Fast Cars and Freedom

Chapter 17- Funny How Time Slips Away

Fast Cars And Freedom

Chapter Seventeen: Funny How Time Slips Away

Soda and I never broke up again. We dated for almost three more years in which we acted, according to Dallas, "like lovesick puppies." It was okay, though, because we were equally crazy about each other.

I worried about the boys a lot once Soda, Steve, Two-Bit, Dallas, and Darry were all over eighteen. I feared that it was only a matter of time before odds caught up to us and one of the gang was drafted, but the boys weren't worried at all.

It seemed that the Vietnam War draft was plaguing the east side of Tulsa, while the west side had only the occasional loss. It wasn't long before nearly every street in our neighborhood had at least one house with an American flag in their window, the signal of another family member lost.

It took them a while, but Steve and Evie finally appeared to have gotten their relationship figured out. On his eighteenth birthday Steve casually mentioned to the gang that Evie was going to have a baby. He tried not to make it sound like a big deal, but I could tell he was excited.

Steve was the first to get a letter. He showed it to us one day when he popped in at the Curtis house, again trying not to make it sound like a big deal. This time, I couldn't tell whether he truthfully wasn't scared, or if he was just pretending.

Evie sobbed when we saw him off. I cried too, but tried not to show it. I think Ponyboy wanted to cry. Soda waited until we got home.

Once Steve was gone, Soda was blue for a while, but we were able to carry on. I made sure to write Steve a lot of letters, and I got Soda to send some too. I think Two-Bit tried to write Steve a letter as well, but it ended up being more like a list of corny jokes and a pin-up sketch of Minnie Mouse instead. At least he was making an effort.

It wasn't long after Steve left before another government-stamped letter arrived at the Curtis house. This one was for Soda.

He assured me that he would be fine and tried to console me with promises that we would be together when he returned, but it did no good because a deep feeling of dread had already settled into my stomach the second he opened that letter.

Ponyboy and I both wrote to Soda regularly. I told him about how the new employees at the DX were totally incompetent and how Darry was promoted to a higher-paying job at a new construction company. The last time Soda wrote back to me was just before his nineteenth birthday.

It was weird seeing Steve as a dad. My best friend was suddenly a parent with responsibilities and duties and things to do every day. He was different without Soda around. I think we all were.

Funny how that happens, huh?

                THE END