A Golden Life: An Outsiders Story

Chapter One-Ragdoll- Kara Cade's Story

I sat on the park bench next to the set of boutique stores that lined the filthy streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma. My sleek black flats had been lightly covered in dust that brushed along the streets of the unkept east side of the city. I had gotten used to not having the nicest things ever since I was a little girl so the smudges didn't bother me. The east side wasn't the best place to live but it was the closest thing I had to a home. The streets were better than the house I was forced to live in with my older brother, and everyone on this side knew we had it rough. The Cade kids, as they call us, try their best to live a normal life is what all of the neighbors say. Our neighbors are referred to as greasers around here, and while they are blunt and too quick to get into trouble they are far better than the monsters lurking on the west side of the tracks. The socs, the rich kids who will not hesitate to jump you if your father isn't a CEO, a surgeon, or something else fancy that brings in enough dough to buy a west side house. Us greasers live in the small houses and sure some of the greasers rob gas stations and get into fights but they don't hide behind daddy's money to not get into trouble and some greasers are good. All socs, on the other hand, are all filled with greed and a longing to hurt people just for the fun of it, at least greasers fight with a purpose. Though I am a greaser I would like to think I am a gentle one that has too much conscience to even hurt a fly. I don't get into fights being a gal and I don't act like the other greaser girls who only live for their next cigarette and boy toy. I try to keep myself tidy instead of wearing greaser girl clothes, tight pants and a tight shirt that leaves nothing unseen. I always imagine how the strangers passing by saw me. A fourteen year old girl with fair skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair pulled into a ponytail with a pink hair scarf wrapped around it. I was wearing a blush colored skirt that flowed around the bottoms of my knee caps and it was paired with a white blouse tucked in at the waist line. I wasn't the kind of girl the greasers cat call at but I would like to think I don't go unnoticed. Who am I kidding me and my brother Johnny are the definition of unnoticed. Johnny and I have always been the quiet puppies who had been kicked too many times. Kara and Johnny Cade the silent greasers who don't leave any impression on anyone because their Pa left too many impressions on them. My dad is an abusive drunk who takes it out on me and Johnny. The more he hit us the more we felt like useless pieces of trash, until the gang. The gang sounds dangerous but really they are more like our family. Well technically I am not in it because I don't fight in rumbles with them but on a normal dreary day they make me feel at home for once in my life. The gang is composed of 7 official members or the boys as I call them and 4 girls including myself that sometimes come around because their brothers are members. The boys include Darrel Curtis, the oldest of the four Curtis', Darry is practically raising his younger brothers and sister after their parents were killed in an auto wreck a couple months back. Darry hasn't been the same since, none of us have really. The second Curtis boy is Sodapop. He is the highschool dropout dreamboat according to everyone in town, he works at the DX gas station since he quit school to help Darry pay the bills and he is dating the biggest poser in town but I will get into that later. The last and in my opinion best Curtis boy is Ponyboy Curtis he is fourteen, around six foot tall, and has the most beautiful greenish grey eyes that I have ever seen, Pony is my best friend other that Johnny and I have had a crush on him since I was only 7 years old but that doesn't matter I don't need for Pony to go steady with me to appreciate our friendship. Pony's best friend is my brother Johnny Cade who is two years older than me and Pony. Johnny is the most important person in my life. He means the entire world to me and I love him more than anything. Another one of Johnny's best friends is Dallas Winston, the scariest person on the face of the Earth. Dal is from New York City where he got arrested at 10 years old for the first time and he has a long jail record after that. Dally is a person who is hardened against the world and is the only person who I think might not be capable of loving anyone. I mean he cares about Johnny and the gang but that is as far as his affections for humanity goes. Dallas Winston is the only person in the gang no one can fully figure out and if someone does one day they deserve the nobel peace prize. The next guy in the gang is Steve Randle, Soda's best buck toothed friend. I never know how to feel about Steve. He seems to be ok with me but he is cruel to Pony and never cuts him any slack so I can't hold much respect for him. The last guy in the gang is Two-bit Matthews, the boy who is beyond description, no one knows how to describe him. He is immature yet mature at the same time, he is smart yet the dumbest person you will ever meet. Two's real name is Keith but everyone knows him as Two-bit because he always has a two-bit to add. He is the goofy drunkard who is in LOVE with Mickey Mouse and beer that is about it. As for us gals we all go our separate ways when it comes to fitting into society. It is unfortunate in all honesty because I like all of them but they all have different views of who they want to be and I respect them for being independent instead of trying to fit in with their brother's friends. The first of the girls is Ruby Jewel Curtis she is 15 and the sweetest calm mannered person I have ever met she reminds me of Mrs. Curtis when she was still alive. She has unruly brunette curls that beautifully fall to her mid-back. She is Pony's older sister so me and her could be really close but I am too shy to start a conversation and so is she. The only reason me and Pony are friends is because he needed someone to talk to and I needed someone to listen to. Sure he talks to Johnny but me and Pony have always had a certain connection. I never had that connection with Ruby and besides she puts all of her kindness into the stables where she works. She loves horses and so she works with and grows connections with them down at the rodeo stables instead. I understand growing connections with animals instead of people. People always seem to disappoint. The only odd thing is that she never rides them, for what reason I have no clue. She works alongside Steve Randle's sister Danielle Stacy Randle. Danielle, or Danny as everyone calls her, is a calm and composed young woman. She is independent and she will tell the score. I have always admired her bluntness and her beauty. She is so elegant compared to every other girl on this side of the tracks. She has green eyes with specks of gray in them and chestnut brown hair to complement them. She always has her hair in loose curls that fall to her shoulders while the rest of her hair is pinned to the back of her head. Danny doesn't necessarily work at the stables but when she isn't at the Curtis' house she is at the stables. Danny rides a lot, not in rodeos but whenever the horses and her need a cool down. Which, I would assume, when you are a beautiful blunt girl on this side of the tracks that cool down happens fairly often. I never see Danny much because of her horseback riding, but Ruby does so they have become pretty close. I am happy for them even if that means I am o-n the outside a lot. The last of the girls is Two Bit's sister Penelope Katlyn Matthews. The girl, like her brother, is difficult to describe. Pippy isn't anything like her brother, yet at the same time she is. She loves a good laugh but she is not usually the one telling the jokes. Pippy is both shy and outgoing at the same time. That is the only way to describe the Matthews confusing, maybe that is why everyone loves them so much, they are all just trying to understand them. Pippy is so independent that I haven't even tried to create a strong friendship partially because I am too scared to and also because I don't want to dwindle that independence. For a woman to have independence in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1964 is quite rare and she is going to do something great with that I just know it and I don't want to ruin that. Pippy, just like Ruby and Danny, is stunning. She has light brown hair with a subtle curl to it. She has brown eyes with flakes of gold and green in them. I look up to her and all of the other girls so much but I refuse to be friends in fear of them realizing how they should truly look down on me.