THE PARK WAS ABOUT
two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for the little kids.
The pool was empty now in the fall, but the fountain was going merrily.
Tall elm trees made the park shadowy and dark, and it would have been a good hangout, but we preferred our vacant lot, and the Shepard outfit liked the alleys down by the tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids. Nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to relax and cool off.
I couldn't have gotten much cooler without turning into a popsicle. Johnny snapped up his jeans jacket and flipped up the collar.
"Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?"
"You ain't a'woofin'," I said, rubbing my bare arms between drags on my cigarette.
I started to say something about the film of ice developing on the outer edges of the fountain when a sudden blast from a car horn made us both jump, and made m/n stand up from slowly
The blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.
Johnny swore under his breath, and I muttered, "What do they want? This is our territory. What are Socs doing this far east?"
Johnny shook his head. "I don't know. But I bet they're looking for us. We picked up their girls."
"Oh, glory," I said with a groan, "this is all I need to top off a perfect night" I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel. "Want to run for it?"
"It's too late now," Johnny said. "Here they come."
Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were staggering I figured they were reeling pickled.
That scared me.
A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to three and were drunk.
Johnny's hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade.
I wished for that broken bottle. I'd sure show them I could use it if I had to.
Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. We backed against the fountain and the Socs surrounded us.
They smelled so heavily of whiskey and English Leather that I almost choked.
I wished desperately that Darry and Soda would come along hunting for me.
The five of us could handle them easily.
But no one was around, and I knew
Johnny and I were going to have to fight it out alone.
Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face--- you'd have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes. I Followed m/n's lead, staring at the Socs coolly.
Maybe they could scare us to death, but we'd never let them have the satisfaction of knowing it.
It was Randy and Bob and three other Socs, and they recognized us.
I knew Johnny recognized them; he was watching the moonlight glint off Bob's rings with huge eyes.
"Hey, whatta ya know?" Bob said a little unsteadily, "here's the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey, greasers."
"You're outa your territory," Johnny warned in a low voice. "You'd better watch it"
Randy swore at us and they stepped in closes.
Bob was eyeing Johnny. "Nup, pal, yer the ones who'd better watch it. Next time you want a broad, pick up yer own kind--- dirt."
I was getting mad. I was hating them enough to lose my head.
"You know what a greaser is?" Bob asked. "White trash with long hair."
