sudden he blows up on me or else is naggin’ at me all the time. He didn’t use to be like that . . . we used to get along okay . . . before Mom and Dad died. Now he just can’t stand me.”
“I think I like it better when the old man’s hittin’ me.” Johnny sighed. “At least then I know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain’t got nobody.”
“Shoot,” I said, startled out of my misery, “you got the whole gang. Dally didn’t slug you tonight ’cause you’re the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang.”
“It ain’t the same as having your own folks care aboutyou,” Johnny said simply. “It just ain’t the same.”
I was beginning to relax and wonder if running away was such a great idea. I was sleepy and freezing to death and I wanted to be home in bed, safe and warm under the covers with Soda’s arm across me. I decided I would go home and just not speak to Darry. It was my house as much as Darry’s, and if he wanted to pretend I wasn’t alive, that was just fine with me. He couldn’t stop me from living in my own house.
“Let’s walk to the park and back. Then maybe I’ll be cooled off enough to go home.”
“Okay,” Johnny said easily. “Okay.”
Things gotta get better, I figured. They couldn’t get worse. I was wrong.
Chapter 4
T HE PARK WAS ABOUT two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for the little kids. The pool was empty now in the fall, but the fountain was going merrily. Tall elm trees made the park shadowy and dark, and it would have been a good hangout, but we preferred our vacant lot, and the Shepard outfit liked the alleys down by the tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids.
Nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to relax and cool off. I couldn’t have gotten much cooler without turning into a popsicle. Johnny snapped up his jeans jacket and flipped up the collar.
“Ain’t you about to freeze to death, Pony?”
“You ain’t a’woofin’,” I said, rubbing my bare arms between drags on my cigarette. I started to say somethingabout the film of ice developing on the outer edges of the fountain when a sudden blast from a car horn made us both jump. The blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.
Johnny swore under his breath, and I muttered, “What do they want? This is our territory. What are Socs doing this far east?”
Johnny shook his head. “I don’t know. But I bet they’re looking for us. We picked up their girls.”
“Oh, glory,” I said with a groan, “this is all I need to top off a perfect night.” I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel. “Want to run for it?”
“It’s too late now,” Johnny said. “Here they come.”
Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were staggering I figured they were reeling pickled. That scared me. A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to two and were drunk. Johnny’s hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade. I wished for that broken bottle. I’d sure show them I could use it if I had to. Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. We backed against the fountain and the Socs surrounded us. They smelled so heavily of whiskey and English Leather that I almost choked. I wished desperately that Darry and Soda would come along hunting for me. The four of us could handle them easily. But no one was around, and I knew Johnny and I were going to have to fight it out alone. Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face—you’d have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes. I stared at the Socs coolly. Maybethey could scare us to death, but we’d never let them have
“I think I like it better when the old man’s hittin’ me.” Johnny sighed. “At least then I know he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you got Soda. I ain’t got nobody.”
“Shoot,” I said, startled out of my misery, “you got the whole gang. Dally didn’t slug you tonight ’cause you’re the pet. I mean, golly, Johnny, you got the whole gang.”
“It ain’t the same as having your own folks care aboutyou,” Johnny said simply. “It just ain’t the same.”
I was beginning to relax and wonder if running away was such a great idea. I was sleepy and freezing to death and I wanted to be home in bed, safe and warm under the covers with Soda’s arm across me. I decided I would go home and just not speak to Darry. It was my house as much as Darry’s, and if he wanted to pretend I wasn’t alive, that was just fine with me. He couldn’t stop me from living in my own house.
“Let’s walk to the park and back. Then maybe I’ll be cooled off enough to go home.”
“Okay,” Johnny said easily. “Okay.”
Things gotta get better, I figured. They couldn’t get worse. I was wrong.
Chapter 4
T HE PARK WAS ABOUT two blocks square, with a fountain in the middle and a small swimming pool for the little kids. The pool was empty now in the fall, but the fountain was going merrily. Tall elm trees made the park shadowy and dark, and it would have been a good hangout, but we preferred our vacant lot, and the Shepard outfit liked the alleys down by the tracks, so the park was left to lovers and little kids.
Nobody was around at two-thirty in the morning, and it was a good place to relax and cool off. I couldn’t have gotten much cooler without turning into a popsicle. Johnny snapped up his jeans jacket and flipped up the collar.
“Ain’t you about to freeze to death, Pony?”
“You ain’t a’woofin’,” I said, rubbing my bare arms between drags on my cigarette. I started to say somethingabout the film of ice developing on the outer edges of the fountain when a sudden blast from a car horn made us both jump. The blue Mustang was circling the park slowly.
Johnny swore under his breath, and I muttered, “What do they want? This is our territory. What are Socs doing this far east?”
Johnny shook his head. “I don’t know. But I bet they’re looking for us. We picked up their girls.”
“Oh, glory,” I said with a groan, “this is all I need to top off a perfect night.” I took one last drag on my weed and ground the stub under my heel. “Want to run for it?”
“It’s too late now,” Johnny said. “Here they come.”
Five Socs were coming straight at us, and from the way they were staggering I figured they were reeling pickled. That scared me. A cool deadly bluff could sometimes shake them off, but not if they outnumbered you five to two and were drunk. Johnny’s hand went to his back pocket and I remembered his switchblade. I wished for that broken bottle. I’d sure show them I could use it if I had to. Johnny was scared to death. I mean it. He was as white as a ghost and his eyes were wild-looking, like the eyes of an animal in a trap. We backed against the fountain and the Socs surrounded us. They smelled so heavily of whiskey and English Leather that I almost choked. I wished desperately that Darry and Soda would come along hunting for me. The four of us could handle them easily. But no one was around, and I knew Johnny and I were going to have to fight it out alone. Johnny had a blank, tough look on his face—you’d have had to know him to see the panic in his eyes. I stared at the Socs coolly. Maybethey could scare us to death, but we’d never let them have
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