I stood up and stared at him.
"Hey, kid," he said.
"Hey, Tim," I said. "Thanks for coming over." I was desperate; if I had to appeal to the biggest hood on our side of town, I was willing.
"I'll see if I can track him down," he said. I trusted him. For some reason, I really trusted him. That ride he had given me had completely changed what I thought of him. Everyone on our side of town was afraid of him but, for some reason, I just wasn't, which was probably not too wise, on my part.
Tim sat down, straddling the arm of the couch, and grabbed the phone. He dialed a number and all we heard was his side of the conversation.
"Hey, Jimmy. Shepard."
"Yeah, you, too. Hey, you know where Curtis is working this week?'
'Yeah. Darrel Curtis. Right. You sure?"
"Alright. Yeah, I will. Thanks, man. Bye."
"Where is he?" I asked, immediately. Soda surrounded me and rubbed my head, holding me back from pouncing on Tim like I had Two-Bit.
"I ain't sure yet, kid. Give me a minute."
He dialed again.
"Ray? Tim Shepard here. I heard Darry Curtis is on your job this week?"
"Yeah, where's that at? Yeah, we're just lookin' for him, he didn't come home yet."
Tim wrote something down. I noticed he was a lefty, like me.
"Okay Ray, thanks. Yeah, right on. Bye."
I held myself back from jumping on him this time. Soda read my mind and asked for me.
"Where is he, Tim?" he asked.
"I'm not sure yet. But I'll find him."
I stepped in front of Soda, and Tim noticed. I might have been still crying; I'm not sure.
"C'mere, Little Curtis," he called me toward him, and I stood in front of him. With him on the arm of the couch and me standing, we were eye-to eye. "I won't come back until I find him, okay?'
I stared into his eyes, which I had expected to be icy and hard, like Dallas's had been. But instead there was something warm about them, almost sympathetic. They were brown, like Soda's. "Okay," I agreed. I meant to hold him to it, too.
"I'll find him," he assured me, standing up and moving me gently aside, passing me off to Ponyboy, who was closest to me. Pony surprised me by taking me in his arms and sitting on the couch with me, letting me lean up against him. Tim disappeared out the door, letting it slam behind him, but then immediately leaned halfway back in.
"One other thing- Darry got a girl?"
"Yeah," Soda answered.
"Well you might want to check with her, too."
"We will. Thanks, Tim," Two-Bit said. Two-Bit still hadn't met Alison but he knew about her from listening to the rest of us give Darry a hard time. Soda picked on him incessantly about her. I wasn't real subtle with him, either.
"I'll be back," Tim said, and was gone.
"I'll call her," I said, picking up the phone. I knew Anna's number.
The phone rang a few times and finally Mr. Harvey answered, sounding confused. I had forgotten that it was past ten-thirty.
"Hello?"
"Hi… Mr. Harvey? It's Scout Curtis."
"Scout? Is everything okay?"
"Well, not really. Darry didn't come home from work today. We were wondering if maybe you had seen him, if he came by to see Alison or something?"
"Hang on, Scout, I'll check." I heard him call Alison and talk to her in the background.
"No, honey, he didn't. You're not home by yourself, are you?"
"No, my other brothers are here. Could I talk to Alison for a minute, please?"
"Sure," he passed the receiver over to her.
"Scout?" she asked. "He never called, or anything?" She sounded as worried as I felt.
"No," I said, feeling tears again.
"Is his truck still parked at the bowling alley?"
"What? Why would it be there?"
"He told me the other day that the guys all meet up there and then drive out to the work site in just one or two cars. To save on gas money."
"I don't know, but we'll check."
"Scout, will you call me, please, when he comes back? Otherwise I'm gonna worry all night."
"I will," I said.
"You'll find him," she said.
"I hope so," I said. "Thanks, Alison."
"Bye, Scout. Hang in there."
"Bye." I hung up.
"Two-Bit, go down to the bowling alley and see if Darry's truck is there," I said. "Alison said the guys park there and drive out together."
Two-Bit was out the door practically before I finished the sentence.
I sat for a minute, then got up and went into my room. I lay down on my bed and cried into my pillow. After a minute or so I felt the weight of someone sitting next to me, and a hand rubbing my hair. I would have bet on it being Soda but, actually, it turned out to be Pony.
"Scout?" he whispered to me.
"What?" I answered.
"What are you afraid of?" He dared to ask me the most frightening question.
"Pony," I said, "You know. If anything happens to Darry…"
"What?" he asked. "What happens?"
"I get sent away," I said. "I don't get to stay with you, or Soda."
Pony leaned down and whispered in my ear.
"Never, Scout. I won't let them take you away. I swear to God, Scout. I'll run away with you again before I'd let them take you."
I sat up and hugged Pony tight and whispered in his ear.
"Where is he, Pony? He would never not call. Something has to be wrong."
"I don't know, Scout. Hopefully he's okay, but he just can't get to a phone." He held me and rubbed my back and my hair as I drifted off and fell asleep.
_________________________
The slamming of the door jarred me awake. I looked at the clock and saw that it was eleven-twenty. I had only been lying there for fifteen minutes. Pony sat up, as well; both of us had fallen asleep. We nearly tripped over each other to get out the door, hoping to see Darry, but it was Two-Bit, out of breath.
"His truck's still there," he said. "And two other cars."
I didn't know what to think about that. I guess it meant that wherever he was, at least he wasn't alone. I sat on the couch next to Soda and Pony sat on the other side of me. Two-Bit dropped into Dad's chair and we all just sat there, silently- all of us, I'm sure, thinking terrible thoughts about what might have happened to Darry. We could do nothing but wait. The silence was actually painful.
Please, Tim, I begged. Please find him.
After about ten minutes, the phone rang and all four of us jumped up, but nobody moved to answer it. I know that I, personally, was terrified that it was bad news. We all stood frozen until Two-Bit finally reached down to grab it.
"Hello?" I'd never heard such timidity in his voice.
"Darry? You okay?" A huge grin spread across his face and I could actually see, physically, the tension drain out of his body. "Where the hell are you?"
"No way," he said. Then, "yeah, just that you scared the shit out of all of us. You just took about ten years off each of our lives."
"Okay, Dar. See you then." He hung up and we all just stared at him.
"The car battery died at the worksite. They've been walking. Shepard found 'em about ten miles off the main road, walking home. He'll be home in twenty minutes."
"Thank God," Soda said.
I was crying, immediately, from relief. Pony hugged me and laughed at me, though I was pretty sure I saw him wipe away a tear, as well. "He's okay, Scout. He's fine."
I could hardly even talk. Relief cascaded out of me like a waterfall. I went limp.
"Scout, Jesus," Soda sat next to me. "He's okay. Calm down."
I fought back my emotions to finally catch my breath.
"I was so scared," I said. "I was so scared he was gone."
"He's not," Pony said. "He's not. He's fine."
I just nodded and tried as hard as I could to stop crying. Just as I had almost stopped the door opened and Darry walked in.
"Hey, y'all,' he said, joking. "Sorry I'm late." His toolbelt hit the floor with a familiar bang.
I started crying again, immediately. I couldn't even move from my spot on the couch. Soda and Pony and Two-Bit all offered some kind of manly glad-you're-okay type greeting, along with a half-hug and slap on the back, but I just looked on and tried to appear as less of a complete crybaby than I actually was. I was wondering to myself how Darry and Soda had gone through nearly a week of me and Pony being gone, while I had been reduced to an absolute puddle after losing Darry for a mere seven hours.
He saw me on the couch and came over to hug me.
"Scout, I'm okay. I'm fine, baby."
"I know." I was trying as hard as I could to calm down but it wasn't working. "I was just scared. I was scared for you. I'm sorry, Darry."
He pulled back to look at me. "What are you sorry about?"
"About making you worry, when I went with Pony. I know how it feels now. I know how scary it is, and I'm really sorry."
Darry just pulled me to him and hugged me.
"I'm sorry Scout. I couldn't call."
I opened my eyes and saw Tim talking to Two-Bit. I was surprised to see him back; he must have dropped Darry off at his truck and then come back over. I guess he took his promise to personally deliver Darry pretty seriously. I pulled away from Darry and got up, walking over to Tim, trying to pull myself together. I wasn't pleased with myself for crying in front of him.
He looked down at me as I came up to him.
"Thanks, Tim," I said. "I had a feeling you kept your promises."
"I don't promise girls stuff I can't deliver," he said, and winked at me. I wanted to hug him, as thankful as I was for having brought Darry home, but I wasn't sure how hugging a Shepard would go over, so I didn't. He put his hand on my shoulder.
"You take care, kid," he said.
"I'll try," I answered. "Really, Tim; thanks a lot."
"No problem," he said, and he was out the front door in a blur. He was starting to appear a little super-hero-ish to me, just appearing out of nowhere, fixing a problem, then leaving. And yet, I was supposed to fear him.
Two-Bit addressed us next.
"Well,y'all, seein' as how we've got that school thing in the morning, I s'pose I should get on home and get some sleep," he said. I knew I would be riding with Kevin in the morning; there was no way Two-Bit would be on time.
"Good night," I offered.
Two-Bit headed out, letting the door slam, and suddenly it was just us. We all just froze, not quite sure how to relate to each other in light of our latest crisis.
"Jesus, Darry, you scared the hell out of us," Soda said. Amen, I thought.
"I couldn't help it," he said. "I'm sorry."
"I think you better start telling us where you're working," Pony said. Seriously, he is so practical when things are stressful; if only he could always be that way, Darry wouldn't be on his case all the time about not using his head.
"That's probably a good idea," he admitted. "I'll write the addresses on the calendar with my hours, from now on," he said.
"Want me to heat up some dinner for you?" Soda asked.
"Naw, you guys have school and work in the morning. Go to sleep. I'll find something to eat."
Pony was the first to move.
"Alright. Darry. Glad you're back." He headed off to the bathroom.
"Night Pony," Darry called.
"I'm heating up dinner for you," Soda said, walking into the kitchen. "Don't argue," he added, before Darry could.
That left just Darry and me.
He came over to the couch where I sat, and sat next to me. I was still a mess, not breathing quite right.
"Scout, I'm okay." He said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "I'm back. I'm fine."
I looked down, ashamed to tell Darry what I had thought, that I had doubted him.
"I thought you might not come back. I thought maybe you left us."
"What?" He sounded shocked. "On purpose? Why would you think that?"
"Anna's Mom left, you know. She just left her and Alison, with their dad. She just left them. And Two-Bit's dad, he left. We don't always make it easy for you, taking care of us. I thought maybe it was just too much."
"Scout, I'm not going to leave you, or the boys. I would never leave, on purpose. You understand what happened, right? There was nothing I could do. We were stuck there. We were walking down a road in the middle of nowhere for six hours, for Christ's sake, until Shepard found us."
"I know," I said. "I was really scared, though, because you didn't call. You always call."
"I'm sorry," he said, taking my hand, "but unfortunately there is no phone I can just carry around in my pocket to call home from the middle of the woods."
"I know," I said.
"I love how you all assumed the worst, though- thinking I took off, calling all the hospitals…" He laughed as he pulled me up off the couch.
You gotta get to bed." He dragged me into my room and set me on the bed.
"Get changed and wash up and I'll be back in a minute," he said, and headed off into the kitchen. I heard Soda tell him that his dinner was in the oven and then head off to bed himself.
I changed into my pajamas and went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I climbed back into bed, pulling the covers up high enough that I could pull them up over my head.
"Scout?" Darry was at my door.
"Come in," I said.
He came in and sat on my bed, reaching his hand out to smooth my hair back past my forehead.
"I'm sorry I scared you," he said.
"It wasn't just me," I said. "Even Two-Bit was scared. But we know you couldn't help it."
"I really couldn't," he said. "I would have called, baby, if I could have."
"I know." I hesitated, knowing I should wait until another time to bring up what I was thinking, but I guess I had been scared enough to ignore my common sense.
"Darry?" I asked. "Do you have a will?"
"What?" he asked.
"I don't mean to be morbid, Darry, but if Dad hadn't taken care of things before he died, I never would have been here, still. We both know I would've been sent away. So, tonight, I didn't know what would happen to me if something had happened to you. I was scared, Darry. I was sure I'd get sent away."
I could tell from his expression that he hadn't taken care of things in that department.
"That's a good point, Scout. I'll call Uncle Pat tomorrow and see about getting that done. We should have a plan for that, if something happens to me," he said, adding, "Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon."
"Nobody plans it, Darry. That's the problem." He gave me a knowing glance, correctly guessing that I was thinking about my parents. They sure hadn't planned on dying. Neither had Johnny. Of all of them, only Dallas had planned on dying.
"We'll talk about it sometime when it's not one o'clock in the morning, okay? You need to go to sleep. You're gonna be a bear to wake up tomorrow, as it is."
He was probably right about that.
"Darry, I promised Alison you'd call her when you got back, no matter how late it was."
"You called the Harveys?" he sounded mortified.
"Tim thought we should. I don't know, maybe he thought you and Alison eloped or something. Or maybe you were out on that date you promised me you'd take her on."
He stood up, shaking his head at me. "I'll call her, Scout. You go to sleep."
"Goodnight, Darry. I'm really glad you're okay."
"Well, try and remember that feeling next time you want to argue with me about something, huh?" he laughed at himself. "'Night, Scout." He shut my door but it didn't quite catch and it opened back up, just a little. I was glad because I wanted to eavesdrop on his phone call.
I heard him sigh, then pick up the phone and dial.
"Hi… Ali?" He sounded happy that it was her who answered.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The guy who drove us out today didn't turn his lights off and the battery died. We were the last ones to leave so we had to walk."
"Yeah, about twenty miles or so until a friend picked us up," he laughed.
"Yeah, they are pretty tired."
"Well, I don't want to keep you up, but Scout told me I had to call."
"Yeah, she is. She was worried I just took off," he laughed again.
"Alright, well you sleep tight, okay? I'll see you Thursday, right?"
"Okay. 'Night, Alison."
He hung up and I heard him sit down at the table and start eating whatever Soda had warmed up for him. Slowly the sound faded away as I slipped into sleep, knowing that what was left of my family was home safe.
A/N: Alas, Shepard saves the day, again!
Can you imagine that? A phone you could carry around in your pocket to call home from the middle of the woods? Hahaha! I challenge anyone to show me a modern-day roofer without a cell phone!
I love you all, reviewers!