I quickly jumped up as the phone rang again. Soda was by the fridge and was staring at me with the carton of milk in his hands. He looked so scared. I took a deep breath. I made lists for this. I was fine. It was fine. Everything would be fine. I picked up the phone and answered. "Hello this is Darrel Curtis Jr. speaking."
"Hi Darrel. This is Mary Wilson with Tulsa Social Services. I am just contacting you to set up an initial meeting to talk about the two minors that are currently in your emergency care. Would you be available to come in on Monday to talk about next steps for the children?"
I looked over at both my brothers. Soda was now sitting next to Pony at the table. The cereal quickly forgotten. They were both looking at me with big wide eyes. I wanted to hide all this from them, but I knew that I couldn't. This was their lives we were discussing.
"Yes of course I'm free. When can I come in?" I responded as politely as I could. We scheduled our meeting for Monday afternoon and I got the address of the office. I had a lot of hard things I was going to have to do in the next week, but I had a feeling this meeting was going to be the worst one.
I tried to hide my emotions from my brothers though as I hung up the phone and came back to the table to sit with them. They both kept looking at me with anxious eyes. "So that was the social worker lady. I'm meeting with her on Monday to talk about what's going to happen. I have already made a list of questions, but is there anything else you both want to know?"
Soda latched onto Pony so quick "Darry you can't let them separate us" Pony just buried his head in Soda and I could tell he was crying again. It hurt my heart to see them so scared. We were all in pain and losing a parent is never easy, but I at least didn't have the fear of being taken away from my house and friends and everything I knew.
I slowly nodded and reached out to grab Soda's hand. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you aren't alone. I'm not sure what the options are and have no idea what they are going to say on Monday, but I won't let you both be alone. You hear?" Soda just squeezed my hand all the while squeezing Ponyboy. I couldn't let these two be taken away. How would they survive without each other? How would I survive without them? But what would they say? I was a 20 year old planning on going to college in the fall. What could I possibly do? I decided I just had to shove it to the side and not worry about it until the meeting on Monday. We at least would all be together until then.
I'm not sure how long we sat like that, but we were all shocked apart as the front door was opened. "Good Morning! Mama Curtis I am here for some Saturday morning breakfast!" We all turned to look at Two-Bit pulling off his shoes. Mom had a strict no shoes in the house rule. My stomach dropped. This was it. Pony stood up and ran into his bedroom and slammed the door. Two-Bit stared at us confused. Soda had tears leaking down his face again as he stood up and walked to Pony's room and started to gently knock and then entered. Guess I was on my own for this. That's fair. I could do this.
"What's going on?" Two-Bit asked, looking around. He suddenly looked really anxious like he could feel death in the air. I know I could. I ran my hand through my hair and tried to prepare what I was going to say. Saying it all out loud was going to make it all real and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. "Darry, what's wrong? Why are you home? Sunday is your only day off. Why is everyone all upset?" Two-Bit anxiously asked.
I took a shaky breath as Two-Bit came and sat down by me at the table. Hold it together Darry. You aren't going to cry anymore. Just say it and get it over with. Finally I decided to just rip the bandaid off and the words came tumbling out so quickly I wasn't sure if he could even understand me.
"There was an accident last night. Mom and Dad are gone. We don't know what's going to happen or if they are going to take Soda and Pony away, but they are gone Two. Gone. Just like that. What are we going to do?" and there goes staying strong as tears start falling from my eyes.
Two-Bit was silent. I have known Two-Bit almost my whole life. The Matthews were our closest family friends. I didn't even think about how much his mother would be crushed by this. Our Moms were best friends. We had all grown up together and the Matthews were as close as cousins. Two-Bit as close as a brother. He was silent in this moment though and in the 18 years I had known him I have never seen him silent.
He reached forward and pulled me into a hug. Very un-Greaser like and not at all tuff, but I was losing control and quickly. Tears were flowing down my face now. "Oh my God I am so sorry Darry. I, I just can't believe it. This can't be real" and I felt his tears as well as we embraced. We pulled back after a few minutes and both started wiping at our tear stained cheeks. This made us both give a small laugh. Two tuff Greasers we were. Crying and holding each other.
"What can I do?" Two-Bit finally asked. I looked at him. Here was a boy that was also hurting and he was asking me how he could help? He really was a good buddy to have.
"I'm honestly not sure. I'm not really sure what's going to happen or all that I have to do. I started making a list, but most of it is just waiting on other people." Two-Bit nodded and glanced at the list I had on the table. "Does anyone else know?" was all he asked. I shook my head no.
"Ok I'll round up the guys. I'll let them know. I can at least do that." He stood up and squeezed my shoulder. "I'm so sorry Darry." and he started heading towards the door. As he was walking he looked down the hallway and stared at Pony's bedroom door that was still closed but you could hear muffled sobs through. He glanced back at me, gave a nod, grabbed his shoes and headed outside.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I was grateful I didn't have to tell the rest of the guys. Two-Bit was doing a really big favor and I was so grateful for him at this moment. Telling the rest of them wasn't going to be easy. Two-Bit at least had a mother who loved him that he could fall back on. The rest only had my parents really. I shuddered just thinking about it.
I managed to pull myself up and head back to Pony's room where I gently knocked on the door and then entered the room. Curled up on the bed was Soda with tears streaking his face and Ponyboy curled up in his lap fast asleep. "He fell off just a minute ago," Soda whispered. I nodded and helped shift Pony off of Soda and get him more situated in bed. We left the room and Soda said he just wanted some time alone. I gave him a squeeze and he headed to our bedroom.
I went and sat down on the couch and tried to still go over everything that needed to be done. It was after 9 already and I knew I should be getting a call from the bank and the funeral home still. All I could do was wait for the phone to ring.
The front door opened again and a frantic looking Steve hurried in. "Where is he?" Was all he said in way of greeting. "Bedroom" was all I replied and he took off down the hall. I was grateful that Soda had Steve at that moment. Soda was doing so much to take care of Pony and lighten the mood that I was happy that someone was here for just him.
Steve was a hard one to crack. For the longest time I didn't understand how those two boys were best friends. I remember the first time I met Steve when they were both just first graders. He was and still is the opposite of Soda in every way. Steve is everything Soda isn't. Soda is sunshine and Steve is a stormy day. He is grumpy and likes to pick fights and make trouble. He can be mean and is one of the toughest Greasers I know. Soda on the other hand is happy go lucky. Is a charmer and makes everyone feel loved. He is also the biggest bawl baby I know. And yet these two boys, opposites when looking on the surface, are the best of friends. Thick as thieves. The 'trouble twins' as they are dubbed in school. It wasn't until Steve's Mom left that I finally understood their friendship. I finally saw what Soda always saw in Steve. A boy who had no one but who was the most loyal and strong kid there ever was. At that moment I knew there was no one better to help Soda through this than one Steve Randle. I wish I had my own Steve. Soda probably would come out of all this the best out of us three because he had Steve as his support system and for a moment I was jealous of that, until I realized I was just grateful that there was a chance Soda could still just be Soda.
About an hour passed and none of the boys came out of their rooms. The front door opened again and Two-Bit and Johnny walked in. I could tell right off the bat that Johnny had been crying earlier, but I didn't comment on it.
"Ponyboy is just in his room. He was sleeping earlier, but I'm sure he is awake now if you wanna go see him" I said to Johnny. He just nodded his head and walked down the hallway. Two-Bit came over and sat by me on the couch. "How did it go Two?" I questioned.
He let out a breath "well I ran into Steve on my way out. He rushed over here saying he needed to see Soda. I'm assuming they are back there right now?" He looked down the hallway. "Yeah they have been in there for the past hour. I'm just happy Soda isn't alone." Two-Bit nodded at that. "It took a little longer to find Johnny and Dally. Eventually found them in the lot having a smoke. Broke the news to them and Dally just stood up and said he had somewhere to be. I told him that the only place he had to be was here, but he just shook his head, flicked his smoke away, and walked away. I'm worried about him" I just nodded at that. Dally didn't have any parents that we knew of at least. He either slept at Bucks when he could get a room, or here, or sometimes even at Two-Bits or Tim Shepards, or out in the lot with Johnny. My parents were his parents. Especially Mom. They had some kind of understanding those two. The only person Dally seemed to respect was her.
"He's gonna go do something stupid ain't he?" I asked. Two-Bit just sighed and nodded "yeah probably." We both were quiet for a bit. Finally I broke the silence again. "How did Johnny take it?" I needed to check up on everyone. I hated this, but it wasn't just me and my brothers that would suffer from this. All the boys mattered.
"He was upset obviously. You know he loved your parents. We had a few smokes and then he said he wanted to come over and be here for y'all. So that's what brought us here. It's weird ya know. We are all sad and hurting cuz your parents were our parents as well, but all we want to do is be here for you guys. Steve's got Soda and Johnny has Ponyboy and you are one lucky bastard cuz you get me." he said with a wink.
I actually laughed at that. It felt weird to give a real laugh. It felt wrong to laugh when my parents haven't even been gone for 24 hours, but it relieved some of the pain for a second and I was so grateful to have such good friends and buddies. We could get through this. We weren't alone. We sat in comfortable silence for a bit longer and then Two-Bit asked again "so what now? What's next? What do you gotta do?"
I just shook my head "I don't know really. Still just waiting for the calls. The meeting with the social worker on Monday is my biggest concern. I really don't know what is going to happen with the boys. I'm worried they will be separated."
"They couldn't really do that could they? Don't you have family or something to take 'em?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.
"You know we don't got any family. It was just Mom and Dad. I don't know if they can separate them or not. She said we would talk options. I don't want them to lose everything though, but what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to go to college in the fall. I'm supposed to play football. I'm barely 20 years old. Even if I give all that up to take them, I don't even know if that's allowed or not."
Two-Bit just looked at me in shock unsure what to say. There were no answers really. No perfect solution. "What if my Ma adopted them? They could just still stay here and live like normal and you could still go to school, but my Ma could sign the paperwork." He suggested.
I thought about that, but quickly realized that couldn't work. "I know your Ma would do that for us in a heartbeat, but you know she couldn't. She can barely afford you and your sister and is working all the time. And the boys can't be here alone. Soda can't remember to put shoes on when he leaves the house and Ponyboy gets lost in his own head so much he would forget to feed himself. They both need someone around to help. It's a nice offer, but I don't think it would really work out." I said sadly. It really would be nice if it could, but they are both too young to be on their own. I understand why social services have to get involved because of that reason.
Two-Bit just nodded in understanding. He squeezed my arm and said "well something will work out. I just know it. And we'll all be here to help." I just gave a grateful smile. I could only hope that was true.