I almost screamed but I didn't want the neighbors to come rushing in and making a fuss outta this, it was personal and not even twobit or steve could find out about this
I checked one more time then rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things, it was true all right, soda was gone
I cussed under my breath and felt hot tears running down my face
I looked around for any signs of where he could of gone, I searched for a note, a clue, anything that would help me to find my brother, the bed was full of pillows but nothing under them, I searched under the bed and every inch of the floor, but still no trace of soda
I ran to the living room and instantly picked up the phone to call darry, I thought for a moment and wondered if this was the best I could do, it might be easier to find him on my own, I looked at the phone and gently set it down, my palms were sweating like a pig's butt, I thought of some of the places soda would be and raced out of the house towards the arena, there was a rodeo tonight and I figured I could make it about ten minutes before it ended if I got twobit to drive
I got up to his house and almost rang the doorbell wondering again what was the right thing to do, I snapped out of it and followed through with it I couldn't let my thoughts carry me away, twobit's mom came to the door
"hello ponyboy" she said, her rosy cheeks shinning with light as her face lit up the neighborhood, "are you here to see twobit?" she asked
I nodded and she went inside, I was shaking, standing there shaking on the porch unable to control my actions I almost punched the wall waiting on twobit, finally he came to the door "whatta want kid" he asked in a sleepy tone, I guessed he was having a nap or something
"I need you to drive me down to that rodeo that's on tonight at the arrowhead arena" I said trying to keep the quivering out of my voice, he almost asked me why but I quickly shot back "please twobit I really wanna see it" I said trying to sound convincing
he shut up and got in the car, as we drove down there I was still shaking "you cold pony?" he asked , I guessed he could tell
"a little" I lied
he turned the heat on and I started sweating worse, "glory kid, what the heck is wrong with ya, first your shaking now your sweating like a dog" he said turning the heat off
I almost cussed him out but I kept my mouth shut, I was to worried to argue right now, I had more important things to worry about, my brother's life was at stake
when we finally got there I hopped out of the car and ran in as fast a I could only to find that soda wasn't there, I sighed and ran to DX which was at least a mile away, I was coughing and panting when I got there and steve said he hadn't see soda today, he almost asked what was wrong but I shot outta there like a lighting strike before he could even start
I was giving up hope and decided to call darry, the tears were running down my face like a rainstorm, I dialed his work number and waited for his boss, butch, to answer
"hello?" he said
"i need to talk to Darrel Curtis" I said as the shaking in my voice rose
"I'll get em" he said then the phone got quiet for a moment
I felt like cussing the guy out for taking so long but I figured he would hang up, and darry was probably busy roofing a house, I heard a voice come out of the phone and I was snapped out of my thoughts
"huh?" I heard darry's deep voice
"darry, I... I can't find soda, he's" I took a long pause "he's gone" I said as the tears ran down faster
the phone hung up and ten minutes later I saw darry speeding down the strip, he screeched to a halt and literally pulled me into the truck, he raced off to the house, "when did he leave" he said
I looked over and saw tears building up in his icy eyes "about and hour after you left" I said as my hand shook on the edge of my seat
darry shook his head and wiped his hand over his mouth with a sigh "he at work?" he asked
I shook my head and darry sighed again, "he ain't at the rodeo either I checked their first" I said as darry handed me a napkin to wipe my tears
"he's gotta be somewhere, he can't be too far" he said, I could tell he was trying to convince me so I wouldn't be too scared
"darry" I asked, "what if he ran away like johnny and I did when we killed bob, what if we never find em" I said
darry sighed and tried to comfort me "don't say that pony, you and I both know he would never do anything like that" he said "i hope" he whispered, I just barely heard that last part but I knew he was thinking the same as me he's gone, he's gone and he ain't coming back
I looked out the passenger side window wondering if we would ever find him, I watched as the tree's and the bushes went by then darry halted at our house, he slammed the door behind him as he got out of the truck swearing under his breath, he stroked his fingers through his hair in frustration, I stayed in the truck thinking about what would happen if we never found soda, If he ran out far, past Tulsa, past windrexville, past Oklahoma, to the middle of nowhere
darry hopped back in the truck and leaned against the steering wheel, I stared at him, I saw tears running down his chin, he suddenly looked up "Vietnam" he whispered
I looked at him confused "huh?" I said
he stared at me and put his huge hands on my shoulders squeezing me "he's enlisting himself into Vietnam" he said with a quivering tone
I almost fainted onto darry's lap, I never thought soda would get so upset he would risk his life killing himself, darry stepped on the gas and shout out for the police station, we ran out of the car and saw soda standing in line waiting for his turn to sign up for the war
darry pulled him out, I could see his muscles straining as he clenched soda's arm "what the heck do you think your doing kid" he yelled
I looked around and everybody was staring at us, both greasers and soc's, I felt hot with embarrassment as shocked round eyes watched from every direction
soda's eyes teared up with guilt "i ain't got nottin more to live for, I've lost everything" he said trying to get out of darry's grip
"you got us" darry yelled pulling him back towards him "you ain't going nowhere especially anywhere that could get you killed" he said
soda broke free from darry's grip "I'm almost eighteen, I'm almost an adult, I can do what I want, and if I wanna risk my life I can darry" he said, I gave him a shocked look as my mouth dropped, soda looked towards me "don't lose hope pony I'll send you letters" he said
darry pulled him to face towards his ice cold eyes "no you won't, cause your not leaving" he said
soda frowned at him in a way I had never seen him do before "i don't care if you want me to stay or nottin I'm leaving, this is my final answer and I'm gonna go out and fight that war no matter what you say to me"