(1/3) The Outsiders - the Sequel.

Chapter 2

     When I got home from school, Darry was gone. I vaguely remember wondering where on Earth he'd gone, because he couldn't go to work, but I didn't give it a second thought. I was too set in my plan to pay attention. I found the broom and used it to push open the attic door on the ceiling, and stepped out of the way of the ladder, which fell into place. I climbed up and covered my mouth with my hand, so I wouldn't inhale a ton of dust. Still holding on to the ladder with one hand, I removed my other hand from my face to turn on the attic light. It was a big mistake, because I still inhaled a ton of dust. Coughing, I thought, I'm gonna die up here! I'm gonna suffocate and die! I was fine once the dust cleared. And I didn't die.

Once the dust settled, I was able to see again, and I realized that I hadn't actually been up to the attic before, mainly 'cause I don't like spiders. What I saw at first—boxes. Tons of stacked up boxes. Looking through them, I found all of our old holiday decorations, old toys and clothes, and finally, mom and dad's old stuff. As I looked through their possessions, I found old photos, jewelry, and other items belonging to my parents. As I gingerly picked up their wedding photos, I tried not to cry—'cause greasers never cry.

When I looked deeper into one of mom's boxes, I found what I was looking for: old address books. I flipped through a million of them before I actually found my relatives' numbers. I guess mom had a lot of friends. I called all of the numbers from my mom's side of the family, but nobody picked up. Then again, they never had anything to do with us anyways. After calling a couple of numbers on my dad's side of the family, Aunt Nellie picked up. "Hello?" she said through the phone. I answered back, "This is Ponyboy. Ponyboy Curtis." After a small pause, she said, "Oh, my! Is it really you? I haven't heard from you in years!" I knew that wasn't entirely true. Aunt Nellie had been at mom and dad's funeral, but I guess people weren't really socializing. "Um... Aunt Nellie, I need some advice." I heard her chuckle through the phone, before she said, "Hon, I'm not the one to ask for advice. Try your Grandma Curtis." I started thinking, this might actually be a good idea. "Can I have her number?" I asked Aunt Nellie. She gave me grandma's number, we said our goodbyes, and I hung up the phone. I was so excited to talk to Grandma Curtis! I hadn't seen her in seven years. I quickly picked up the phone, and dialed her number. "Yes? Who is it?" she said when she picked up. "It's Ponyboy," I answered instantly. You know, I almost couldn't contain myself. Don't ask me why. I don't know why. "Hey grandma," I started. "I need some advice—" Grandma Curtis hung up. Great, I thought sarcastically. That plan didn't work.

Before I left the attic, I decided to look around some more. I went through tons of boxes and bins. When I looked through dad's boxes, I found his old switch blade. Looking back, I think he always had that blade in his pocket. He never had to use it. At least, he never told us if he used it. I took it out of it's leather case, admiring it, and ran my fingers over my dad's engraved name. I put the knife in my pocket, because you never know when you might need a good blade.

When I woke up, Soda was already awake and cooking breakfast. Who knows what it'll be. Soda's always full of surprises. Once, we even had green pancakes. Green. Darry was still asleep, and I thought that he was such a lucky guy. At least he didn't have to get up early to go to work. Also, that meant that Soda would be cooking breakfast more often. Mornings are about to get a lot more interesting, I thought. I got bored waiting for breakfast to be done, so I wandered into the living room. Not surprisingly, Two-Bit was was on our couch, watching TV. I don't know why, but he ends up at our house a lot more often.

When I walked back into the kitchen, I saw Sodapop dump something out of the frying pan, onto the plate. Probably eggs again, I thought. We were finally all awake, and breakfast was finally done. Boy, was I hungry. When I looked at my plate, I did not, in fact, see eggs. I was looking at a chocolate chip cookie that was bigger than my plate! "Soda! This isn't breakfast!" I said a bit to loud. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd have a giant cookie, chocolate cake, and chocolate milk for breakfast. Darry said, "Are you trying to give us diabetes, Sodapop Curtis?" Soda just smiled at us. Until he started laughing. Before you knew it, everyone was laughing their socks off!

Before I left for school, Cherry came by to drop off a "get-well" basket for Darry (Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you: Cherry's a close friend now. Pretty much part of the gang). After she left, Darry started looking through the basket. Correction: we started looking through the basket. All of us were excited. Anyways, we found lots of homemade treats and an envelope. The envelope had a sweet little card in it, and a "little bit" of money. Two-Bit was looking over Darry's shoulder when he shouted, "Five hundred dollars!? She gave you five hundred dollars?" I had to remind him, "She's a Soc." "Geez," Darry said. "Cherry is a real tuff gal." He turned to me and added, "Hey, Pony. We might not have to pull you out of school."

That evening, we played football in the lot. Though, it'll never be the same. Not without Dally and Johnny. And, Darry couldn't play with us, 'cause the doc said no. We all played so hard that we crashed when we got home. We didn't even eat dinner! When I woke up the next morning, I started to get ready for school. Except, it was a Saturday, so I just sat in front of the TV. Soda took the car and left for work, and Darry—I don't even know where Darry went.

I was just about to doze off when I heard a sharp knock on the door. "Are you whippersnappers home?" said a familiar voice from outside. I ran to the door as fast as I could, swung it open, and embraced my Grandma Curtis. "My, my, how you've grown!" she said. I was speechless. "How... Why..." Grandma chuckled and said, "You asked for advice and I thought it was about time I gave it to you in person!" I think I was in shock. I hadn't seen my Grandma Curtis in seven years! I wanted to call Darry and tell him that grandma was here, but I didn't know which number to call. I had no clue where Darry was. I'd have to ask him later.

I spent most of the day telling grandma about what had happened in the past few years. I told her about my parent's deaths, because she didn't show at the funeral. I didn't know if she had known. I also spent a lot of time talking about what had happened a couple years ago, and I told her about Dally and Johnny. I almost cried again. I still, to this day, find it hard to talk about them without tearing up. After I had finished telling my story, Grandma Curtis gave me the advice I had asked her for. "Everything will work out in the end," grandma said. Of course, I thought. The same thing Darry and Soda told me.

Late that afternoon, Darry walked in. He looked a little worried. "I've got some bad news, kiddo—" Before he could say anything more, Sodapop ran in the door, saying, "Do I smell freshly baked cookies? I didn't know you could cook, Pony." I responded, "I can't cook. Why don't you go get one of the cookies?" Soda looked confused. "Does that mean Two-Bit learned to cook?" he gasped. I almost fell over laughing. It was the most absurd thing I had ever heard! "Nah," I said to him after I had stopped laughing.

Darry walked towards the kitchen. While Darry went to get a cookie, Soda took of his shoes. He can't stand wearing them around the house. From the kitchen we heard Darry shout, "Grandma Curtis! What are you doing here?" Before I knew it, Soda had dashed into the kitchen. It was quite the reunion, if I do say so myself.

A lot of the evening was spent catching up. Also, I found out where Darry had been. It turns out he's been dating! Yeah. It's pretty tuff. Now that he was out of work, he actually had time to do stuff. We ate all of the cookies, which I knew we were going to regret later. I still couldn't believe that grandma came all the way from Washington! And just to give me advice, too! Unless... no. There can't be anything more to it.