Chapter 28

Sara was so relieved to see the rows ahead of her. She had finally made it. She didn't realize how tiring the trip out here would be. In a car it seems like it was just a ten minute or fifteen minute drive at the max. But on bike and on foot she felt like she had been at it for more than a couple of hours. She stopped and looked both ways to see if any traffic was coming and when the coast was clear she pushed her bike across the road and enter. She couldn't wait to finally get there and just sit down. As she ventured down the dirt road she wasn't quite sure where she was supposed to turn off. If Darry was here, he would know right where to go. As she pushed ahead a little further she noticed an older gentleman clipping some shrubs at one of the sites. She decided that he looked friendly enough that she would go over and ask for some help. She pushed her wobbling bike over to the gentleman trying to make a little noise, so to not alarm the man, seeing there was no one else around and it was pretty peaceful here today. The man didn't hear or see her approach so when Sara was standing right behind him she cleared her throat some to see if that would get his attention, when it didn't she decided to speak up, "Excuse me, Sir?" The older gentleman did hear this and turned with a startle.

"Oh, my, I didn't hear anyone come up. I'm sorry. What can I do for you Child?" The older gentleman had white hair, with a long white beard and had deep dark blue eyes that were hidden behind some wire rimmed glasses. He wore tan slacks with a green polo shirt that read Myles.

"I'm looking for the Curtis residence." Sara asked boldy.

"The Curtis residence huh? I'm not so sure if I'm familiar with that one. Let me think about it for a moment. It might come to me." Myles stood there and rubbed his chin with his thumb, and after he pondered it for a bit, he came up with it, "Yes, Darrel Curtis Senior, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes. That's it. Do you know where I can find it?" Sara was excited at the thought of being helped.

"Well you just hold on there a minute you little whippersnapper. I'm an old man who needs a rest before I can go showing you where they reside. It's down there a ways. Now, I always like to know who I am helping first though?"

"I'm Sara. Sara Curtis and you're Myles?" Sara was hoping that they could get their meet and greet out of the way so that she could get a move on before Tim gets ahold of one of her brothers and they come looking for her.

"Well nice to meet you Sara. Are you here alone?" The old man asked looking around and not seeing another living soul.

"Yes, I've come for a visit." Sara said dropping her bike to rest her achy arms.

"Oh, I see. And how far have you traveled today?" The old man asked taking a break himself.

"A very long ways." Sara said with exaggeration.

"Well Child, I hope that you have told someone of your where bouts? It's not safe to be traveling without someone knowing." Sara dipped her head to hide her embarrassment, but Myles knew right away. "Oh, I see, are you running away?" He said eyeing her book bag.

"Not exactly, I plan on going back." Sara admitted.

"Alright then, you must be plum tired if you traveled a long ways, why don't you leave your bike and come sit with me for a bite in my truck." Sara was a little hesitant, she had always been taught not to go places with strangers, but there was something about this man that didn't feel so stranger like. He felt like more of a grandpa type, than a stranger. Sara slowly followed the man toward the tailgate of the truck. He picked her up and sat her down and pulled himself up next to her. He pulled out a sack that looked like it had food in it. He offered her a sandwich and Sara shook her head. "Are you sure? If you've come a long way then you're probably hungry. My wife always packs extra, it's really no problem." Myles held out the ham and cheese sandwich and Sara finally gave in and took it from him. The two sat and ate and Sara swung her legs back and forth enjoying the sandwich and the cool breeze that had picked up. "So Sara, what made you decided to kind of run away?" This took Sara by surprise and was suddenly feeling a little shy and was having a hard time finding her words to explain to the old man why she had chosen to run away.

"I'm having a hard time at home." She mumbled.

"Oh, I see. What kind of troubles?" Myles asked holding out a thermos cap full of sweet tea. Sara willingly accepted it and took a big gulp. It was so sweet, and cold. It hit the spot right along with the sandwich.

"Family troubles." Sara still wasn't sure if she could trust this man, so she was being careful with limited information.

"Oh yes, family troubles. Those tend to happen from time to time. Are you not getting along with a certain family member my Dear?"

"Yeah, my brothers. They don't understand me." Sara said while watching the tree branches sway in the breeze.

"I had a brother once, and we were inseparable, best friends actually. I was the youngest of us." The old man spoke with a sad expression on his wrinkled face.

"Me too!" Sara added.

Myles offered Sara a genuine smile and added, "I expected as much."

"Myles, did your brother boss you around and tell you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it? And was he unfair about things?" Myles let out a very soft chuckle.

"Yes he did Child. All the time, but I always knew it was because he was protecting me, watching over me. I was very grateful to have an older brother most of the time." He said giving her a wink.

"Huh." Sara said scrunching her nose and lips up.

"Do your brothers do that to you?" Myles asked lifting an eyebrow.

"All the time, but I'm never grateful for it, actually the opposite." Sara said crossing her arms against her chest.

"I understand." Myles said while passing Sara some chocolate chip cookies. Sara took a couple and plopped them in her mouth. They were the sweetest morsels she has ever had.

"Wow, those are wonderful." Sara could literally feel the chocolate melt in her mouth.

"Yes, my Rebecca sure does have a way with cooking. Here have another one." Sara reached in and grabbed one more and shoved it in her mouth. "So what did your brothers do that was so unfair?" Sara grabbed at the bill of her ball cap and tried pulling it further down so that Myles couldn't read her face, but for some reason that didn't really matter too much with this man. He could still sense that she was trying to hide something. "Did you do something that your brothers didn't agree with?"

"Kind of." Sara snapped.

"Sara, that's not an answer. It's either a yes or a no." Myles said correcting her, but at that very minute he sounded just like Darry and she couldn't help but say so.

"You sound just like my brother! He says that to me all the time when he doesn't like my answer."

"It sounds like your brother is very wise beyond his years." Sara looked up to Myles with a little bit of puzzlement, how did he know this about Darry.

"I guess you could say that." She remark.

"You know Dear, Darry had to grow up a lot faster than any other boy his age has had to. You should really start to appreciate your brother more, Sara. I know that you think he does things to purposely make you angry, but he doesn't. He's trying to do the best he can, and I think you need to start treating him with a little more respect than you have here lately." Sara was stunned. How did this man know so much about her life? She hadn't told him anything except her name. He had even guessed her father's name; she didn't give it to him. "Come, Sara. I'll walk you to the Curtis residence". Myles helped Sara down from the tail gate and packed up the remaining food back into the sack and placed it inside the cab of his truck. The two walked slowly in the direction of the Curtis residence. Once they came up to Sara's bike, Myles bent down and picked it up for her. "So your brother made you angry because he wouldn't let you do something, is that correct?"

"Yes, Sir. I wanted to go to the races with my other brothers and their friends and girlfriends, but Darry said no. He said that I had misbehaved earlier in the day and therefore I couldn't go. He also said that it wouldn't get over until late so that was another reason why he didn't want me to go."

"But you didn't listen to him, did you Child?"

"No, I yelled, and cussed and stomped my feet, trying to get what I wanted."

"So there it is, you weren't being respectful of your older brother? Cussing doesn't seem very lady like to me, especially for a girl of your age. 6 I believe?" There it was again, Sara hadn't told him how old she was. There was something odd about Myles, but Sara just couldn't put finger a on it though. But she was enjoying Myles' company. He had this strange way of twisting around what Sara was complaining about to make it sound like Darry had every right to do what he had done, and Sara almost believed it too.

"I guess. But he wasn't listening to what I wanted." Sara whined as the two walked step for step down the grassy path.

"Oh, but Child he was listening to you, but you weren't listening to him. Have you not been sleeping well at night? Have you not been having nightmares about something? Darry's just worried about you Child. He's trying to help."

"How do you know?" Sara looked at Myles with puzzlement. How on earth does he know so much about her?

"Dark circles around your eyes." He whispered.

"Oh, I forgot about those." She said touching her hand up to her face. "Yeah, I've been having a little trouble with sleeping lately."

"So why do you think your brother didn't really want you to go to the races? Was it because he was being mean, and unfair, or was he looking out for his baby sister and trying to take the best care of her as he knows how." Sara kicked at a clump of grass and let out a huff. She couldn't quite figure it out, but Myles sure did have a great way on how to explain things so she understood them better.

"I never thought about it like before." Sara admitted.

"People never do, Child." The two walked in silence for a few more minutes before Myles came to a stop and placed his hands on Sara's shoulders and turned to look right into her eyes. "Sara, do you know why your brother got so angry with you?"

"Because I was being naughty." Sara was ashamed to admit to Myles that she was bad.

"No, Sara. Darry became angry with you because you scared him. He has pushed his whole life aside to make your life better. He wants only the best for you, and when you started misbehaving he became scared, scared that he can't control you, scared that Mrs. Roberts is going to come take you away. Darry's biggest fear is that of letting your parents down and losing you, Ponyboy, and Sodapop forever. Family means the world to Darry, and you're his responsibility now. You and your brothers are what are left of the Curtis family. So he's going to do everything in his power to make sure that he never loses any of you."

"But he hit me, Myles." Sara couldn't help the tears that were started to roll down her cheeks. The old man whipped out a white hankie and handed it to Sara to wipe her tears away with.

"Yes he did. But he only did so because he didn't know how to get your attention. He didn't know how else to prove to you that he loves you. That he needs you to understand that you can't behave like that, or else he could lose you. Don't you see Child; he did it because he cares."

"That's a funny way to show it." Sara said wiping at the tears that were coming fast and furious.

Myles let out a small chuckle, "Yes, I'm sure that might seem like it now. But Sara, please try to understand that when Darrel says no, or tells you to do something, it's not because he's being unfair, or that he doesn't love you, it because he does love you and he's there to protect you and he will always be there, good or bad." Sara stood there letting everything sink in that Myles was telling her. When Sara looked like she understood and had calm down some, Myles gently turned her shoulders and pointed, "Now, I think you have arrived to your destination. I hope that you have a nice visit. But Sara, don't stay to long, for it will be getting dark here soon." Sara took a good look at the stone in front of her. Indeed Myles had brought her to her parents. Sara still didn't understand where and how Myles knew her brother's names, she had never told him. Myles started to walk away when Sara called out to him.

"Myles?" He slowly turned and faced Sara with a smile on his face.

"Yes, Child?"

"How did you know my brother's names? I never told you."

"Child I have ears, I hear things, I listen to everyone. No one ever knows I'm here, but I am, and I know things that no others do. Remember don't stay long. It's going to be dark here before we know it."

"Myles, you didn't finish telling me about your brother? Where is his?"

"Right here Child. Right here." Myles waved and continued walking back toward his truck. Sara couldn't see the truck from where she was standing with her parents, but she watched him until he disappear behind the knoll. Once Myles was out of sight Sara turned towards her parent's grave. She had come all this way, so now was time to do what she came here to do.

"Hi ya, Momma and Dadda, it's me, Sara, I've come to visit. I picked you some flowers Momma, but I lost them on the road, I'm sorry. I would of been here sooner, but I ran into Myles. Do you know Myles? Because he seems to know us. He showed me where to find you. He's a very nice man. I'm sorry I forgot where you were. But anyway, I came to see you because I needed you something awfully. Do you know that I turned 6 this week? I had a pretty good day, but it wasn't the same without you. Darry, Soda and Pony and the gang tried to make it a good day, but it just wasn't the same. Darry and Dally got in a fight first thing in the morning; I think it was about me. Then Darry burnt the pancakes and it was just awful. But it got better after that. Mrs. Roberts came to visit yesterday. It went ok until she brought you up Momma. I think she wants to get me a new Momma, she says she doesn't but I don't believe her. I hollered at her and that upset Darry. Oh, Momma, Darry's so mad at me. He hit me on my bottom really hard, three times, and I think he would of done more but Soda stopped him. I'm really scared of being there with him now and I probably made things worse by coming here, but I just had too. I know that if I would of asked, no one would of brought me to see you. So please don't be mad at me too. Dadda, if it's not too much to ask could you talk to Darry? He listens to you. You're about the only person that he listens to, you and Soda, sometimes. He never listens to me or Ponyboy. Can you show him how to handle things, because he just doesn't know how too. He doesn't understand and he yells, a lot. Things have been plain awful at home lately. I came to ask you if you would please come back home? We need you now more than ever. We need the family back the way it used to be. I know that it's a lot to ask for, but we tried, and it's just not working. So I'm gonna sit right here and wait for you to answer me. I hope you don't mind but it was a long trip from our house to here and I'm really tired. So I'm gonna rest here with Mr. Bear and when you're ready to give me an answer I'll be right here waiting. Please tell me you will come back home and make everything better again." Sara opened her book bag and grabbed Mr. Bear and took him out. She grabbed her book bag and laid her head down on it. She tried to get comfortable, but it was kind of hard. The sun was starting to go down, and the breeze had kicked up some, but she knew she had a few more hours before it started to get dark. She let the warmth of the sun shine warm her on her face and slowly closed her eyes. As her eyes were closing she swore that she saw angels dancing around her, but then again it could of just been her dreaming sweet dreams.