Chapter Thirty Six
Our impromptu welcome home party turned out to be a bigger event than anyone of us would have expected. Casey and Sodapop told the cashier at the grocery store about the event and by the end of the night the whole neighborhood had heard about it. Throughout the night almost everyone we knew had stopped by. Even Two-Bit's mama stopped by for a free beer, and to let us know there was no rush to send Two-Bit back home to live. She said we could keep him as long as we wanted.
By the early morning hours the party had simmered and then ceased. Owen had left, Kathyrn had tucked a happy, yet worn out, Darry into bed, and only those with toothbrushes in the bathroom remained amongst the mess.
"That was some party, huh?" Soda asked with a yawn and looked over at me as I was curled up in my mother's chair.
"Hell, yeah! Good thing people brought their own six packs of bub and stuff or we would have been the lamest party in town." Two-Bit happily agreed as he lounged in my father's chair. "Hey, I never got around to asking you. What did Steve think about the Sandy and baby situation?"
Sodapop sat on the couch and rubbed his hand hard against his forehead before answering. "He said he didn't think the little guy was mine. The way Sandy'd been talking to Evie it sounds like the kid's real dad said he was going to be there for them, but he isn't, so she's just looking for someone to take care of her."
Two-Bit looked at his friend with serious eyes. "You gonna?"
"Two months ago I'd have told you yes, but not now." Soda paused in thought. "I feel real awful for her, but Scout's right. I got more important people in my life to take care of. Aint that right, Ponyboy?" Soda asked our brother who was sitting next to him on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table.
"Yeah, you're right, and I am exhausted." Ponyboy said as he let his head fall onto Sodapop's shoulder.
"Why don't ya'll get on to bed, and I'll start cleaning up this mess?" Two-Bit suggested.
Soda, Pony, and I all looked at each other and laughed. It must be a pretty special day for Two-Bit to decide to clean a house, but we weren't going to argue.
"I'll stay up and help you." Casey, who was lying on the living room floor, said to Two-Bit.
"Sounds good." Two-Bit stood up from the chair. He began to pick up empty beer bottles and put them into a paper sack with a clink, clink sound.
"Keep it down though," Soda said as he stood up and stretched. "Darry really needs his sleep."
"Will do," Two-Bit said softly and was more delicate in putting the beer bottles into the paper sack.
Ponyboy stood up and offered a hand to Casey to help her off of the floor. She rose to her tired feet to begin helping Two-Bit.
Sodapop pulled me out of the chair and my brothers and I headed off to our bedrooms. After putting on my pajamas, I grabbed my blanket and pillow and hauled them over to Soda and Ponyboy's bedroom.
"Ya'll don't mind if I sleep on the floor in here, do you?" I asked. "I want to be near Ponyboy."
Soda grinned as he climbed in to his bed. "You don't have to sleep on the floor. You can squeeze in here with us on the bed."
"There's not a lot of room." I deduced as I watched Pony pull the covers over himself.
"So, who cares?" Sodapop asked even though he knew the answer. "We'll make room for ya. Get on up here in the middle."
I didn't hesitate in accepting his offer. Smack dab in the middle of my two favorite people sounded alright with me. I threw my blanket over top of Sodapop, and climbed in between my brothers. I nuzzled in under the blanket with Ponyboy, and fluffed my pillow before I laid my head onto it. "This is absolutely perfect!" I said with a sigh.
"Sure is. Stupid judge doesn't know what he's doing trying to keep us apart." Soda said as he wrapped his arm around me." When you grow up and become a judge be sure you're not a dope like Judge Carlson. Okay?"
I smiled. "I'll certainly try. At least I'll try to get to know a family better before I force them apart. Judge Carlson never even cared to try. I bet we could have all stayed together and things would have been okay. Then you wouldn't have had to take care of everything by yourself."
"I did okay." Sodapop said and lifted his head to look at our brother. "Pony, turn the light off and let's get to bed."
Ponyboy frowned at himself for not thinking to turn the light off by himself. He reached up, clicked off the lamp, and got cozy under the covers. The street light outside kept the room dimly lit. "That was some party. Huh?" Ponyboy echoed Soda's comment from earlier.
"I'll say," I answered him, "I never knew so many people cared whether we were together as a family or not."
"Well to be fair, some of them just came for the beer." Sodapop assured us. "Except for Curly Sheppard, he just kept asking me if you were single yet. I never knew that kid had the hots for you."
"Gross!" I laughed as I was packed like a sardine between my brothers. "I'd never consider dating him, not in a million years!" My brothers quickly laughed with me and then a hush fell across the room for a moment before I spoke again. "What do you two think about Kathryn and Darry?"
"What do you mean?" Ponyboy asked, he was never too observant.
"I mean, do you think they'll stay together this time?" I asked.
"Are they even officially together?" Pony asked.
"Soda?" I directed my brother to weigh in with his opinion.
Sodapop took in a deep sigh before speaking. "I don't know, but I do know that she was with him an awful lot at the hospital. Sometimes she cleaned the house or cooked for me. To tell you the truth I think she felt kind of guilty for what happened. With her calling Darry out of the laundry mat and all before James came in."
"It's not her fault. James is just pure evil!" I said
"True, but it's probably hard for her to see it that way." Soda assured me as we all laid in silence with our thoughts.
A moment later Ponyboy turned to his side to face me. He gently pulled at my hair. "Scout, Tell me again why you cut your hair off?"
I turned to look at him. "I didn't really have a reason. I guess I was just looking for a dramatic change in my life because things weren't going so well."
"Well that's pretty dramatic!" Ponyboy said.
"I like it. It really makes you look older," Sodapop added, "more grown up."
"It makes you look a lot more like Sodapop, that's why he likes it. I bet you could grease it back and you'd look more like his twin than mine." Ponyboy joked.
Sodapop fired back, "You're just jealous Mom and Dad gave us all the good looks. Aint that right, Scout."
"Yeah," I said with a sleepy sigh, "I sure do miss them."
"Me too." Ponyboy said.
"Me three." Sodapop said and rolled onto his back.
"You know the weirdest thing?" I asked.
"What's that?" Soda questioned.
"Sometimes I really miss, Dallas. When I was at Ashford dealing with those creepy girls all I wanted was for Dally to come to town and teach them a lesson or two."
Soda looked at me. "Dally wouldn't have ever hit a girl."
"From what I heard you did teach them a lesson." Ponyboy interrupted. "Sodapop told me you cracked one of them right in the nose."
"Yeah, but I swear I heard Dallas in the room egging me on to do it. Sometimes I wish I could be tougher like him."
"Scout, you don't want to be like Dally." Sodapop warned.
"I don't know about that." I said quietly. "I think Dally had an amazing way of never letting anything get to him. That's a talent that helps to keep you safe when you're in a place you don't want to be."
Sodapop propped his body up onto his elbow and looked down at me in the dim light. "Everything got to Dally. He just never had the courage to admit it."
"Soda's right." Pony added.
Sodapop explained himself. "Dallas may have seemed tough on the outside, but everything that hurt Dallas stayed bottled up inside of him till he couldn't handle it anymore.
That's not you, and it's not who you should be."
"You're stronger than Dally would have ever been," Ponyboy told me. "You're the toughest girl I know. You may be even tougher than Darry."
"I don't think she's tougher than Darry." Soda argued in jest.
"Well I don't mean stronger with muscles and stuff, I just mean stronger over all. No matter how bad the situation is we can always count on Scout to pull through."
"That's true," Soda added, "You can whether any storm. You're like a rock."
"I could never be strong with out all of you." I said and then paused in thought before I spoke again. "Ya ever stop to think about where we were a year ago?"
"Yeah, who would have thought those were the good ole days?" Ponyboy asked.
"What'da ya mean?" Sodapop asked.
"A year ago, our biggest problem was Mom and Dad being gone." I said, "and look at us now…"
Ponyboy finished my sentence for me, "…who'da thought it could be worse."
Sodapop laid back down on his back and pulled the blanket up under his chin. "A year ago, I fell in love with Sandy."
"A year ago, Owen didn't even know who I was." I said with a sigh.
"A year ago, we didn't even know who Casey was," Soda remarked.
"A year ago, Johnny and Dallas were still alive." Ponyboy added to the list.
"A year ago, I met James," I said with disappointment.
"I wish a year ago I didn't convince you to go on a date with him," Sodapop said.
"You couldn't have known how it would turn out. You were only trying to help," I consoled my brother so he wouldn't feel blame.
"Do you all wish we could go back to a year ago?" Ponyboy asked.
Sodapop and I answered in unison, "Yes!"
Then I began to doubt my decision. "Well, wait. If I go back a year can I still know what I know today?"
"No, that aint how it works," Ponyboy told me matter of fact.
"Then, no, I wouldn't go back, because I don't want to have to go through everything again," I told him.
Sodapop rolled towards me and asked, "Do you think you would have made all the same choices again?"
I laid on my back and looked at him. "If I didn't know better, I probably would.
Soda laid back on his back and stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah, good point."
"What if we could go back in time and warn ourselves about everything?" Ponyboy suggested.
I looked over at him. "If we could do that I'd go back and warn Mom and Dad about the train."
Ponyboy looked back at me. "Good point."
"What do you think the last year would have been like if they were alive?" I asked, sleepily.
"It would have been real nice." Sodapop said with a yawn.
"Yeah, it sure would have been." Ponyboy said as we all grew quiet and drifted off to sleep.
Someone shook hard at my body, and I heard their voice saying, "Get up, Scout. Come on, you have got to get up."
I opened my eyes to find Owen dressed in a full suit, leaning across Sodapop and looking down at me. "Come on, I need you to join me for brunch today at the Country Club."
Still sleepy I sat up from my cramped space between my brothers. Owen reached across Sodapop and helped me out of the bed. I walked out into the hall with Owen, but I was still a bit disoriented to the task at hand.
"Hurry and get ready. I will go to your room and find you something to wear." I looked at
Owen with a questioning glace, but he prodded me down the hall to the bathroom. "Oh wait!" He commanded, then asked, "Where's your crown from the Winter Formal?"
"On my dresser. Why?"
"Cause you'll want to wear it to the brunch. You go get ready!"
Thoroughly confused I obediently walked through the kitchen and found Darry sitting at the table sipping a cup of coffee.
"Good morning, Darry," I greeted him and then walked over and gave him a quick hug. "Did Owen tell you why he needs me to go to brunch with him?"
"No, he just asked permission to take you."
I nodded my head. I was still confused, but I shuffled off to the bathroom to get ready. In my room Owen had woken Casey and the two of them pulled together an outfit for me, my crown, and my shoes. Then Owen sent Casey into the bathroom to help me get ready and hurry me along.
On the way to the Country Club Owen didn't tell me exactly why he wanted me with him. He did disclose that once a month the club hosts a 'shuffle brunch' where families are randomly paired up with other families to dine with each other. He usually skipped them, but he wanted to be there for this one. He also mentioned that he had me bring my crown along because it is customary at certain Club events for the Winter Formal King and Queen to wear them. I didn't question his customs.
Owen pulled the car up to the valet parking attendants and looked over at me. "Just remember, I love you." Then he leaned over and kissed my cheek.
"I love you too." I answered as the valet parking attendant on my side of the car opened the door for me. I stood up just in time to hear Owen talking to the other valet parking attendant on his side of the car.
"Thanks for everything, Chip. I really appreciate the heads up."
Then Owen spun his Winter Formal crown between his index fingers and placed the crown upon his blond head as he strolled over to greet me. "Are you ready?" He asked as he offered me his arm.
"I have no idea." I said as I felt silly with a crown upon my head in the late morning on a Saturday.
We walked inside and I quickly figured out that before a Shuffle Brunch all of the families meet in the gathering area to mingle with one another. We met up with Owen's parents and little sister, Olivia. As a pack we worked through the crowd. I was amazed as Owen's father greeted other men in a tycoon like fashion being sure to introduce his family and me to everyone we socialized with. Almost every lady commented on how adorable Owen and I were as King and Queen, and quite a few of the ladies recalled their own rein as Winter Formal Queen at the Club, and how they were selected by the King who later became their husband. Hearing that only made me blush when I though about Owen and I and the possible future.
"Good morning!" A voice boomed over the crowd as everyone began to hush. "Thank you to everyone for attending this month's Shuffle Brunch hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Schnauer. We hope you have your shuffle numbers ready because brunch is ready to be served!"
Following the announcement the four sets of ornate wooden double doors swung open and people began to file in to the large banquet hall.
I grabbed Owen's hand and noticed it was sweaty, the way is always was whenever he was nervous. I looked up at him. "Do we have a Shuffle number?"
"My father has it," Owen answered, "It's seventy two."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means we are dining with another family who has the same number."
"Who is that?"
"You never know until you get to the table," Owen said with a smirk, "but I know the guy who helps assign the numbers, and I have it on good authority that we are dinging with a family you will want to impress."
"What?" I said and felt a panic rush over me.
Owen didn't answer me. He led me by the hand through the configuration of large round tables dressed in white linen, with white china, and crystal glassware till we arrived at table seventy two where another family was already waiting for us. I stood dumbfounded as Mr. Jasper greeted the fat, gray haired patriarchal leader of the other family. "Good morning, your Honor!"