Chapter Text
It was my birthday and I was 17. Darry and Soda threw me a combination birthday/graduation party. We were gathered in the back yard on a hot day in late July and Darry had the grill going, the radio was cranked up, set in the window, blaring.
“Come on baby, light my fire…!”
We sure had a lot of people packed into the yard. Two-Bit, his girlfriend Kathy, Mrs. Mathews, his little sister, Steve, Evie, Annie, Darry’s girlfriend, Sara, Soda’s new girl, Ryan, Ruby, Rosa, Manny. And Wills. Even a couple of long-time neighbors came over for a bit.
Since Steve had sold the coupe, so many people had come to the DX asking if Steve could help them with the work on their cars, that Ed, the owner, asked Steve to open a body shop with him. He rented a garage and hung up a shingle. Soda went over there too, dropping both the DX and stable job to work there full time, leaving me his car so I could drive to the stables. I missed working with Soda, but it wasn't so bad as Manny had let Rosa replace him. He only let her work with him or with me, protective of her as ever.
It seemed like things were looking up for all of us. Darry was just about finished with his degree in business at the local junior college and managed the roofing company for his boss. Two-Bit was working full time which was something I’d never thought I’d see happen. I was going to go to college. Everything had changed, and it was good.
Not for Manny though. He complained good naturedly about losing his stable hands since I’d be done when classes started.
Two-Bit and Ryan were hitting the body punching bag that hung under the eaves. Annie was helping setting out paper plates, bowls of potato salad and chips and watermelon. Two ice-boxes sat beneath, filled with beers and Cokes. Steve and Soda sat at one of the tables set up, playing cards. Wills came over and asked if he could play the next hand.
Steve gave him one of his dirty looks. “You think I’m an idiot?”
Wills looked innocent. “I know you’ve got three aces.”
Soda groaned and threw his hand down.
Soda looked at Wills and said “You’ve got to teach me your tricks, kid. You’re a wonder.”
“Not in a million years, Soda,” warned Darry from the grill.
“Could come in handy,” Steve said.
Darry rolled his eyes. “Don’t you ever learn?” Soda just grinned.
“So, Tulsa U?” asked Manny?
“Yep. For now, anyway.” I said. I had considered some other universities, but the State social worker had informed us that wasn’t an option.
“You have been a remarkable family. You’ve worked hard to stay together,” Mrs. Powell had told us, late in the spring, after I’d won a full academic scholarship and had an athletic scholarship on top of it. “But I’m afraid that going to another university would be out of the question, unless Ponyboy has a legal guardian or relative in the same location of whatever University he attends. You can always transfer when you turn 18,” she informed us.
“I’m glad,” Rosa had told me. “I’m not ready for you to leave.”
A warm feeling had come over me when she’d told me that. So, Tulsa University it was.
Even Tim and Curly Shepard stopped by for an hour or so. Curly came over and sat at the picnic table with us. He was checking Rosa out. I knew I didn’t have to worry about that, but I still wanted to slap Curly upside the head. Curly picked up the notebook that was laying on the table. It was full of notes, poems, thoughts and pictures that I had drawn. I watched amused, knowing that Curly wouldn’t get a thing out of my thoughts and scribbles. He stopped on one page though, looking at it carefully.
“What’s this?” he asked, looking at me with a crooked grin.
I grinned back. “What does it look like it is?”
It was too late now to hide it. It was the picture I drawn of Tim and Darry, drinking coffee in our kitchen with a shotgun leaning up behind them. I’d captured their likeness pretty well. They were recognizably themselves.
“That’s Tim and that's Darry,” said Curly, looking closely at the picture. He inspected the word bubbles above their picture heads.
Tim’s said : “I’m looking to get a new puppy. You know where I can get one?”
Darry’s character was saying “No, but I got a Pony you can have.”
Curly chuckled then laughed out loud. People nearby turned to look. Rosa giggled. “Real funny, Curtis. Real funny.”
He dropped the notebook back down on the picnic table and pulled out a cigarette.
“So, you graduated,” he said. Curly hadn't gotten that far. His frequent stints in reformatory and general lack of interest had clinched that. He had dropped out, and there wasn't much at this point that the State could do with him.
“Yep.” I said.
Curly laughed again and got up from the table. “Well, happy birthday,” he said. “You and me, we’ve had some good times," he added.
“Yeah,” I said, “We have.”
Wills went over to the body punching bag where Steve and Two-Bit were shoving at it each other hard, dodging and ducking and punching. Steve pushed it at Wills, who fell right over onto his back from the impact.
Steve rolled his eyes and Two-Bit yelped with laughter. But Steve pulled Wills up by his arm and showed him how to stand and showed him how to take the bag when it came at him and how to move his body. Wills was ridiculously excited.
“This is great!” he said. “You know, I don’t have nearly as many problems with guys jumping me at school. People don’t mess with me now. I have the toughest guy at school for a buddy now.”
Steve nearly busted up laughing at this, but instead pushed the bag at Wills, who was caught off guard once again. I dropped my head into my hand and shook it. Two-Bit howled, and went around the front of the house to laugh, out of sight of Wills. I appreciated that. Wills was a funny kid, but he was no greaser. Curly was looking at Wills like he was an insect or something. He looked over at me, skeptical.
“He a friend of yours?”
I hesitated a moment. Wills was…well, Wills was Wills, and while he was an odd duck and no greaser, he had his own charms. I had to admire him in a way. He was a survivor like we all were here.
“Yeah.” I said. “He’s a friend.”
Curly gave me a doubtful look but didn’t say anything more.
Two-Bit appeared with a huge, galvanized tin tub, filled with water balloons and chucked one right at my head, soaking me from head to toe. Rosa burst into laughter and dived for the balloons. Curly stepped back fast, unable it seemed to drop the tough hood facade and just get silly. And then it was on. It turned out Rosa was the champion balloon thrower, braining Steve and then Darry in lightning quick succession and then ducking behind the picnic table. Ruby joined her giggling and lobbed a few. Two-Bit got Wills right in the chest. Wills was a bit slow on the uptake, but quickly joined in. It felt great; it was a hot day in late July in Tulsa.
The water balloon supply exhausted, Darry called me over to give me my birthday gift. A lot of my family and friends had given me with presents. He took a towel and mopped off the picnic table.
Darry had given me college supplies, books, pens, pencils and notebooks. Soda had given me some new shirts to start the new year off and Two-Bit had given me some new pants to go with them. It turned out college had different dress expectations than just high school. Getting used to this new wardrobe was going to take some time.
Rosa added to the wallet she had made for me last year on my birthday, by adding a complimentary accessory, a handmade leather belt. She put her arm in mine and leaned her head on my shoulder.
Steve gave me something too. He stepped up to me and put it in my hands. It was Dally’s old jacket. “Here, kid. I know you’ve been missing it. It’s been sitting in my car. Maybe Soda can tell you that story.”
I reached out to take the coat. The leather was soft and also cracking from age. The burn scar on the back was pulling the leather way from the fabric lining. But it felt good to hold it in my hands again. It had hurt not knowing how I’d lost it. I saw my own blood, now stained to a maroon black, staining the collar.
I took a deep breath. "Thanks, Steve, this is a great present.” I meant it. Steve nodded. We had never spoken of what happened or what had been said or felt since that day at the DX the day after the race, but I felt like we understood each other better now.
Manny grinned and said, “So going on the race circuit isn’t in the cards?” He really wanted me to race for him now that Soda had given it up.
I laughed and shook my head. "We'll see. I might need some spending money!"
“I hope so. It would be such a shame,” he said, shaking his head, acting very sad.
At that moment the mailman came up to the fence, surveying the spectacle before him. He waved a package and announced. “Special delivery for Ponyboy Curtis.”
He handed me the package. I took it from his hand and looked at the return address. It was my publishing agent. This was it. Darry and Soda, Steve and Two-Bit pressed close to see as I ripped the paper off the package and revealed what was inside. It had taken two and a half long years, but it was a reality. My book had been published. I looked at the hardback copy in my hands. Grey and red, with black lettering.
“The Outsiders, by PM Curtis”, it read.
I had a sense of wonder holding it my hand. It had been one thing to work with my agent, the publishers, the editors, working towards this, but it had always seemed unreal somehow. Like it would never really happen. And I’d never have had accomplished it without my friends and family, standing with me all these years.
Beth had been the one. The one to see it was real story. Because of Beth, it had gone beyond my wildest dream. Here it was, a reality. I’d be enrolling in college already a published author. A writer.
Soda dragged me out of my seat and hugged me hard. Darry reached around him and squeezed me too. Two-Bit whooped and held up the copy for all to see. Steve clapped me on the back. Everyone was clapping and I felt the blood rushing to my face. I knew that I could never had done this without any of them.
“Wow,” said Wills, looking all around as he does.
Steve rolled his eyes from his position behind Wills. Wills was nothing like any of us, but he’d stuck around. He had his moments and we all threw up our hands at him from time to time, but he was a good kid under all that goofiness. And smart. Real smart. And I was proud that no one had gone out of their way to be mean to Wills even though I know they thought he was silly and a little embarrassing. I felt proud of everyone.
Two-Bit stuck a beer into my hand. I took a sip, but I didn’t feel like I needed it. “You did it, kid. You’re really something.”
“I’d never have thought it,” said Steve, serious. “But I’m impressed.”
I saw someone standing at the front gate, looking in. I stood up to see. It was Wyatt. I had had tracked him down at the fairgrounds where the rodeo was and invited him over. I didn’t really think he would make it, but he had. He looked a little awkward and shy, standing at the gate. Not his usual look.
I thought, what an odd assortment of friends I’ve got. I had the gang. I had two brothers who loved me more than anything and would do anything for me. And I would do anything for them. And the same for any of the gang. And I knew that they’d always stand by me. I had a goofy geek who couldn’t stay away and wanted to hang out with us.
I didn’t care about what anyone said. I didn’t care if people wanted to put Wills down, because if they did, they weren’t going to do it around us. I didn’t care if Wyatt was the son of a local racketeer and people didn’t like him for it. I didn’t care if people didn’t like the color of my girlfriend’s skin, or if my friends were what they considered hoods. I knew better. We were family. And thinking about it, I realized, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I held up my beer. “To Johnny and Dallas,” I said. I wished Johnny and Dally could have been here today. My heart ached, even among the fun and happy times.
Everyone held up their drinks and echoed me.
**
The party was over. The dishes had been brought in and stacked. The trash picked up and stowed away in the can. People were heading out. I took the gifts inside and put them on my bed.
Lastly, I picked up Dally’s jacket. I held it in my hand, feeling the leather and remembering when Dally had given it to me that freezing cold night, years ago. I held it up to smell it but any scent of Dallas had long since gone. I supposed it smelled like me now, but I wouldn’t know it. I had worn it as an emblem of pride for a boy that society didn’t remember, who’s grave we’d never found. It was summer now and there was no need to wear it. I walked to the closet and hung it up inside, next to the shirts Soda had given me. I stood there, holding the sleeve like I was holding onto Dally, hearing Soda and Steve arguing about something in the living room. I could hear Darry running the sink in the kitchen. Two-Bit turning the television up. I stood there alone, holding it for a long time, until I finally dropped the sleeve and closed the closet door, and went out to be with my family.