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.