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."