Chapter 8 - The Silence Before The Rumble

We went to see Johnny today. It was hard to see him. He looked like he was in such pain. He had burns everywhere on his body and a large bandage on his back. He had to be placed looking down so his back didn't have a lot of stress though. You wouldn't have thought he was in so much pain to talk to him. He still had his same ol' sense of humour and talked like a greaser. He fought through the pain and I knew he was just trying to act tuff for Two-Bit and I. He didn't have to talk; I didn't want him to talk. I just wanted him to rest and get better and than everything will be better again. While we were talking to him, he mentioned that he wanted another copy of Gone With The Wind to read. I told you he really liked that book. I told Two-Bit to go pick him up a copy from the drug store. While he was gone, Johnny told me that he didn't want to die. He said he was too young and hadn't done enough with his life. You know, our trip to Windrixville was the only time he'd been away from the neighbourhood. A nurse came in and told us the Johnny's ma was here to see him. The nerve of her! How dare she want to she Johnny as she pretends to care when actually she treats him like 'another piece of hood filth'. The nerve of her...



We went to see Dally next. He was arguing with a nurse when he came in (what a surprise) and was very glad to see us. "They don't let me smoke in here! I want out!", I remember him saying. He talked to us about the rumble. He asked for Two-Bit beautiful black handled switch blade. It was his pride and joy. He reluctantly handed it over. "We're gonna get even with those Socs tonight," he said with fire in his eyes. "We're gonna win that rumble; for Johnny!!!"



When we were waiting to hop on the bus to get back home, Two-Bit started talking out of the blue. I remember him saying the fact that the only thing that kept Darry from being a Soc was us. I knew this was true. He was too smart to be a greaser. If he had gone to college, he would have left us all behind and turned into a madras jacket wearing, corvette driving Soc. No, he wouldn't. He just wouldn't be a greaser. He would be a normal guy - like both Socs and greasers want to be. As we were walking past the vacant lot, we saw Cherry sitting in her Stingray. "Hey boys," she said. He asked her about the Socs. She told us that they were gonna play our rules. It was a skin rumble. That was good. There would be no way I would be allowed if it was blades or chains anything else. But no one got hurt in a skin rumble. We were walking away when Cherry called me back. She told me that Randy wasn't going to show up at the rumble. I knew; Randy had told me. Cherry told me he was sick of fighting, something I also already knew. She asked about Johnny. I told her that he was OK and told her to go see him. It was the least she could do. It was her boyfriend that started all this. In an extent, it was all her fault! If she hadn't ditched Bob and Randy that night, none of this would've happened. But, it was also our fault. If we hadn't gone to the Nightly Doubled and picked up Cherry and Marcia, none of this would've happened. Maybe it was nobody's fault. Maybe we all knew that one day this would happen. That one day someone would take their discrimination too far...

I got angry at her now. I don't know why. I knew it wasn't her fault. I just needed to vent my anger. I was walking away again when I saw she was crying. I hate when a girl cries. She told me that she wasn't giving us charity. She wanted to help. She said I was a nice kid and nice kids are very rare these days. I asked her about the sunset; could you see it real good from the west side? She was startled for a second but then smiled. "Real good PonyBoy, real good."

Chapter 7 - Back To Normal; For Now

Now, the reporters showed up. I have never seen so many people interested in us. We rarely see anyone interested in us. Soda kept them entertained though. They became more interested in his crazy antics then Johnny, Dally and I. We once even tried to lift a gun off a police man. He was furious but couldn't keep from cracking up because Soda had such a big smile on his face. After a while, Soda got bored and fell asleep in Darry's lap. This is when the reporters left. It was real quiet after they were gone. The nurses wouldn't tell us anything about Dally and Johnny so we got a hold of the doctor. He gave it to us straight - Dally would be in the hospital for a few more weeks because he had severe burns on his left arms but Johnny was a different matter. He had busted his back and if he (NO! Don't say if! He'll be fine!)... WHEN he recovers he won't be able to walk again. I felt like crying. Everything was happening too fast! A month ago, the most exciting thing that would happen around here with us greasers would be Soda's green pancakes. Now, that would be a jiffy compared to what was happening now. Fires, injuries, even death. It was all too much...



When I got back to our house I was overcame with drowsiness. I didn't even take my shoes of before I passed out. I woke first this morning. I walked downstairs for some chow when Two-Bit and Steve came. They were so glad to see me. The ran at me as soon as they saw me and sent two uncooked eggs across the room into the clock. When Darry woke up. I told him about the dream I had last night. I had it a lot. It was about mom and dad dying. The dreams wouldn't go away so that is why Soda slept with me. They started to go away but it happened often enough that Darry brought me to a doctor. Steve left when Soda and Darry had to go to work and Two-Bit stayed to look after me. Darry knew I didn't need a babysitter; I had been alone a lot. But he worried about me in the condition I was in. I was let out of the hospital but was still not 100% I had been taking about 4 aspirins a day when Darry thought I was only taken one. I hope it'll help.



Two-Bit and I got bored so we took a walk. We stopped at the Tasty Freeze for a couple of Cokes and saw that a blue mustang had been tailing us for a few blocks. They stopped and that one stuck-up Soc who was there the night Bob died was there. Randy was his name. Being clear about the 'no jazz before the rumble' rule, I decided to talk to him. I founded out that Randy was just a normal guy. He wasn't going to show up at the rumble. he was sick of all the fighting. His best friend died a week ago and rumble was only another opportunity for something like this to happen again.

Chapter 6 - Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes

Woah, we thought that we were already past the excitement of our lives. But we were wrong. On our way back to the church, Johnny professed that he was gonna turn himself in. I understood but Dally went ballistic. It was the first time I ever saw him care about someone. I knew Johnny was his pet; there was no doubt about it. But when Johnny said he was going to turn himself in, it was as if Dally failed. I remembered he said "You can't go to jail Johnny Cake, you just can't. People get hardened in jail. I don't want that to happen to you. Like it happened to me..." Johnny had his reasons though. He had no previous record with the fuzz and he fought back in self-defense. Cherry also said she'd testify for him. The word of a Soc was worth much more than the word of a greaser so this was a very good thing. Also, he didn't want to stay on the run with me all his life. He was guilty of keeping me up there. As I said, Johnny had his reasons.

Oh glory, wait until you hear what happens next. As we were going back to the old dump of a church we saw it was on fire! There were a group of tykes around it along with some adults. I bailed out of the car, with Johnny on my heels, before Dally could stop us. One of the blokes watching the building, our hideout, collapse told us that they were having a picnic when the church caught fire. What a weird place for a picnic! Then, I realized something. It was probably our cigarettes that started the fire! From the depths of the church we heard a scream. Some of the children were stuck inside! The bloke (Jerry Wood was his name) tried to stop me but I wiggled out of his grip and climbed through a window. I suddenly realized that Johnny was behind me this whole time. What a good friend. We travelled through the smoke and found them in the backroom of the church. The funny thing was that I wasn't scared. I wasn't afraid that I was going to die or that I would be hurt or anything. I felt completely normal; better than normal. I had a grin on my face the whole time. We handed the kids out through the window. Luckily we saved them all. There was no time to spare though. I jumped out of the church and from out of nowhere, Dally hit me in the back! I fell unconscious.

I woke up to the sound of sirens. Oh no, I thought. it's the fuzz. They've got us in a jam sandwich and we're going to the cop shop. I focused my eyes on the man infront of me. It was that Wood guy. He told me that I was in an ambulance and that we were going to a hospital. I told him about us; the fact that we were greaser and he seemed confused. I guessed prejudice doesn't exist everyone. Or maybe they have a different form of prejudice. Anyways, he said that were sent from heaven or professional heroes or something. This made it all worth while. I asked about Johnny and Dally. Then he got quiet. He told me that Dally would be OK; he had only got a burn on his arm. He would spend a couple of weeks in the hospital but he'll come out good as new. Johnny was a different matter. He had suffered severe burns in addition to a piece of burning timber falling and breaking his back. This news went through my heart like a knife. I knew there was nothing I could do, so I fell back asleep.

I waited in the waiting room of the hospital for anything report about how Dally and Johnny were. Jerry came up to me after awhile and said, "There are some people wanting to see you, they claim to be your brothers or something." I ran to the door and Soda was standing there with open arms. Darry was behind him. I let go of Soda and stared at Darry. His hard, grey eyes were taking on a new emotion. An emotion I had only seen when we were at mom and dad's funeral. He was crying. I ran up to him and gave him a great hug. We were a family again and we were going home. To stay.

Chapter 5 - Hiding From The Truth

I woke up and was afraid. I've never been so far from home, especially without Sodapop or Darry. I started to think about them - about what I would usually do on a Saturday. Soda would be drinking a glass of chocolate milk and Darry would be sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. I'd jump on Soda and we'd get into a fight; all for fun of course. We'd go outside after a slice of chocolate cake each and play a game of football... I zoned back into reality as Johnny returned with supplies. He then posed the statement. The statement we had been delaying though we knew would be something we'd have to face. "We're gonna cut our hair," Johnny said. I was appaled. "No! Not my hair!" I yelled so that it echoed throughout the hilly mountainside. My hair was my pride and joy... The key word now being WAS. For the remainder of our stay at the church we wasted time by smoking and reading 'Gone With The Wind'. I was almost up to a pack a day. I paid the price though and had a horrible stomach ache part way through the week. Man, there was one sunset that was really good. The mist was all gold and silver. I also told Johnny about the poem, I've probably talked about it in a post before. I don't think he'd ever heard a poem before. Johnny was really into 'Gone With The Wind'. He loved how the characters were so brave and had so many adventures. I think it reminded him of what he wanted to be. This couldn't happen now though. He would be labelled as a bad person forever now. All because of last night...

The first day of the second week Dally arrived. I'd never been so happy to see the son of a gun. He brought a letter from Sodapop. That page of writing didn't seem like just words and punctuation (well, limited punctuation at that because Soda was so bad with conventions) but it seemed like Soda sending me love. Even in this grave situation he managed to light up the scene. For the first time in what seemed like forever, we walked out of the church into the looming sun. Dally brought us in Buck's car to Dairy Queen. I chugged a Pepsi and dug into a barbeque sandwich. It was so good compared to bologna. Oh ya, I forgot to mention it? All Johnny brought for food was a couple of chocolate bars and bologna. Bologna.... Dally also told us the Cherry was spying for us. I've had enough of her pity. She's got everything and complains about her stupid little problems. Why is it so hard for us greasers?

Chapter 4 - The Deed Is Done

I can't believe Johnny did it.... He did it.... I know it was in self-defense but I can't believe he REALLY did it... JohnnyBoy and I were just blowin' some steam and smokin' a weed down by the park when those Socs came by. They were so drunk you could smell the alcohol from where we were. We thought of running but they had surrounded us. It was no use - we were trapped. I kept thinking - this must be a dream. No, a nightmare. The image of Johnny curled up and bleeding in that vacant lot kept coming to my head. I couldn't let that happen to Johnny again. I just couldn't. The moonlight glinted off of Bob's many rings and you could see his fist clench in anger. When the Socs came up they started yelling insults, though they were barely recognizable through their stumbles. They came closer and cornered us by the fountain. I kept thinking, "This is it. This is the end. I can't believe this is the end..." I started to freak out. I was thinking of whatever I could do to get out of this. I could run - but there were too many of them. So, I spit at them. Now they were really mad. Before I knew it, my head was stuck into the fountain. I fought against his grip on my hair but the more I struggled the faster I drowned. Suddenly, it all went quiet. From the corner of my eye I saw blood diffusing into the water. I lifted my head from the fountain but, instead of gasping for air, I just stared. I remember Johnny saying "I did it. I killed him." These words rang through my head. A pool of blood was starting to form around Bob, who was motionless on the pavement. After the shock, we started thinking. We didn't have much time. By morning the fuzz would be on our trail and, from the filthy word of the other Socs, they would thinking we were murdering lunatics. We had to get out of here. We needed money. We needed a weapon. We needed a plan.

We went to Buck Merril's, this drunk who was a friend of Dally's. We told him to get Dally. That ol' tool went and brought us who we wanted. Dally limbed over. He had busted a couple of ribs when he got int a fight with Tim Shepard and was just lying down. Dally was the perfect person to go to. He had enough experience with the law that is seemed like he already had a planned laid out for us. He gave a wad of cash, a heater and clear instructions on how to an old church where we could hide out for a week or so. He looked proud that Johny had killed that Soc. Can you believe it?! I knew Dallas was cold hearted and thought only of himself but how can he take pride in taking a human life? It was just unthinkable. I know I shouldn't be talking about him like this when he just helped us get away from the fuzz but it really was a shock to me. I guess I can't blame him though. He's had a tough life.

He hopped on a train to Windrixville and I asked an old farmer how to get to the church. Luckily, he didn't ask too many questions when I served out a cool lie to the man. I'm really good at lying; probably because I read so much and know how real men play it cool. We got to the church and I quickly am typing up this diary. I'm ready to drop like a stone. I...