Chapter 13

Pony was already feeling tensed from his injuries but now that Darry had brought up a possible whooping for running off to the rumble he was feeling even more tensed. Darry and Pony had locked eyes through the rear view mirror, and in a way Pony kinda thought he probably should have some kind of punishment, but he also felt that his injuries from the rumble might be able to cover for receiving another one from Darry. But as the boys continue to watch each other, Pony noticed a slight smile tug at Darry's lips. "I think Pony might be feeling enough pain so a whooping won't be needed. But once we get home and get settled we'll be talking about lost privileges, like no movies for two weeks and a few other things." Before Darry took his eyes off of the rear view mirror he saw Pony let out a big sigh.

"Dar, it's starting to get dark, can we stop for something to eat? I'm starving." Sodapop said after hearing his stomach grumble for food.

"Sure, there's a Dairy Queen right off of the highway up here in Chandler. You two hungry? Pony?" Darry was waiting for an answer from the two youngest Curtis siblings.

"You bet." Sara chimed in.

"I think I could eat a sandwich, or two." When Pony added the two, the Curtis siblings all started laughing. Darry drove off the highway and headed into the town of Chandler. There they pulled into the local Dairy Queen and a pretty little waitress came over to take their order. The place was hopping that was sure for a Saturday night. Sodapop's head just kept swiveling back and forth at all the pretty girls walking by. Since they were in the country all the girls were decent types than the girls around their neighborhood. Darry had to slap at Sodapop a few times to get him to stop his little comments that weren't meant for Sara's ears.

"Sara, why don't you get out and use the bathroom before we leave. I don't want to make any more stops. We can probably make it home by 8:00 if we get a move on." Darry was opening his door to let Sara out. She slide over the benchseat of Steve's car and got out Darry's side. Sara just stood there waiting. "Go, Sara." Darry said waving his hands towards the restroom inside the building.

"By myself?" Sara asked with a touch of hesitancy in her voice.

"We'll be right here waiting. I can see the door through the window." Darry tried to reassure her.

"No, I can't." Sara cried out to Darry.

"Jesus, Sara. Just hurry up and go. We are right here watching." Darry was losing his patience with her. Soda could tell Sara wasn't gonna budge so he spoke up.

"I've gotta take a leak, I'll bring her in, Dar." Sodapop jumped out of his door and by the time he had the door shut Sara was right by his side grabbing at his hand. He flashed her a movie star grin and took ahold of her hand and led her inside the Dairy Queen. Soda stopped in front of the ladies room, but Sara didn't let go of his hand. "Go on in. I'll be waiting right here for you." Soda released his hand from hers and gave her a slight tap on the bottom to get her moving into the restroom, but Sara just froze. "Sara, Darry is waiting for us. Now get in there and go. I'll be right here." Soda raised his voice some and had moved his hands across his chest to show her he was getting a little annoyed.

"But…" Sara started to say before Soda was all over her again.

"No but's! Get in there or else I'm sending you back out to the car and you'll have to wait until we get back home. I'll be waiting right here." Soda demanded. Sara couldn't help herself and her hands went straight to her hips and she pouted out her lower lip and yelled straight at Soda.

"You said that last time, and you weren't right there!" Sara turned away from the restroom and ran right back out to the car. As she approached she didn't even attempt to get back in the front with Darry, instead she flung open the door to the back and crawled in and slammed her door shut. This got a little reaction from both Darry and Pony.

"What's that all about?" Darry asked looking over his shoulder towards Sara who was just looking out the window.

"Nothing." Sara snorted out a reply to Darry.

"Where's Soda?" Darry asked turning back towards the front, but Sara didn't say anything. Just as Darry was going to ask her again he caught a glimpse of Soda coming around the corner. As Soda approached the car he noticed that Sara had moved to the backseat. He opened his door and couldn't resist but warn Sara that she was going to regret the decision she had just made.

"Sara, Darry isn't going to stop. We're heading straight home. You should of gone." Soda slammed his door shut.

"What?" Darry turned again to look at Sara. "You didn't use the bathroom?" Darry had a scowl look on his face. Sara just shook her head no. "Why not?" He demanded. "Didn't I tell you to go in there and use the bathroom? What has gotten into you today? I swear sometimes you drive me to drink." Darry was just staring at Sara waiting for a logical answer from her.

Sara couldn't help herself she just ended up screaming, "I don't need to go!"

"Hey, we just talked about this tone of yours. You don't get to talk like that to me. You want to try that again, before I come back there and make you regret it?" Darry's ice eyes were now blazing with anger. Sara knew that she better try it again.

In an almost inaudible voice she said, "Sorry Darry." Darry just looked at her and turned to look at Soda for some help of what just happened but Soda just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Darry took one more look back at Sara who was clearly avoiding his eyes and just kept looking out at the parking lot of the Dairy Queen. Darry shook his own head and turned the key for the engine to start.

"Home it is." Darry said placing the car in reverse and started backing out. As Darry was pulling back onto the highway to head towards Tulsa he noticed that Sara still hadn't said anything to anyone. What had gotten into her all of a sudden? She seemed fine while they were eating; something had to happen inside with Soda. The Oklahoma sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon and the half crescent moon was now starting to rise up into the sky. Darry had flipped on the headlights and couldn't wait to see the city limits signs for Tulsa. They were about an hour away from home.

"Do you guys think the house will still be standing when we get home?" Pony's voice traveled from the backseat.

"It better be." Darry huffed.

"I bet everyone will be there when we get home though." Soda added to the conversation. "Dar, they probably emptied out our refrigerator." Soda said with a chuckle, but everyone in the car knew that it was also probably true.

"They better have not touched the beer. I'll skin each and every one of them."

"Darry I hate to tell you this, but Two-Bit and Dally probably had any beer that you had left gone by noontime." Soda said slapping Darry on the arm.

"Do you think a beer would help numb the pain I'm feeling right now?" Pony asked the boys sitting up front.

"Don't even think about it there, little buddy." Darry shot back.

"I'm just asking if it would, it's not like I'm gonna try it or anything." Pony tried to quickly cover his tracks with Darry.

"Nah Pon. You need something strong like whiskey or bourbon to help with that kind of pain, right Dar?" Soda was now just trying to get Darry going and it work too.

"Alright you too, enough talk about this topic of conversation. Pony, when you get home you're taking a shower, two aspirin and hitting the sack. That might help, but you can forget about the other things, you hear me?" Darry stated in his stern voice. They drove the next 20 or 30 miles having small talk on how Soda was coming on his car, and how Pony was looking forward to school coming to an end and starting his new job at the bowling alley. After about 30 minutes Soda turned around to see what was keeping Sara so quiet, for he hadn't heard a word from her since Darry scolded her for yelling at him in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen.

"How long has she been asleep?" Soda asked Pony.

"I don't know, for a while now. I can't believe that she fell asleep like that. She sure does sleep in the weirdest positions. I pity the fool that ever marries her one day." Pony let out a light hearted chuckle. This had now gotten Darry's attention and he took a quick look over his right shoulder to see what Pony was talking about. There curled up in a ball, her knees pulled into her chest, her feet tucked under her bottom and her head resting on the arm rest of the door did look extremely uncomfortable. Darry would have to try to remember not to slam on the breaks for she would literally go flying into the back of their seat.

"I pity the fool too. It's going to have to be someone with a helluva lot of patience that's for sure." Darry said agreeing with Pony's statement. The boys shared a chuckle all trying to envisioning Sara married.

"I can't even picture her all grown and married. But I do wish sometimes that she was older. It would have saved us a lot of worry today. And the whole display at Dairy Queen wouldn't have happened either. If she was older she could have gone in there all by herself." Soda was now surfing through the stations trying to find something other than the Beatles or Hank Williams playing.

"Would you just leave it on one station?" Darry slapped Soda's hand away from the knob. "Jeez, Soda, you're worse than Sara sometimes, I swear."

"Well, Darry it must run in the genes or something." Darry reached over and slapped the back of Sodapop's head lightly.

"Yeah, it must. Now I know where she's getting it from, you smartass. And here I was thinking she was picking it up from Dally or Two-Bit." Darry gave Soda one of his I gotcha smirks.

"Nah, its Dally and Two-bit." Soda said jokingly.

"Seriously though, Soda, what did go on inside the Dairy Queen?" Darry's tone had now turned from kidding around to seriousness.

"I think she got scared." Soda said shortly.

"Scared of what?" Darry sounded intrigued.

"Of going to the bathroom."

"Going to the bathroom?" Pony piped in from the backseat.

"She didn't trust me that I would wait for her." Soda said with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"Oh, Sodapop. Because of earlier?" Darry was getting a better understanding of what went down inside the DQ.

"I don't get it?" Pony questioned from the backseat.

"Darry I told her at least 5 times that I would wait for her but she just lost it. She just started screaming at me, like she did to you."

"I think her nerves are shot after the day she's experienced. It'll be interesting to see how the next few days play out with her. Hopefully with her birthday on Thursday she will focus on that instead of what happened today. But it does make me a little uneasy knowing that she reacted like that just because of the bathroom." Darry knew that this could come back to haunt them, but hopefully not.

"It could be a long week then huh?" Soda wasn't really asking Darry's opinion more than he was just stating it as a matter of fact.

Darry was so relieved when he approached the Welcome to Tulsa sign. "We're almost home, guys. Pony, try to wake your sister up." Darry asked turning off of their exit.

"Great, make me the bad guy. You'll owe me one Dar." Pony stated while reaching over to his little sister.

"Yeah, ok, right Pony. I'm pretty sure you'll owe me a lot more for a while here, don't you?" Darry was saying while watching Pony through the rear view mirror. Pony didn't have a comeback for that one but instead started to shake Sara awake. At first Sara kinda of just swatted at Pony's hand to get him to stop, but it was just enough anyways to arise Sara from her sleep. Sara rubbed at her eyes and sat up from the position that she had been sleeping in.

"Are we home?" She asked in a sleepy voice.

"Almost, Kiddo. Just about 10 minutes away. The scenery must be looking familiar though, huh?" Darry said over his shoulder towards the back.

"No, it's all dark." Sara said while all three boys laughed at her.

"Don't laugh at me!" Sara demanded.

"Someone's awfully cranky, isn't she? Pony you should have waited to wake he up until we got to the DX." Soda said rolling his window up.

"Is that what we're calling it these days, cranky?" Pony said in a hushed voice.

"Leave her alone you two." Darry warned as he was approaching their neighborhood. The Curtis all started squirming around inside the car. All of them couldn't wait to get out. As Darry approached their house he was surprised to see the truck still parked in the same place as it was when they left this morning. Just as was suspected the house was lit up and they could hear noise coming from inside of it. Darry pulled Steve's car up to the front of the gate and Sodapop was practically out of the car before Darry had it in park. Darry had opened Pony's door knowing he would need a little help getting inside the house. Pony was wincing as he was trying to pull himself up from the seat. Darry having enough of watching him suffer took ahold of his elbow and helped him get out the rest of the way. Darry helped him to the gate and then noticed that Sara was not following behind them. "Go on in and get in the shower Pony. I'll be right in." Darry turned back to the car and stuck his head in through Pony's door. "Sara, come on. You need to gather your stuff up and bring it in." Darry started gathering up all their stuff and Pony's bag. Sara was slowly moving but Darry was relieved to see that he didn't need to keep prompting her to get out. Sara climbed across the backseat with her bag, blanket, pillow and Mr. Bear. Darry was standing by the door getting ready to shut it as she slowly got out. "That's a girl." He praised her for getting all her stuff. Darry shut the door and followed behind Sara up the path and up the stairs to the door. As Sara was climbing the stairs her blanket got caught under her foot and she stumbled forward. "I gotcha." Darry said while juggling some of the bags in his hands but managing to catch Sara before she did a face plant onto the front porch.

"Thanks." Sara's voice was barely heard from all the noise coming from inside of the Curtis'. When Darry opened the screen door the scene was just as he had imagined it would be. Dally and Steve where sprawled out on their couch with at least a half of dozen beer bottles lining the coffee table. Two- Bit was occupying Darry's chair with a few beer bottles down on the floor at his feet, while Johnny was leaning up against the wall in front of the windows. Sodapop was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Steve already filling them in on the day's events.

"Hey Dar, Hey Little Curtis!" Two-Bit shouted at them as they walked in.

"What the hell guys? Didn't I warn you about this house? You've best be cleaning this place up." Darry was noticing the playing cards that were strewn all over the floor and empty Twinkie wrappers and potato chip bags thrown onto all of the end tables.

"Well hello to you too, Darry. Glad to see that you missed us too." Dally remarked from the couch.

"You heard me, clean this place up. We've had a helluva day. I'm not about to be your maid." Darry pushed pass Sara to go set Pony's bag down in the boys room.

"Little Curtis, how was your first trip to the big city?" Dally called over to Sara who was trying to balance all of her belongings.

"Awful! I never want to go back to that city again!" Sara was slowly losing grip on her things so she dropped he bag by the door and headed with her blanket, pillow and Mr. Bear towards her room.

"Well, o.k. then." Dally turned back to the conversation that Soda was having with Steve.

"What? Broken ribs? What an idiot. You wasted the whole day when his ass should've been home. What a moron." Steve of course was saying exactly what he was thinking.

"Who has broken ribs?" Dally asked with a surprise look on his face.

"Ponyboy, that's who. " Steve snorted.

"Stupid kid." Dally said reaching for his half empty beer off the coffee table.

"So did he end up running?" Johnny asked getting up from the floor and starting to pick up the trash around the living room.

"Yeah, he ran one race and came in 4th overall. But it was the second race that just did him in. The trainer pulled him from competition." Soda tried to explain to the boys.

"Then why the hell are you guys just now getting back?" Dally managed to get out before letting out a loud burp.

"Well, we had a little mishap." Soda leaned forward to make sure that Sara was out of ear shot.

"Nothing happened to Old Bessie did there?" Steve started to get up to check out the window and make sure his car was in one piece still.

"Gosh, I kinda of wished it was Old Bessie, but no she's fine, it's was the other girl." Soda was trying to be careful just in case Sara was lingering around somewhere.

"What other girl?" Two-Bit asked joining Johnny on the clean-up duty.

"Sara, you doofus." Soda had now slipped onto the couch from where Steve had just gotten up from.

"What happened with Sara?" Johnny had stopped to ask Soda.

"Is that why she said she never wants to go back to the big city?" Two-Bit asked while catching an empty bottle that Dally was now tossing him.

"I guess getting lost could constitute for an awful time." Soda said sliding over towards Dally so Steve could sit back down.

"What?" Dally hollered out. "She got lost? How the hell did that happen?"

"Yeah, she was using the ladies room and she and I missed each other and she got lost. We searched for almost three hours before I found her in the parking lot. She had gone back to the car." Soda explained to the group of boys that all had their eyes on him.

"Holy shit, man. She musta of been scared off her ass." Dally said with some seriousness to his tone.

"Yeah, I think she was, and still might be." Soda said letting out a deep breath before taking a swig for the beer that Steve had just handed him.