' hair was all cut different, some built up very high on their heads. Their dresses were higher and tighter than she remembered. Some of them seemed to be made out of some shiny material. The men's suits looked different and they didn't wear hats with them.

As she walked along the sidewalk, she noticed some people looking at her curiously. Looking down at her clothes, she realized that even without the hat and gloves, her outfit looked much more outdated compared to everyone else.

"Well at least I'm not causing as much of a stir as last time," she said, remembering that she was walking around in 1942 in the equivalent of a bathing suit when she first came to America. As she was walking, she noticed a filling station up ahead, called The DX. Maybe they'll know where the Cades live, she thought to herself. When she walked in, avoiding the car that was pulling away from the pumps, she saw a handsome young man walk out from the back. She could tell he wasn't any more than seventeen.

"Darry's on his way to pick me up, so I'll see you in the morning," he called to someone that was obviously still in the back of the store.

"Excuse me," said Diana, drawing the boy's attention.

"Yes, ma'am, what can I do for you?" he said, flashing a smile.

"I'm trying to find some acquaintances of mine, and the last I heard they lived here in Tulsa."

"Not sure how much help I can be; Tulsa's awfully big. But we got a phone book right here," he reached behind the counter and pulled out a thick book with yellow and white pages.

"Thank you," she opened it to the C's and began searching for the Cades.

"Fifteen Cades in Tulsa," she muttered to herself. Luckily though, there was only one listing for Peter and Ursula Cade, "Oh, thank you," she said when the young man handed her a pencil and paper. She quickly copied down the address.

"What's this right here?" she asked, pointing to the series of numbers after the address.

"That? That's the phone number," he replied, confused.

"Oh," she copied that down too. They've gotten longer.

She turned to the back of the phone book to look at the map and copy directions. Just as she finished writing, there was a ding from the bell above the door, "Hey Soda, you ready?"

"Yeah, Darry; this lady just needed to use the telephone book," Diana turned to see another man, older than the first, and far more muscular. He turned his gaze from the other boy to Diana, where it lingered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you," she said to both men.

"It's no problem ma'am," said the first boy, "I'm Sodapop, this is my brother Darry" Darry held out his hand,

"Diana Prince," she shook his offered hand, "Nice to meet both of you. And thanks for the phonebook, Soda." The three stepped out front of the DX, where Darry's rusty red truck was parked.

"Do you need a ride?" asked Darry, as Soda hopped into the passenger seat.

"Oh, no I'm fine, thank you. It's just a short walk," it really wasn't that short, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

"You in town long?" asked Darry.

"I'm not really sure. It's a long story, but I'm just looking for some old acquaintances."

"Well, we live at the eastern most side of town. And I'm here most every day, so you're welcome to look us up if you need anything else," said Sodapop.

"Thank you," she said, smiling, "I guess I'll be on my way. Goodbye." and she started walking off.

Darry took one last glance at her before climbing into the driver's seat and revving the engine.

"Hey look, they're back," said Tow-Bit as Darry's truck pulled in the front yard. He and Steve were on the porch while Johnny was sitting on the steps and Dally stood next to him. They all got up to run over and greet the two Curtis's.

"Hey, guys," said Soda, cheerfully.

"Hey Soda, Darry," said Steve.

"Don't any of you have your own porches to loiter under?" Darry asked.

"Yeah but my mom got in the mood to sweep all the dirt off the porch and you know I can only take so many swipes from the business end of a broom," said Two-Bit.

"What'd the bossman say about me takin' off today?" asked Steve.

"He said if your grandma dies one more time he's gonna fill her grave with cement," Soda joked, "Too bad you weren't there though. There was a pretty little thing come in just as I was about to leave to use the phone book. Though I think her and Darry were makin' goo goo eyes at each other."

"Shut up, kid," said Darry, grabbing his tool belt out of the back of the truck, "where's Pony?"

"He said something about goin' to a movie," said Two-Bit

"I bet he ain't even done his homework yet," Darry muttered to himself furiously as he walked into the house.

"How's thing with you, Johnny Cade?" asked Soda.

Johnny just shrugged, "Usual; mom yelled herself hoarse all mornin' and then passed out. It'll probably be midnight by the time she wakes up for round two."

At that moment, Diana was standing outside the Cade residence.

"So this is where my son grew up all these years," she said, frowning at the rundown look of the house and the unkempt lawn. She walked up the steps to the porch, which creaked heavily as though they'd give out at any moment. She pulled open the screen door and knocked.

She waited a minute; when there was no answer, she knocked again louder.

"Hello!" she knocked her loudest this time.

"You won't get an answer," she looked to see an elderly woman sitting on the porch of the next house.

Diana stepped off the porch and walked closer to the old woman, "What makes you say that?"

"Because Mr. Cade is at work, and the wife is a lush. She's probably drunk off her ass by now."

Diana was surprised by this news, "What about the boy?"

"Johnny?" she asked, "Poor boy. He doesn't deserve half of what happens to him,"

"What do you mean?" asked Diana, feeling short of breathe hearing this, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll hear the rumors. Most are true; I've got first-hand experience."

"Where-," she took a calming breathe, "Where is he?"

"He spends most of his time at the Curtis house."

"Where is that?"

Twenty minutes later, Diana was walking along, close to tears. The old woman wouldn't give her any details about how Johnny was treated all his life, so her mind was forced to make things up. This was not what she had hoped for.

She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of tires screeching. Up ahead she saw a group of teenagers in letterman jackets jumping out of a car and attacking a young boy.

"How about we give you a haircut, greaser," one of the boys pulled out a switchblade.

"Darry!" the boy was shouting. The older boys continued to taunt him and the one with the switchblade cut his neck.

Diana ran behind one of the nearby houses. She held her arms out to her sides and began spinning.

"Darry! Help!"

"Somebody shut him up!" said the boy with the blade. One of the other boys shoved a handkerchief in his mouth.

"Let- Him- Go!" The socs and Ponyboy all turned to see a woman dressed in a red and blue bathing suit with a gold breastplate standing with her hands on her hips.

The soc just stared in confusion for a moment before one of them said, "It's just some greaser chick! One of you, teach her a lesson!"

The one unfortunate enough to be the first within arm's reach of her got a swift palm thrust in his chest and was sent flying over the car. She heard more footsteps and voices running toward them, but she wasn't worried about them. She took one of the boys kneeling over the younger one and threw him back out of her way. The others all got scared and ran to their car, while the one holding the knife stood up and tried to slash at her. She caught his arm in one hand and squeezed a pressure point to make him drop the knife; he tried to punch at her with his free arm, which she easily caught as well. She then knocked him back where his back hit his car. He pulled open the door and got in quickly. It was then that she noticed the new arrivals. They were a group of boys with worn clothes and slicked back hair. A couple of them tried to crowd the car, and lunged through the windows. The car sped away, with the new boys chasing after it. Diana walked over to the boy on the ground.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Ponyboy!" she heard a familiar voice and then none other than Soda crouched down next to the boy, "You ok?"

"Yeah," Pony said in a shaky voice.

"They pulled a blade on you?" Pony shook his head, looking away, but Soda took hold of his chin and made Pony look at him, "They ain't gonna hurt you no more." He pulled his brother to his feet.

"Soda?"

"Diana?" Soda's mouth dropped when he saw her.

"You fought all them socs off my brother?" Darry said when he saw who Soda was talking to.

"If by soc you mean those boys in the car, then yes," the other greasers, except two, came over to hear what she had to say about fighting off a group of socs. Even Two-Bit was speechless, "I didn't think it was very fair for all those almost grown men to gang up on one small boy."

"Thanks, ma'am," said Pony.

Diana smiled at him and said, "Call me Diana."

"Mom?" Diana, The Curtis's, Steve and Two-Bit all turned to see Johnny standing next to a disbelieving Dallas. Johnny couldn't take his eyes off of his mother.

**I tried to do some research for this chapter. I knew that the clothing styles would have changed between 1949 and 1965. It wasn't too hard to find some examples of 1940's clothing, even though it took some time. But all I could find on 60's clothing was vinyl dresses and gogo boots. They did not look like that in the outsiders movie. So I'm hoping I was accurate in what little clothing descriptions I did.

Secondly I don't know a thing about telephone books in the 60's or phone numbers in the 40's or 60's. But I think they were shorter in the 40's.

Last, I don't remember if Johnny's parents were given first names in the book, so I looked on Wikipedia on a list of Disney villains and picked two. Peter from Pete, the big cat guy, and Ursula of course from Little Mermaid.