Chapter Four, Part One

Darry- 9

Sodapop- 5

Ponyboy- 2

"Mama, can we pretty please go and look at the Christmas trees?" Five-year-old Sodapop begged excitedly. The boys were walking to school with their mother, since the weather was so nice and the air was so crisp. Ponyboy had come along too, not wanting to miss out on anything his big brothers were doing. They were nearing the rows and rows of lit Christmas trees that they passed by every day -whether walking or driving- on the way to school. Soda loved Christmas. And he wanted to see those trees.

Mrs. Curtis checked her watch.

"Alright, boys. Five minutes. Don't lose sight of Pony, okay?" Darry nodded, and took hold of his youngest brother's hand. The three padded over to the trees, dead leaves and thin sheets of ice crackling and crunching beneath their feet.

"Look, Pony, we're gonna have one of these in our house soon. See?" Soda said earnestly, gesturing to the array of green trees. Ponyboy reached out and gently stroked the lower boughs of an especially fat tree.

"Yes, yes," he said softly, looking up at each of his brothers. "Tree." He gazed up as high as he seemed he could to the top branches. "Mine."

"We don't know if that's yours yet, Pone," Darry said bluntly.

"Mine!" Ponyboy whined and tugged on its branches vigorously. "Dawwy!"

"How 'bout we play hide and seek, Pony? It'll be fun!" Soda broke in quickly. He was beginning to recognize when his younger brother was about to have a tantrum. They were appearing much more often now; his mother had mentioned something about 'terrible two's'. Pony's face immediately brightened.

"Okay!"

"Here- I'll count to twenty. Then you run and hide with Darry, okay?" Soda instructed.

"But-" Darry broke in. He felt much too old to be playing these kinds of games. But Soda gave him his 'fierce stare' (the one he'd been practicing) he realized it was something he had to do. His second-youngest brother obviously didn't want to continue walking to school just yet. Darry glanced around quickly to see if any of his friends were around. When he realized the coast was clear, the nine-year-old reluctantly agreed.

"Okay," Soda started. "One… two… three… four… five… six…" Ponyboy squealed and grabbed Darry's hand, pulling him forward. The older boy followed behind his littlest brother, who eventually found a space behind a tree that was just big enough to squeeze the both of them inside. There was a slight pause, and then Pony squealed once again, but this time very softly. He understood this much about hide and seek- hide, and be quiet! Darry could't help but grin at his eagerness towards the game. Soda used to love to play just as much, and maybe little more. Ponyboy's interests leaned more towards simple memory games and sometimes even imaginative pretend ones.

When the boys heard pine straw crunching nearby, Darry held a finger up to his lips to signal quiet. Ponyboy did the same. The footsteps ebbed away slowly, until all Darry could hear was the rushing of the wind. Pony looked at Darry and grinned, and Darry couldn't help but mirror him. He liked winning at games, even if it was just hide and seek. The sun poked out from behind the clouds and gave a little bit more warmth to the boys. Darry leaned back and closed his eyes. He could stay here for a few more minutes. It was calming...

"GOT YOU!" someone shouted, and jumped in front of the hiding brothers.

"Aaah!" Darry exclaimed, and then slowly sighed. It seemed that Soda was going to startle him all his life. That was the thing he'd always seemed to take pride in. Darry began to wonder if his brother knew they had been in that spot the whole time, and was just waiting for the perfect moment to scare him. His heart rate was beginning to slow down, but Ponyboy's definitely wasn't. It seemed that the wind was knocked out of him; he was breathing like he'd just emerged from being two minutes underwater. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, and he began rocking back and forth, breath coming out in raged gasps.

"S-Soda… So-" -gulp- "da…" It looked like Sodapop immediately regretted his decision to startle his brothers. He knelt down to the little boy's side and hugged him tightly.

"Aww, Pony, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Pone! I promise I'm never gonna do that again. I promise, okay?" Ponyboy nodded shakily.

"Ish, ish, ish," he whispered. 'Ish' was his either his comfort word, or meant 'Look at that!'

"Boys!" Mrs. Curtis' voice rang out from the bench nearby the spot where the trees were. "Time to go!" Darry helped Ponyboy up, and the three of them hurried to catch up with their mother, who had already begun walking.

"We're almost late!" she exclaimed. "I let you stay a little longer than planned." Soda stood on his tiptoes to reach Darry's ear.

"Tomorrow?" he whispered.

"Tomorrow," Darry agreed.

A/N Sorry I keep taking too long to update! I'm also really happy at the reviews this story has gotten; you guys are amazing. Thanks so much!