I ran toward my brothers and was surprised that it was Soda who swept me up into a hug. Darry was already too busy getting into it with our lawyer.
"We need to talk," he was clearly livid, but trying to contain himself, being in a public setting. "Now. In private."
The look on Darry's face was one I had never seen before, and if I were Mr. Leone, I would have probably feared for my life. Seriously, Darry looked ready to kill someone, with his bare hands. The only time I had seen a similar expression on him was when he found out that it was Steve who had hurt me.
Mr. Leone nodded, and motioned to Darry to follow. He did, along with Pony, but Soda held me still for a moment.
"Amazing. Scout, you were amazing. I mean, God – I bawled like a baby and they didn't even give me a hard time about Mom and Dad like they did you."
"They asked you about Sandy – and her baby, Soda. Of course you cried." I was totally disappointed with myself for not realizing much sooner how much that baby had meant to both Sandy and Soda – it could have been Steve's – which they would have handled – but it just as well could have been Soda's. Either way – it would have had a loving set of parents and a healthy contingent of aunts and uncles, both legitimate and honorary.
"Yeah, but, I mean – Mom and Dad, them accusing us of all that – them accusing you… "
"We'd better go with them," I interrupted, seeing Darry, Pony and Mr. Leone heading through a side door. I was worried about what was going to happen with Darry so angry. I thought he had enough self-control not to do anything stupid, but I wasn't completely sure. He was angry enough to even scare me, a little.
I heard the controlled yelling before I opened the door.
"How the hell did that just happen in there? You promised me that this would be an open–and-shut case – that this wouldn't be upsetting for her. Christ – bringing up our parents' deaths? No way in hell would I have agreed to this if I thought she'd be up against anything like what he was making her talk about. I can't even believe I agreed to let her do this."
While I understood Darry's anger at the lawyer, I wanted him to know that I wasn't upset with him. I knew he never expected those questions and would never have let me come if he had.
"It's okay." I spoke up, just as he was about to start in again on Mr. Leone. Everyone turned towards Soda and me in the doorway.
"Don't yell, Dar. It's okay. I'm okay."
"It's not okay. Jesus, Scout. Implying that this has anything to do with Mom and Dad – that's bullshit. You shouldn't have had to answer to that."
"I didn't, Darry, remember? The judge said I didn't. I wanted to. Those families lost people they loved – just like us losing Mom and Dad. That lawyer was trying to make me look like I had some sort of other reason for being here other than making the state fix that light and admit they made a mistake – no way I was going to let them think that. I meant it – I miss Mom and Dad like crazy, but if we got money from being here that wouldn't change anything. I mean - you know that."
Darry just shook his head at me.
"I never anticipated the judge would allow that line of questioning to continue as long as he did, Darrel," Mr. Leone tried to calm him down. "Honestly, I was shocked that he overruled my objection. Frankly, I think Scout handled herself remarkably well up there. It's rare for someone her age to remain so poised and be able to regain her composure like that under such an emotional line of questioning. Her ability to remain so eloquent under pressure certainly added a lot to her credibility as a child witness."
Darry seemed to be calming down a bit, but I could still see the fire in his eyes.
"Look, I said I wanted to do this, and we're here, so let me just finish what I started, okay? I don't want to look like a quitter and let those families down." That was clearly the right thing to say, as all three brothers had been just as affected by the meeting with the families as I had. I saw him slowly relenting.
"They can't ask her any more questions about our parents, right? " Darry looked at Mr. Leone.
"No, the judge disallowed that line of questioning. From now on I think he'll be keeping a tighter lid on things. The questions should be nothing but straightforward from here on in."
"I'll be fine," I reassured all three brothers and Mr. Leone, who were staring at me with concern. "I mean, if I handled all that without falling apart – I'm sure I can deal with whatever else they ask me."
Darry's expression suddenly softened, and anger turned to concern.
"I'm sorry, baby – after all I said about how this would be easy. If I knew…"
"It's okay. I know you didn't know."
The door to the room suddenly opened and somebody in a uniform stuck their head in.
"Judge says two minutes."
"Okay," Mr. Leone answered, without looking over. The door closed again.
"I know you didn't know," I repeated. "I'm okay now. I'm not upset."
I was surprised to see Ponyboy grab Darry's arm and even more surprised by what he said, eye to eye with the very brother he so loved to incite.
"Let her finish, Darry. She's stronger than you give her credit for sometimes. She'll be okay." I never in a million years would have expected those words to come out of Pony's mouth, sticking up for me in such a way – but I think he identified with that sentiment himself – of not being though of as "strong enough," sometimes, too. Once again, that commonness that everyone else saw between me and Pony became apparent, for a moment.
"You're sure?" Darry faced me again, and I nodded.
"We need to get back in there," Mr. Leone looked nervous. "If we're not there when the judge gets back, it's grounds for contempt."
"Let's go," I said, turning and heading back, not giving anyone a chance to change their mind. Soda grabbed my hand and walked back in with me, Pony catching back up as we sat down.
"Thanks, Pone," I squeezed his knee, looking over as he slid in to the row next to me.
"You are strong," he whispered. Darry dropped into the space beside Pony just as the judge returned and we all had to rise.
I was immediately called back to the stand, and was happy to see that as I looked out into the courtroom, my family looked more relaxed. Not exactly happy – but not angry or panic-stricken, at least. Mr. Leone had been right – the rest of the questioning was completely straightforward, and had to do only with the accident in Soda's car. A few times he tried to imply that I wasn't remembering clearly or hadn't been completely alert throughout the whole accident, but the fact that I could describe the whole thing in detail - with no gaps in time I hoped would serve to disprove that.
After what felt like days but was, according to the clock on the courtroom wall, only a little under an hour, the defense finally rested its case.
I sat there for a minute, not sure what to do. The judge started giving instructions to the jury until he noticed the man in uniform at the back of the courtroom motioning towards me.
"Miss Curtis, you are dismissed. You may return to your seat."
I jumped up immediately and heard a ripple of laughter in the courtroom as I hurried back to the row and slid in next to Darry. I was so glad to be done that I didn't even care. Darry's arm was around me and the relief drained out of me at having survived, and – in the process, surprised both myself and my family at my ability to stay composed under pressure. I was seriously so drained, exhausted, and overwhelmed that I didn't hear a word that was being said. Suddenly everyone was standing up and starting to leave and Darry was prodding at me to get up.
"Wait, what happened? I wasn't paying attention."
"We're done here. It's all up to the jury, now."
"We can leave?"
"We can, and we are. That is, unless you want to stick around," he grinned down at me. "But our job here is done."
I practically ran out of the courtroom. I was headed off in the lobby by Two-Bit, who grabbed me on my way by.
"Whoa, lady. Order in the court! Slow down! Where's those brothers of yours?"
"We're here," Soda appeared, his arm around Sandy. Pony and Darry came around the corner a few seconds later.
"So where we goin'?" Two-Bit asked. "Still got a whole afternoon ahead of us." It was only just after one-thirty, and I realized that I was absolutely starving, which meant my brothers must have been just a few minutes shy of gnawing on their own arms.
"I 'm goin' home," Sandy responded, rolling her eyes. "Gotta ride back with my folks." She was smiling, though, and it seemed like her relationship with her parents was back on track since the last time we'd been in Muskogee. I had to admit to noticing that her brother hadn't been in court, though. She gave Soda a quick kiss, slapped Two-Bit on the head in return to his smooching noises, and left to join her parents.
"Okay, so what's up with the rest of us then? We goin' out to lunch?" Two-Bit rubbed his head.
"Sounds good to me," Soda and I said, almost in unison.
"I was thinkin' of getting back to Tulsa sooner rather than later, actually," Darry started.
"C'mon, Dar. I'm a growing teenager. I'm starving." For Pony to have gone almost six hours without eating anything actually was pretty remarkable.
"I'm pretty hungry, too," I admitted. I would have loved to have back the eggs I'd passed on that morning.
"C'mon Superman, you can't let your family starve! 'Specially what with you havin' a star witness in your midst and all. Christ, the people from that Perry Mason show are probably gonna be callin' to offer Scout a starring role!" He gave me a playful punch on my shoulder and I shoved him back, gaining a sneer in my direction, which made me giggle.
"Where we gonna go, then, wise guy?" Darry asked. "I don't know where anything is in this place except the courthouse and the hospital."
"Well, lets just say I kinda might've got a little lost on my way through here back a few months ago. Did a little sightseeing, you might say. Lucky for us, I happened to stop in to use the restroom at a respectable looking establishment just a few blocks away from here."
Darry looked out at us and I imagined we looked like baby birds, our mouths wide open for food. He just shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Okay, you guys win. Lead the way, Mathews. And - no sightseeing this time."
XXXXXXX
Two-Bit's idea of a respectable establishment turned out to be a diner, which was actually fine with all of us. We were more than willing to cut corners on beauty and cleanliness in favor of speed. Within ten minutes of sitting down, we already had our burgers and we all sat in a booth pretty much inhaling our food.
"Thought you weren't hungry there, Chief," Two-Bit taunted Darry as he started on his second burger.
"Never said I wasn't hungry – just that I wanted to get back home quickly – and I still do. So shut your trap and eat."
"Okay, then." Two-Bit wisely shut himself up by opening his mouth and inserting his burger.
I ate about half of my meal and then started to get a bit worked up again. My part was done, but nothing was really resolved. The jury still had to decide if the state had been at fault.
"When will we know?" I asked, breaking the silence and finding all eyes suddenly on me.
"I mean, we're leaving – is somebody going to call us and tell us what the jury decided? How long does that take?" I realized I'd pretty much just taken off out of the courtroom without really knowing what came next.
I waited while Darry swallowed. It had been his last bite and he signaled to the waitress for the check.
"The lawyer'll call us. No saying how long it will take. Could be hours, could be days. Don't worry about it, 'kay? And I swear on my life, I will never let you offer to testify in court again. I swear, if I knew…" I could see him getting upset again and cut him off.
"It's okay, Dar. Really. Like I said, I know you didn't know they were going to ask about any of that. It's okay; I got through it, and it's over."
"Amen to that," Soda chimed in, standing up. "Let's go home."
The ride home was uneventful – the combination of full stomachs, a highly stressful morning, and the roar of the engine caused all three of us in the back seat to fall asleep, leaving Darry and Two-Bit talking quietly up front. Honestly, his car was so loud I couldn't have heard the conversation even if I'd wanted to. I think all of us were secretly hoping the car would at least make it to the Tulsa city limits before self-destructing.
It must have made it, though, because suddenly it was shuddering to a halt in our driveway and Two-Bit was yelling and slamming his door.
"Last stop, Curtises!"
Pony, Soda and I were all groggy, untangling ourselves from each other. I wanted nothing more than to go into the house and continue my nap, but I was pretty sure Darry wouldn't be on board with that plan. Pony and Soda seemed to wake up pretty quick and before I managed to drag myself out of the car they were already inside, Two-Bit following, presumably to get a beer.
I stretched and put my head back down on the seat where moments ago Soda had been.
"C'mon Scout. Come in the house."
I opened my eyes and stared up at Darry.
"I'm tired, Darry. God, don't you ever just get tired?"
I was surprised at his response: an honest, heartfelt, real-live laugh. It was immediately apparent how much less stress he was feeling with this whole court ordeal behind us. His laugh sounded so good that I giggled myself.
"What?" I asked. "I'm tired. Why's that so funny?"
"Baby, tired is a permanent state with me. I'm so tired all the time that I'm not even sure what not tired feels like anymore."
I had to admit, Darry did have reason to be far more tired than any of the rest of us. He had work and us to take care of, as well as all of the pressure from the state, the bills, taking care of the house… Yet he never got to take a nap. He held out his hand to me and I took it, letting him pull me out of the car. He threw his arm around my shoulder and walked me up to the house.
"You did great, you know – Mom and Dad would have been real proud. We're all proud."
"Thanks," I answered, not looking up. "I hope it gets those families what they deserve."
Just as we stepped onto the porch, the phone rang. I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Do you think –" I started.
"I doubt it," Darry responded, heading through the door. "It's only been a few hours. There were a lot of separate charges the jury had to deliberate on."
I followed him inside and it was obvious from the friendly tone of the conversation that it wasn't the lawyer. I figured out pretty quick that it was, instead, Two-Bit's mom, which was confirmed as Darry hung up.
"Mr. Mathews, seems your presence is requested at your house."
"Oh yeah? By who?"
Darry just stared.
"So I'm guessin' it ain't Katie, then?" Two-Bit settled back into the couch, tossing his bottle cap at Soda, who yelped, and taking a swig of beer.
"She wants you home now, buddy. Like, as in five minutes ago."
Darry nudged him off the couch as he sat down in his place.
"Okay, I get it," Two-Bit pretended to pout. "I ain't wanted around here, even though I just drove y'all practically across the state."
None of us responded. The fact was, he had to go practically across the state himself, anyway.
Not getting the sympathy he'd hoped for, he declared:
"So, that's alright... I guess I'll just take this one for the road, then. See y'all later." He turned and was gone
"Yeah, don't let the door smack your ass on the way out," Soda called after him, attempting payback for the bottlecap to the face, but Two-Bit obviously didn't hear him, as there was no wiseass reply.
Ponyboy stood up, mumbling about heading out for a smoke, but Darry grabbed him on the leg as he passed by.
"Hold up, Pony. Sit down for a minute, okay?"
"Why? What's up?" Darry's sudden serious tone caught all of us off guard.
"Just sit down." Pony sat, and as we all faced Darry he spoke words that struck fear in my heart, as they generally meant nothing good.
"We have to talk," he stared at us, his jaw tight and his tone dead serious. "All four of us."
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A/N: Hope to update more frequently this summer. Reviews are very much loved and appreciated.