Growing Up

Still Too Little To Understand

~Previously~

"Family of Johnny Cade?" Her angelic voice sang. The 5 boys stood as Juli stayed in her seat watching curiously.

"How is he?" Darry asked. Their eyes widened at her words.

"Well..."

~Now~

"Well you all know the appendicitis part of it all, but there's more..." She started, yet
Dally had interrupted her infuriated.

"What do you mean "there's more", how could there be more when we're worried sick about him?!" He questioned rather loudly, trying to muzzle his anger until he was out of the hospital. Dally was beyond furious to know there was more and the staff wouldn't tell him or the gang for that matter. Everyone working in that entire hospital knew those 7 boys were the closest thing to a family some of them could possibly ever get.

"Johnny has cancer, it's located in the left side of his rib cage ...we discovered it during surgery. It's not advanced, still in one of it's early stages but if we don't take action soon, it could get out of hand quickly." She said, her voice was stern and serious but her eyes, oh her eyes, they showed the true emotion in her soul.

     They showed pity, concern, sadness and disbelief to name a few. How could such a sweet, nice, caring, shy, handsome boy like him have cancer? Why him? Why?! The gang let it eventually all sink in, and over time it started to hit them like a train. Blank expressions were worn by all of the boys yet one remained curios, Juli.

     The 6 had no idea how to react. Should they be sad? Upset? Angry? Depressed? In denial? Should they be on the brighter side or should they look on the shadier part of it all? So many questions crammed their way into their minds. Juli however, she didn't know what was going on, a curious and confused gaze in her eyes. She was still too little to understand some of these things. Juli hopped down from her chair and walked up to Darry, tugging on the bottom of his shirt to grab his attention.

"What is it, Juliana?" He asked softly, looking down into her ocean blue eyes. Juli looked back up into his teal ones, keeping the confused look she had worn earlier.

"What is she saying? What does she mean?" She questioned, all of the things she could think of lead to dead ends. Juli didn't know what to think, sure she was smart for her age but she was still only 3 years old, meaning her mind could only draw blank after blank. There are somethings you can only understand when you're older.

     This was one of those moments, one of those moments when you had to be older to feel the sadness, to know why people felt the sadness they did and why there was a reason to feel sad, to know why some people don't know how to react, cope. Juli was yet to reach that age. Oblivious to the information thrown at them all.

"This is going to be a very bumpy ride..." Darry thought, and he was right.