One Moment

Forever

"Thank you, Mia." Mrs. Walton said as I walked with her and her husband to the door. "All Easton ever does is praise you. We're so thankful to have finally found someone who can reach him." I smiled as I leaned against the door frame to the small house Dally, Johnny and I were living in, and that I worked out of as the Walton's stood out on the porch.

"I'm just glad I was able to help." I said. "It's always rewarding to get through to kids who need the help."

"Yes, well. We'll definitely be continuing with his counseling sessions until you feel that he is okay without them." Mr. Walton said. "Thank you again, Mia."

"No problem. I'll see y'all later." I waved as they backed out of the driveway and started down the street. I was about to step back into the house when another car pulled up to the curb and Johnny stepped out. He waved as the driver honked the horn and continued down the street.

"Hiya, Mia." He said as he jogged up the steps of the porch and followed me into the house.

"Hey. How was your day?" I asked as he dropped his books on the table before making a dash for the fridge.

"It was good." He said as he took out the milk container and drank straight from it. I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. "We started to do some stuff about how to help kids with reading problems. I got some work to do before supper. I'll see you later." He dashed up the stairs without another word, and I smiled. Nothing made me happier than seeing him so enthusiastic about his life.

After Johnny had woken up in the hospital after his surgery, we had a talk – him, Dally, and me – and we came to the conclusion that he wasn't going back to live with his parents, even though he was going to be able to walk again. We told him about telling the doctor that he was our adoptive son, and I'd seen a light in his eyes at the thought. So the next day I'd gone down to the only adoptive agency in town and talked to a lady about it. She'd been very understanding of the situation, but said it was going to be hard for us to get custody of him because we weren't 18 yet, and we weren't married. So instead of legally adopting him, we just moved him out of his house, and he'd started to stay with Darry.

The hard part had been the court date. I'd nearly worried myself sick with the thought that they would put him in jail, and it took Dally forever to calm me down. The worrying had been for nothing anyway, the judge let the charges drop on account that it was self-defense. Darry also got full custody of Ponyboy and Soda, but for a long time they had a social worker coming by the house once a month to check on them, which made it hard to have Johnny living there.

We also found out who had given the hospital the money for the surgery. It had been the parents of the kids he and Ponyboy had saved in the church fire. They'd been so upset that the guy who saved their kids was dying that they put together as much money as they could and made the effort to save him. We met them the day after the surgery, and I'd told them how thankful I was that they'd been willing to do that, and they'd all smiled and said that it was worth it. They even gave us some money to get a start on paying for the physical therapy he was going to need. For months they did fundraisers to help us pay for it until he didn't need the therapy, and I was still so thankful because we wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

Now, 9 years later, Johnny was better than he'd ever been. He was going to a local college to become some kind of teacher that helped kids who were a little slower to understand what they were learning. He'd said that he didn't want kids to have to go through what he did in school. I was so proud of him for it – him and Dally truthfully.

After everything that happened, Dally straightened out completely – almost anyway. He found a job and didn't end up in jail half as much as he did before the boys ran off, and it was like he became a whole new person. At first it was really strange, he started bringing home chocolate and movies and was always suggesting going out for the night. It took me awhile to get used to it, but I soon found that I enjoyed all the attention.