Tulsa Ripper

Chapter 7

Dally stood beside the door, poised and ready to smash the beer bottle over the head of anybody who tried to come into the house. But the door was locked. He was about to reach over and turn on the porch light to see who was there when he heard a loud voice on the other side of the door say, "What the hell?" Dally let out his breath and opened the door. Two-bit stood there, soaking wet and looking a bit surprised. "Get in here," Dally hissed. "What's going on, Dal? Why's the door locked?" Dally looked past him to the couch where Johnny was now sitting up, white as a sheet and staring wide eyed at the door. His eyes were glazed with sleep and presumably he had no idea who had just come in. "Dammit, Two-bit!" Dally growled and pushed past him. "What?" Two-bit was genuinely confused. He thought of a smart remark, but kept it to himself. He sensed Dally's tension and thought it best not to push things tonight. "Johnny?" Dally called making his way to the couch. Johnny let out a soft whimper and looked at Dally with huge, scared eyes. "It's all right," Dally took him by the shoulders. "It's just Two-bit, see?" Johnny was still groggy, and he moved closer to Dally and looked over at Two-bit. Dallas sat there, letting Johnny lean on him. He talked quietly to him, trying to either calm him back to sleep, or wake him up enough so that he could process what was going on. Two-bit's usually jovial expression turned serious. "What's wrong with Johnny?" He started to walk over to the couch, but Johnny was still regarding him with a hesitant gaze. Two-bit stopped and looked at Dally, who by now was glaring at him for waking Johnny in the first place. Two-bit just looked confused and concerned. Dally turned his attention to Johnny. "It's all right, Johnnycake. It's Two-bit. It's all right..." Johnny finally let out his breath. He was waking up a little. "Hey Two-bit..." he whispered. Two-bit took that as an invitation to come a few steps closer, and then actually come over and sit on the couch. "Johnnycake? What's the matter, buddy?" he touched the side of Johnny's face and looked questioningly at Dally. Dally's expression softened a bit. "He's just been having some bad dreams, he's all right." Johnny's eyelids drooped as he slowly relaxed and sank into Dally's shoulder. "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean to scare you. You go back to sleep." Two-bit said. Johnny was already drifting off. He let out a soft sigh, trying to reply to Two-bit, but he was too tired to form words. "Glory, Two-bit!" Dally whispered, looking at Two-bit's wet jacket and hair. "You're dripping all over the place! Get off the couch, you're gonna get Johnny soaked!" Dally leaned Johnny carefully back against the pillow and got up. "I'll be right back, Johnnycake. And don't go back to sleep yet, I want to talk to you..." By this time, Johnny was too out of it to hear him. Dally grabbed Two-bit's collar and pulled him towards the kitchen. Along the way, he picked up the towel he'd been using and threw it at Two-bit. "Dry off," he said and hopped up on the counter and lit a cigarette. He proceeded to explain the evenings events to Two-bit, who just stared at him, for once at a loss for words. "If whoever it was shows up again, he's gonna get a good ass kicking." Dally said angrily. "Do you think he'll show up again tonight?" Two-bit was ready for some action. Dally's shoulders slumped. "I don't know. I doubt it. I kind of wish he would so I could kill him. And Johnny's got this nasty cut on him that looks like it was patched up by monkeys- Geez, I gotta go take care of that." Dally slid off the counter and put his cigarette out in the sink. "What's it from?" Two-bit asked, his laughing gray eyes filling with concern. "Huh?" "The cut- who cut him?" "I don't know, his old man, I'm guessin'. He didn't tell me about it, I just happened to see it. It's a real mess. That's another one I'd like to get my hands on..." Dally looked murderous at the thought of Johnny's father. The two boys headed back into the livingroom. Johnny was out cold. "Well, I'm crashing here tonight." Two-bit said, heading for "Dally's" chair. Dally gave him a look. "I meant 'here' as in 'here on the floor'!" Two-bit turned on his heel away from the chair. "Did I forget to say that part?" Dally just rolled his eyes. "Take the couch, Two-bit, I'm gonna put the kid in Soda's room. People could be showing up here all night and he needs to get some sleep." Dally said as he walked over and carefully lifted Johnny off the couch. Johnny yawned sleepily, his head flopping onto Dally's shoulder. Don't get too comfortable, Dally thought. You're not off the hook yet. He nudged open the door to Soda's room and put Johnny on the bed. "Dally?" Johnny mumbled. "Yeah, buddy?" "Did you lock the door?" "No, I didn't. I'll lock it right now. I'll be right back." Dally walked out to the livingroom. Two-bit was sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep already. He took another look out at the empty porch and turned the lock, then he headed back to Soda's room. Johnny was sitting up against the pillows looking slightly confused. "How did I end up in here?" he asked. Dally shook his head. "You were asleep. I carried you in so you aren't waking up every five minutes when every bum in Tulsa decides to camp out for the night in the Curtis livingroom," he said, sitting down in a chair beside the bed. Dally leaned forward, his elbows on his knees considering how (or even whether) to bring up the subject of the gash on Johnny's side. Johnny sensed Dally had something on his mind and he grew visibly uncomfortable. "You wanna tell me what happened?" Dally asked looking at Johnny who looked like he wanted to hide under the covers. There was a slight pause, Johnny was trying not to look like he was hiding something, but he wasn't doing a very good job. "Huh?" Dally regarded him calmly. "The cut. Who did that to you?" Johnny looked down and stared at the blankets. Dally's eyes narrowed. He lifted Johnny's chin. "Who?" he demanded. Dally immediately softened his expression when he caught sight of Johnny's face. He looked like a cornered animal. He was shaking and trying hard not to look directly into Dally's eyes. Dally sighed and dropped his hand to Johnny's shoulder. Johnny returned his gaze to the blankets. "All right, look, if you don't want to talk about it, will you at least let me clean it up and put a new bandage on it? For crying out loud, Johnny! It looks like a drunken doctor put that bandage on! You're a mess!" Dally got up and stormed off to the medicine cabinet. Johnny's eyes followed him. Dally wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer about fixing up his cut, but it looked like he might not push him anymore about who did it. Johnny was glad of that at least. And as for the cut, well, even he had to admit he'd done a pretty sloppy job of patching himself up. It just wouldn't stop bleeding and he'd had to get it covered quickly before the gang noticed it. Not to mention he couldn't really reach it that well. Dally came back into the room carrying all kinds of things which he proceeded to lay out on the bedspread as though he were about to perform surgery. Johnny almost laughed, but he didn't dare. "Now lie down," Dally instructed, and he removed Johnny's attempt at a bandage and held a wet towel over the cut. Johnny forced himself not to cringe. Dally had the cut cleaned, medicated and rebandaged in about ten minutes. "Thanks," Johnny said quietly. "Yeah, you just try to stay out of trouble from now on, ok Johnnycake?" Johnny heard what almost sounded like just a hint of sadness in Dally's otherwise nonchalant voice. "You try to get some sleep now, kid. I'll be out in the chair." Dally said picking up all the first aid things. Johnny lay there thinking for a minute or two after Dally left. He thought about the secret he was keeping and wondered how wise it was not to tell anyone. He didn't know what to do. But he was certainly going to try not to be alone as much as before and he needed to try to discourage Pony from going to track practice for a little while. That was going to be tough. But the guy said he was leaving, Johnny thought. Maybe if I can just get him to skip a couple practices... Stay out of trouble. Boy howdy, don't I wish. Johnny thought as he fell asleep. Dally stared out the window from his spot in the Curtis's livingroom chair. Something wasn't right. He wished Johnny would talk to him, trust him... But why should he, Dally thought ruefully. I sure don't make it easy, I suppose. He hated to admit it, but he was starting to really worry about the kid. More so than usual. And part of him was wondering if he should have pushed Johnny for more information. What if it wasn't his father that had hurt him?No, Dally thought. Johnny and everyone else in the gang always said something if they'd had a run in with socs or even with other greasers... it was stuff with his parents that Johnny really clammed up about. But something wasn't right. Dally didn't sleep well that night. At about three in the morning, to settle his own nerves, he finally got up and looked in on Johnny who didn't appear to have had the most peaceful sleep either. He had kicked all the blankets onto the floor and would murmur something every now and then. Dally sneaked quietly into the room and pulled the blankets back up onto the bed. Before he covered Johnny he took a look at the new bandage which seemed to be doing a much better job than the old one. "I hope you didn't have any big dreams of becoming a doctor, Johnnycake," Dally whispered as he pushed Johnny's hair back off his closed eyes. He pulled the blankets up over Johnny's shoulders and headed back to the other room. A few hours later, when the first rays of sun peeked through the window at dawn, Dally finally dosed off in the chair.