Chapter 9
Darry pulled into the huge complex of the high school that was hosting this year's Oklahoma State Track and Field Meet. Darry couldn't believe the amount of buses and cars that had filled the parking lot. He had to drive many aisles down before finding a spot to park. Once he had the car parked he turned to everyone in the car. "Ok, we're here. The first thing we need to do is for Ponyboy to get checked in, then we'll have to find his coach, and then we'll find a place in the stands." Darry was picking up the bag of food and snacks to bring in with them. "Are you ready?" He was directing the question towards Pony.
"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Pony was reaching down for his track bag.
"Ok, then, let's get in there." Soda and Sara were quick to jump out of the car while Pony was still struggling to get out the door.
"Need a hand there Pony?" Darry was waiting for Pony by his door.
"Nope, I've got it." Pony said shutting the door behind him. The four walked through the parking lot and towards the entrance, when Darry approached the attendant at the gate he stopped Darry and Pony.
"Are you a participant?" The man asked.
"Yes." Darry answered for Pony.
"What school?" The man had a file of papers on his table.
This time Darry let Pony answer for himself. "Will Rogers High School, Tulsa." Pony said looking down at the papers the man was shuffling through.
"And you are?" The man seemed to have found the page.
"Ponyboy Curtis, Sir." The man looked up from his paper and gave Pony an odd look, but didn't say anything about his name.
Sodapop was standing holding Sara's hand and watching the man and Pony, as he was about to say something to Darry about what the problem was he felt Sara tugging on his shirt, he turned and looked over, "What?" he said down to Sara.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Sara whined.
"Of course you do." Soda said was sarcasm in his voice.
"Oh, here you are, Ponyboy Curtis, Will Rogers High School, Tulsa." The man was handing Ponyboy his number that he would be wearing and then stamped his hand with a red star. "Are you his family?" The man turned to Darry.
"Yes we are." Darry said stepping a little closer to Ponyboy.
"There's no fee for families of the athletes, but we'll still need to stamp your hands. Can I see your hand?" Darry thrust his hand forward and the man placed a green circle on Darry's hand. "Sodapop, Sara, come over here and get your hand stamped." Soda let go of Sara's hand and moved forward so the man could stamp it. "Sara, come over here." Darry scolded. Sara quickly moved closer to the man and let him place a green stamp on it.
"Darry, I have to go to the bathroom." Sara tried to get Darry's attention.
"Yeah, just a minute, Sara." Darry was trying to listen to the man who was giving Ponyboy instruction on where his first event would begin and a rough time of that event, but Sara was now tugging at Darry's shirt.
"Darry, I can't hold it any longer!" Sara's voice rose so that the man could hear her as well.
"Sir, the bathrooms are in by the concessions stands, down towards the middle of the stadium. There is another set at the far end as well." Ponyboy was picking up his bag and had his number in hand and was started to head towards the stadium.
"Thank you." Darry said to the man and started following Pony. "Sara we need to get Pony to his designated spot, and then we'll find a bathroom for you." Darry was trudging along after Pony. "Pony, do you know where you're going?" Darry couldn't believe the amount of people that were here; he had never been to this type of event before and was really surprised with the turn out. Darry was trying to keep up the best he could with Pony's long strides. "Ponyboy, slow down, would you." Darry called out after Pony. Pony finally stopped and could see that Darry was 20 feet behind him and that Soda was dragging Sara along even further back.
"I just want to get out there, Dar." Pony said
"I know you do, Kiddo, but we need to stay together. I had no idea there was going to be this many people here." Darry turned around to see where Sodapop and Sara were at. He noticed that Soda was trying to pull Sara through the crowds of people.
Sodapop and Sara had finally made their way through the crowd and caught up to Darry and Pony. "Jeez, Pony, you going to a fire or something?" Soda gently pouched Pony's shoulder.
"Nah, I'm just antsy, that's all." Pony was a little embarrassed admitting that he was feeling a little uneasy about this now.
"Ah, you're gonna do fine, Pon." Soda threw his arm around Pony and gave him a slight hug. While Darry and Sodapop were trying to calm Pony down some Sara was looking around at all the people and the noises and the lines of concession stands that were all starting to send off their amazing smell of French fries, and popcorn and hotdogs and hamburgers. As Sara's eyes wandered from concession to concession they landed on a sign that read RESTROOMS, ahhh, Sara though, just what she needed. She looked back over to her three brothers who were talking to Pony and she knew if she asked them to go they would tell her to wait, so she started to turn and walk towards them anyways. She was just about to the entrance when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"What are you doing?" The force on her arm made her swing around and there stood Darry with a frown on his face. "Sara, this is a big place with lots of people, you can't just go walking off by yourself. You need to have one of us with you. What if we didn't see you walk over here?" Darry was now pulling her away from the entrance.
"Darry, I can't wait any longer, I need to go." Sara was shaking herself loose from Darry's grip.
"Fine, go. But next time tell us first." Darry let her go. "I'll wait right here, hurry up." Sara quickly went in and did what she needed.
"That was a close one, Dar. Thank goodness Pony noticed her walking away. Otherwise she could've just walked off without us noticing. This probably wasn't a good idea to let her come with us. We're going to have to watch her like a hawk with all these people. I feel like we are at a carnival or something, minus the rides and weird people." Soda was watching as people of all kinds were walking by.
"I know." Darry huffed. Sara thought that she was being quick and came darting out into the crowd of people but Sodapop caught her by the shirt.
"Hold on there, little lady." Sara was stopped by the force of Soda pulling on the back of her shirt.
"You moved from where you were standing." Sara said wiping her wet hands off on her shorts.
"Yeah, but you shouldn't be charging off like that. From now on, you're holding one of our hands, got it?" Darry reached down for Sara's tiny hand and placed it into his big calloused one. "Ok Pony, let's get you to, where again?" Darry glanced down at the paper that was in Pony's hand.
"Section G" Pony said handing the paper for Darry to look at.
"That's right over here." Sodapop was looking at one of the signs that were pointing to the entrance of the grand stands. "F-J, this way." Soda started to head in the direction with Pony following.
"Don't let go of my hand." Darry warned Sara as he started tugging her to follow along.
"I'm thirsty, Darry. Can we get a cola?" Sara was looking back at the concession stands.
"Not now. Maybe later." Darry continued to pull her along.
"I'm hungry too." Sara added.
"You're going to drive me nuts, you know that." Sara could sense the aggravation that was starting to form in Darry's voice. "Didn't I tell you to eat at the diner? I knew that this would happen. I have snacks in the bag, when we find our seats you can have something from that." Darry said while continuing to follow Pony.
"But I want a hot dog and french fries." Sara continued complaining.
"Too bad. I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips. If you're good maybe I'll treat you to some cotton candy or something, but you have to be good. And by good, I mean this whining and taking off without us is going to stop." Darry finally slowed down to look back at her to make sure she was listening. Sara just looked up at her brother with her big blue eyes.
"I got it." She softly said back to Darry.
"Good, now let's keep up with Pony and Soda." As they walked up the tunnel ramp they enter the grand stands that looked down onto the track that surrounded a football field. There were athletes all over the place all dressed in their school uniforms, Sara thought it was like looking at a rainbow. There were so many different colors, reds, blues, yellows, greens, golds,purples,oranges everywhere you looked. Through all the people and colors Ponyboy was able to spot his coach and Randy Anderson.
"Darry, over there." Pony said pointing to his coach and Randy. Darry pushed his way through the crowd saying "excuse me, pardon me" every so often trying to get to Pony's coach and Randy. "Coach Taylor." Pony called out to get his attention. His coach turned and smiled at Darry and Pony.
"I was starting to get nervous Curtis. What are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Coach Taylor was holding out his hand towards Darry. "Darry." He said shaking hands with him. "You survived the ride I see." Coach Taylor smiled down at Sara.
"Barely." Darry said sharing a laugh with Coach Taylor.
"Why don't you go find a seat Darry, and I'll take Pony off of your hands and start getting him stretched out." As Pony was moving his way down the stairs towards the track Coach Taylor grabbed a hold of his shirt. "Ponyboy, how did you get that bruise on your face?" Pony's face instantly turned a crimson red with embarrassment.
"Ummm, I kinda of got into a disagreement with another guy." Pony could hear Randy chuckling behind his coach.
"I sure hope you won. Are you hurt anywhere else, Son?" Coach was looking Pony over pretty good now.
"No, Sir. I'm fine." Pony was lying through his teeth.
"Glad to hear it. Let's get you and Randy stretched out then." Coach Taylor put his hand on Pony's back and was leading him over to the infield to start stretching and doing some warm up.
Darry had found some seats high up in the bleachers so that he could see the whole track.
"Could we've gotten any further away, Dar?" Soda asked plopping himself down on the hard bleachers.
"I want to be able to see him. From up here we'll be able to see him around the whole track. I didn't travel all this way to see other people's backs, Soda." Darry said settling down on the bleachers.
"So what do we do now?" Soda asked being dead serious.
"You're kidding, right?" Darry crocked his eyebrow up at his brother.
"Darry, you know this stuff isn't my type of thing. I hate waiting around." Soda was now standing back up swaying from side to side.
"Hate to tell you this little buddy, but it's going to be awhile before Pony's first event is up. Go take a walk or something if you're bored."
"Can I go too?" Sara looked up at Soda hoping he would say "yes".
"Soda?" Darry looked over towards him with pleading eyes.
"Sure. But you've gotta hold my hand the whole time." Soda warned Sara.
"I will." Sara jumped out of her seat with joy, for she didn't really want to be sitting here the whole time waiting with Darry.
Soda started descending down the stairs with Sara hopping right behind him. Soda had made it down the first flight of bleacher when he heard Darry hollering his name.
"Sodapop!" Soda stopped and looked up to where Darry was still sitting.
"What?" He hollered back.
"Make sure you watch her." Darry motioned down towards Sara whose little legs were trying to catch up to her big brother.
"I got it, Dar. Stop worrying." Soda replied while shaking his head at Darry. Once Sara had caught up to Soda he continued down the rest of the bleachers to the ground. When Sara had reached the bottom Soda grabbed her hand. "Where to?" Soda looked around.
"I don't know, where ever, I guess." Sara was willing to go explore anywhere her big brother wanted to. Soda pulled her back towards the tunnel that led to the bathrooms and the concession stands. The two fought their way through the crowds and retraced their steps back to where they had entered. Soda was leading the way around the stands. "Let's head down this way." Sara followed without any hesitation. Soda had led her to the very end of the grand stands where they could see the area that the high jump and pole vault events were taking place. The two stood there for a few minutes watching the kids practice for their events.
"How do they do that?" Sara asked looking on in amazement. "Can Pony do that stuff?" Sara asked with wide eyes.
"I don't think so." Soda let out a laugh at his baby sister's comment.
"I wanna try it." Sara let go of Sodapop's hand and moved closer to the stairs that descended down to the field.
"Oh, no you don't." Soda said grabbing her arm, stopping her from going any further. "Remember what Darry said. Hold my hand and stay with me."
"I just want to get a closer look, Sodapop." Sara said tilting her head to the side.
"You do that again, and I'll take you back and you'll have to sit with Darry the rest of the time. Is that what you want?" Soda was being firm with Sara.
"No." Sara quickly grabbed his hand to hold onto. "I'm sorry, Soda. I won't do it again. I promise."
"Good, now let's go see what else we can find, huh?" Soda said with mischief dancing in his eyes.
"Ok." Sara agreed willingly. Soda led Sara back down through the stands and into the area of the concessions; the smell coming from there was absolutely driving Sara's stomach crazy. She should have listened to Darry and eaten all of her pancakes back at the diner.
"Can I have your attention please?" And announcer had come over the PA system. "We're getting ready to start our opening ceremonies. I encourage everyone to return to their seats and we'll begin in a few minutes."
"We've better get back. We can come back again in a little bit." Soda told Sara as they headed back to section G. Once they had gotten back the announcer was back on the PA system
"Welcome to the 1965 Oklahoma State Track and Field Competition. Would you please rise for the singing of our national anthem performed by the choir from Walker Ridge High School." Darry nudged Sara to stand. Sara slowly got to her feet and listened to the national anthem. After it was over everyone applauded for the choir and the announcer came back onto the PA system. "Would you please bow your head for the reading of the Lord's prayer being led by Deacon Dennis from St. Gregory's Church here in Oklahoma City." Sara noticed that the people down in front of her were grabbing each other's hands to hold, but Darry nor Soda reached for her hand, so Sara reached for theirs and to her surprise both boys took ahold of them. After the reading the announcer had another thing to say. "Please continue to bow your heads for a list of local Vietnam Dead." Darry let go of Sara's hand and continued to bow his head as the announcer read through a list of names that meant nothing to Sara.
"What are they doing? Are these names of athletes?" Sara asked with curiosity.
"Hush." Darry spoke in a low tone. Sara looked around and she noticed that there were some women around her crying along with some teenage girls a few rows down.
"Soda, why are they crying?" Sara curiosity was getting the best of her.
"Sara, stop talking." Darry warned.
"What?" Sara mouthed to Sodapop, but Soda just shook his head at her. Sara was to young to understand what was happening half way across the world and Darry and Soda wanted to keep it that way.
"Now, for the event you all have been waiting for. We'll start with the shorter distant races first and then will move our way through. If you are here to see a field event they will be happening simultaneously with the running events. Please remember to stay off the infield and track area." The crowd erupted with a cheer.
"Is Pony running yet?" Sara asked sitting back down in between Darry and Sodapop.
"Not yet. We'll have to wait at least a few races before we even get to his first event. His first event will be the 800 meter. We'll have to go through the 100, 200, 400 before the 800 begins." Darry was trying to explain it to both Soda and Sara.
"I'm hungry, Dar. What do we have to eat?" Soda had picked up the brown paper bag that Darry had brought in with them.
"There's some chips, apples, bananas, peanuts. Save the sandwiches for later though."
"Can I have an apple?" Sara asked holding out her hand. Soda dug through the bag and handed Sara an apple and grabbed one for himself. The three Curtis' stayed there and watched a couple of races. Soda and Sara were picking random people to route for during the races that Ponyboy wasn't in. Darry was just shaking his head at the two.
"Soda, how come there's no pink uniform? There's every color in the rainbow but no pink." This caused both Darry and Sodapop to start laughing hysterically at Sara's question.
"Pink isn't a very good school color there, squirt." Soda laughed again.
"I like pink. I think it would make a very good school color." Sara was trying to defend her statement about pink being a school color.
"I don't think boys would appreciate it too much." Darry added.
"But that boy is wearing purple and he doesn't seem to mind." Sara pointed to a runner who had just finished the race. She didn't understand the difference between pink and purple. The boys still continued to chuckle at her.
Sara did a good job sitting there picking runners and routing for them while they waited for Pony's events. During the 400 meter race Pony was able to come over to where the Curtis Family was sitting.
"Hey guys." Pony said as he reached the top of the bleachers.
"Hey Pony, are you ready?" Darry asked standing up and stretching some.
"I think so. I feel good. The waiting is killing me though. I just want to get going." Pony's eyes darted between Darry and his coach who was standing at the bottom of the bleachers.
"You're telling me." Sodapop said under his breath.
"Sorry it's taking so long, but just think if I don't win anything, we can head out right after the 1600 meter." Pony was trying to make Sodapop feel better about the waiting around.
"Well, then we better get used to the waiting. Because we'll need to stay for the award ceremonies, now won't we." Soda faked pouched Pony in the arm. Pony just flashed a smile back at him.
"We'll see." Pony said looking back down at his coach.
"Curtis! Let's go!" Coach Taylor was hollering from the bottom of the stands towards the Curtis Family.
"I gotta go." Pony said getting ready to leave. Sara jumped up from where she was sitting and ran over and grabbed a hold of Pony's waist. "What's this for?" Pony looked down at her.
"To wish you luck." Sara said letting go. "And cause we'll still love ya, no matter if you win or not." This caused another round of chuckles, even from Pony.
"Well, that is reassuring that you'll still love me even if I lose." Pony ruffled Sara's head and started down the stairs. Darry moved Sara aside and passed by her to stop Pony.
"Pony, wait." Darry took a hold of his shoulder. "Seriously, we are proud of you for making it this far. Just do your best out there. We'll be here cheering you on!" Pony smiled at Darry and Darry gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.
"Curtis, get a move on!" Coach Taylor hollered again.
"Gotta go, Dar. I'll see you after the race."
"Go get them, Tiger." Darry said with a huge grin on his face as he watch his younger brother go and compete in the 800 meter Oklahoma State Meet, he couldn't feel any more proud.
"I'm getting so nervous." Soda said standing and pacing back and forth.
"Soda, it's going to be ok." Darry watched his brother pacing the bleachers.
"Look!" Sara said pointing towards the track. Pony was getting ready to head towards the starting line.
"Lane 1, Thomas Brady from Moore High School, Oklahoma City. Lane 2, Aaron Dobson from Clinton High School, Clinton. Lane 3, Julian Edelman from Jay High School, Jay. Lane 4, Steven Ridley from Hollis High School, Hollis. Lane 5, Sebastian Vollmer from Turner High School, Burenyville. Lane 6, Daniel Connolly from New Castle High School, Newcastle. Lane 7, Vince Wilfork from Bethel High School, Shawnee. Lane 8, Ponyboy Curtis, from Will Rogers High School, Tulsa."
"Go Pony!" Soda yelled once his name was read by the announcer. By now all three Curtis members were all standing. The sound of the gun sounded and the race began. "Go, Pony!" Soda continued to holler, even though Pony probably couldn't hear him. They watched the runners turn the corner, and noticed that Pony was struggling some.
"He's not in front." Sara said while watching the race.
"He's just building his momentum up, that's all. Don't worry." Darry tried to convince Sara that it was alright. The Curtis Family continued to cheer Pony on but watched in horror, for Pony was falling further and further behind the pack.
"Dar, I don't think he's going to make it." Soda had stopped cheering and was just standing there watching his brother trying to keep up in the pack.
"No, just wait, he's moving up a bit." As the Curtis' watch, Pony had seemed to pick up some steam and he was now moving back up into 5th place. The group was rounding the track again and they just sat there watching as Pony was slowly making a move back up to the front again. Sodapop continued to cheer for Pony.
"Go Pony!" Soda nudged Sara to get her to join him.
"You can do it!" Sara yelled to her brother. They watched as Pony stayed in a steady pace and made another lap around the track.
"See, I told you, he was just waiting to make his move." Darry reassured his siblings. The group was now on the final stretch of the track when Pony seemed to put the wheels on and had now moved into third. Soda and Sara were screaming and jumping up and down on the loud steal bleachers. People were starting to look at them for they were making them shake quite a bit. The group was coming towards the finish line when Pony had crossed and it looked like he took fourth in the heat. There was another 800 meter heat after Pony's and the top three times would place. Pony was walking around and cooling down while Sodapop flew down the stadium stairs to congratulate his brother, Sara was right on his heels.
"Wait for me Soda." Sara was crying out after Soda. Once Soda was at the bottom he could hear Sara and stopped and waited for her. The two walked down towards the stairs leading to the track and waited with some other folks for the boys to come back around from their cool down.
"Pony!" Soda was waving towards Pony to get his attention, by this time Darry had also join them to congratulate Pony. Pony slowly walked over and Soda engulfed Pony in a hug.
"That was great! You did so good. You had me worried for a minute there." Soda was still all over Pony.
"Nice race there, Pony." Darry slapped him playfully on the back.
"Thanks. I kind of lost it towards the end, but we'll have to see what the times are after this race. I'll know if I placed or not once this race is over. That was a tough heat I was in." Pony was trying to catch his breath. "I'm going to grab some water and stretch out some more. There isn't much time in between this race and next."
"Ok, we'll be cheering you on for the 1600." Darry said motioning for Sara and Soda to move on back to the bleachers.
"Hey, Dar, I need to move around some. I'll be back." Soda said moving towards the tunnel.
"Can I come? I have to use the bathroom again." Sara was moving away from Darry and closer to Soda in hopes he would say "yes".
"Can you take her this time?" Soda looked back at Darry.
"You're going, so just take her." Darry wanted to watch the next heat to see if Pony had any competition in it.
"Come along Sara." Soda was starting to walk away from them.
"Soda, watch her. It's getting real busy around here now that it's getting close to lunch time." Darry had noticed the people coming in and out of the tunnel with food and drinks. "When you guys get back we can eat the sandwiches that I packed." Soda just nodded towards Darry and continued to move with Sara tagging along behind him. They walked together to the concession stands were the bathrooms were located, of course there was a long line for the women's room, but Soda didn't really want to take her in the men's room so he told her to go stand in line. He waited with her until he couldn't go any further. "I'll be waiting over here for you, and Soda pointed to the wall over by the concession stands.
"Ok. I'll be right out." Sara let go of Soda's hand and disappeared inside of the women's bathroom. Soda was started to get thirsty and he looked over to the line at the concession stand and decided that he would go wait in line and grab a Pepsi and some fries, that would be a special treat for Sara who was doing a good job waiting around for Pony's races to be over. As he walked over to the stand he kept his eyes on the women's bathroom, for he didn't want to miss Sara when she came out. The concession stand was close enough so that he could holler to her if he needed to. As Soda got up to the counter there was a pretty girl with red hair and green eyes that started flirting with Sodapop, as the two were exchanging pleasantries, Soda had dropped his wallet. As he was picking it up from the ground he took his eyes off of the bathroom for just a split second, but that's all it took was that split second. For in that moment a large group of high school kids came crowding around the concession stand and were standing in a large group waiting for their friends who had joined the line. But in that same quick second that Sodapop had taken his eyes off of the bathroom, and the crowd of kids had moved in, Sara had exited the bathroom. She turned to the spot that Sodapop told her that he would be in, but she didn't see him there. She moved closer to the spot but all she noticed was a crowd of big kids standing around in a group by the concession stand. Where did he go she thought? Sara started to get a little scared for the place was starting to fill up fast with people. She had remembered hearing Darry tell this to Sodapop. Sara didn't know what to do. As she was scanning the area her first thought was to go and try to find Darry. So instead of staying put in the spot Soda had told her to meet him, she started moving in the direction that she thought Darry was at. Before Sara knew it she had walked at least 100 feet away from the bathroom and concession stands and was way out of sight of where Sodapop had told her he would be. By the time Soda had paid for his Pepsi and fries he moved back to the spot he told Sara to meet him at. He waited there for at least 5 minutes and no Sara, and he was starting to get nervous. He waited another minute, until finally he moved over to the entrance of the women's bathroom.
"Excuse me?" Soda said to an older lady that was at the front of the line. "My sister went in there at least 10 minutes ago; can you do me a favor and see if she's still in there? Her name is Sara and she is about this high with auburn hair hanging down to her shoulders with blue eyes. She's 5 years old, so she might be having a hard time reaching the sink or something."
"I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know when I come back out. And you are?" The lady was making sure Soda wasn't up to any good.
"I'm her brother Sodapop Curtis, her name is Sara Curtis." The lady just nodded not sure if she seemed to believe his name or not.
"Ok, I'll let you know." Soda stepped back and was still holding his Pepsi and french fries. He was hoping that Sara was just having trouble with the sink like at the diner. He waited another few minutes until the lady came back out, she had a puzzled look on her face, Soda ran over to her. "Is she ok?"
"Son, I don't know how to tell you this, but there is no little girl in there. I checked and waited for all the stalls to empty, but there is no little girl that fits your description."
"She has to be in there. I watched her walk in." Soda's heart started racing, she just had to be in there.