Ponyboy: 50 years later

Chapter 5: Catching Up

Randy and I talked through the preparation for the flight, taking off, and the whole next hour after that. I told him about how I became and engineer and part time farmer, how I had married Chelsey and had our twins Kristy and Chris, and about everything on the side. I left out me visiting Tulsa in the past and my meltdown then. He didn't say anything about returning home in the past. But he had had quite his time in the last 50 years too.

Randy had moved to Arizona and, although he retire two years ago, he had gotten into the real estate business. It sounded like it was a success, the way he talked about it. He told me as soon as he graduated, he was planning on just picking up and going. I honestly wasn't surprised. When we were teenagers, his best friend Bob was killed and I remember him ranting to me one day about the problems the socs had on the West side of town. How he wanted to run away but realized it wouldn't solve anything. I learned a lot from him that day, and I haven't forgotten it since. But always, he said that when he went to college, he met a really nice girl named Rachel who he married after they graduated. They had three kids, two boys and a girl, all married and settled down. I wondered if he ever told them about the stories from our childhood in Oklahoma. I told my family just what they needed to know, I didn't like getting into details.

I realized Chelsey had fallen asleep already, and I felt bad there wasn't a person to talk to for her. "So where's Rachel?" I asked. Randy just shrugged, "She didn't want to come. She's not a huge flyer, especially when it's a connecting flight. She also thought it was best for just me to come. It's hard going back." I understood what he meant, but I felt something twitch inside me. Hard for him? He only lost his booze hound friend, nothing else happened to him. I remembered the talk we had years ago, and realized he did have problems too. But as big as the ones our gang had? I shook it off and thought maybe talking about the past will lift some weight off my shoulders. "Did you ever keep in touch with Marcia afterwards?" I was surprised I remembered her name. Marcia was Randy's old girlfriend from Tulsa, a soc too. He shook his head and let out a laugh. "No boy, we decided to break up towards the end of senior year. She was going to another college so we weren't gonna see each other anymore. It turned out for the best though." I nodded in agreement, I never did see them as a couple. Marcia was almost more of my buddy Two-Bit's type, scatterbrained. Just switch which end of town she lived on and it was a perfect match. I wondered if she remembered Two Bit. Randy spoke up, "I hope it won't be awkward, I think she's going to actually be in Tulsa for a few days." This grabbed my attention, "Really?" He nodded, "Yea, lots of our friends are." Then he checked the fasten seat belts sign which was off and stood up. I looked from him to the seat in front of me, gazing off. Marcia and other friends are going to be in Tulsa, why? Incredible coincidence? I glanced back at Randy's seat to ask him why but he wasn't there. I shrugged and realized how tired I was. I folded up my jacket, set it on my shoulder, and tried falling sleep.

I actually fell asleep when I wanted to. It usually takes forever to fall asleep, even when I was dead tired. Chelsey shook my arm and woke me up when we landed. It took a while to process the fact that I was back in Tulsa, Randy didn't seem at all bothered. He actually looked excited. While we waited our turns to get off the plane, we talked some more. I asked if he ever told his wife about what our childhoods were like. He shrugged, "Yea, some of it. Just about my friends and parties we threw and everything." I felt a tiny twist go on in my stomach. That was it? Nothing about Greasers vs. Socs? I told Chelsey everything. I spoke what I was thinking, "Did you tell her about greasers and socs?" He nodded slightly, "Just the basics. I don't like talking about the not so great parts of my life." Nodding in agreement, I began remembering the conflict the sides of town had. Man, those days were something interesting. Rumbles, drive-ins, hangouts, etc... Maybe this week in Tulsa really will help me. 

"Where're you staying?" I almost jumped out of my daze when Randy spoke. "Oh, uh, my brother's place. You?" 

"A holiday inn. Nothing fancy, just gonna be here for a few days."

Those are pretty fancy, I thought. Then it was our turn to stand up and exit the plane. I shook Randy's hand, "Good seein' ya. Hope to see ya around."

He shook back, "Definitely."

We walked out the plane and once we were in the airport, he went left and we went right. Chelsey walked beside me, "You two sure got along. Felling better?" I grabbed her hand and we kept walking, "Ya.." I admitted. Then I looked out one of the big airport windows. Hello city of Tulsa.