Cake, Pie, and Pony

Chapter Seven

We finally arrived at Bucks after more what ifs than ever. Pony knocks on the door, as Buck answers. "We need to talk to Dally," Pony asks him. "He's busy." I look inside. People are drinking oddly shaped bottle and yelling. Some people are drinking out of a very tiny cup, and some are sleeping on the ground. Johnny grabbed me and backed up as Pony argued with Buck. Finally Dally came out. "What' up, man?"

"Johnny killed a Soc," Pony cried. Johnny and I walk back over as Dally lets us in. Johnny picks me up, which he never does. Only if he doesn't want me to do something. I'm not sure what it is that he doesn't want me to do. I guess drink out of the small cups or weird bottles. If I ask, well, you know the response he'll give me.

We finally get in a bedroom as Dally shuts the door. Johnny puts me down as he gave Pony another shirt, Johnny a gun, and me $50. He turns to Pony and says "Look, I shouldn't be the one to tell your big brother about this."

"Then don't tell him," Pony yells. He called Johnny and I over and whispered to us "Hop on the three-fifteen freight to Windrexville. There's an old abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. There's a pump in the back, so don't worry about water. Buy a week's supply of food as soon s you get there-this morning, before the story gets out, and don't do so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I think it's clear. Man, I thought New York was the only place you could get wrapped up in a murder hut." My heart starts pounding and I can feel my skin turn pale. "m-m-m-m-" I stammered. I felt like I might faint again. Johnny picks me up before I could as we leave Buck's. As we board the train and we go on our way to Windrexville, the previous what ifs run through my head. 

When we arrive at the church, I looked around. This place is falling apart. The wood is prickly and bent in all shapes, the ceiling looked as if it was going to pile down and crush us. What if it does? What if we stay at this church forever? What if the gang forgets about us? What if we die of hunger or thirst?

The next day, Johnny and I went out to buy stuff for our however long we'll be staying at the church. We got a bunch of baloney, a book version of the movie Johnny saw with Pony (as I hid in the movie theater bathroom) called Gone With The Wind, some more food, and a bottle of bleach. "What's the bleach for," I ask. "For Pony. He's gonna bleach his hair and we all are going to cut it and wash the grease out." I felt my brown, curly, draped-to-my-bottom hair. "How short?" Johnny moved my hair around and examined it. "Yours is gonna be cut off completely, but the fuzz is gonna know we're siblings, so yours won't be bleached."Thank goodness. "I do wanna slick it back so you look like a boy."

We went back to Pony after we bought everything we needed to survive and showed him everything we bought. The first thing he pulled out was the book, the second was the bleach. Pony looked at Johnny. "You ain't thinking-"

"We're gonna cut your hair, Ponyboy. and your gonna bleach yours." Pony and Johnny argued about it until I said "My hair's gonna be cut off completely and slicked back." Pony looked at me. "I'm cutting my hair too. and wash all the grease out," Johnny said. "Pony rolled his eyes. "Go ahead."

I sat down and watched amused (I even pretended to eat popcorn) as Pony cried and complained and screamed "Ow!" When Johnny was done, he pointed to me. "Your turn." I get up and in a flash, he cuts all my hair off. "That's it." Pony looked up. "That's it!" Johnny goes to the box and takes out a bottle of something, but I don't know what it is. "This'll slick it back," he said as he started plays with my hair while Pony dumped the bottle of bleach on him and made a face of Jesus-Christ-it's-so-cold. I laughed again. "I think you forgot they're no showers here." Pony looked at me. "Hush," he rolled his eyes as he walked away.

That night, I had another nightmare (what a surprise), but this time, it's different. All of my nightmares relate to the jumping when Johnny got his scar, but they're never the same. In this one, when the blue Mustang pulled over and the Socs got out and started jumping us, Johnny stabbed one of them while my back was turned and I could hear Johnny running away as four now zombie Socs starting ripping me apart limb-by-limb. 

My body jerks up as I awaken, but I can't take a walk because Dally told us we weren't allowed outside, so I just sit there. I get up and leave the room I was in with Pony and Johnny and start bawling my eyes out. Why can't all Socs be like Marcia and even Cherry? They don't jump and they love us greasers! Why do Socs even jump with the intent to kill?