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... july 1965 -ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ- sodapop curtis
mail came later than expected, it came around 6 pm instead of the usual 4:30. i always did the daily walk up to my mailbox after work, either getting a letter from claire or just the regular advertisement sheets companies pass out to every citizen.
i saw a letter with a lipstick stain stuck onto the off-white paper, with cursive writing written on the front with claire's first initial. i smiled while opening the card, telling myself she's okay down there and that i'm just worrying too much.
my eyes scrolled down the page, scanned left and right.
to my lover boy, sodapop curtis
it's been a tough two weeks in vietnam but i always think about you. i met a friend down here, her name's ashlyn where she's married to the love of her life. reminded me so much of us and how much i miss you, never was there a day where i'm not thinking about you, or even a second, hell i'm too attached to you, sodapop. i can't wait to come home and give you the kisses i couldn't give you on the days that would go by with you and me miles apart. i miss you too much, soda. i love you from the moon and back.
sincerely, your baby, Claire.
i smiled at the letter before running to my room to pin the letter, like the others i hung up on my wall as a countdown. by the time claire comes back, my wall will be covered up in letters of my future bride, or the girl i see in my future.
i set myself a reminder for later to write a letter back to claire before bed. i went over to my kitchen to fix myself a pb&j from the old bread i stuffed on top of my fridge, we had no pantry like those rich people so all our stuff either went on the counter or the fridge.
darry came home early. it was always like this whenever his boss said there were no more customers left for the day, those were the days where darry took the gang up to the dingo for some burgers. no one was available at this time so darry took the time to just relax.
"where's pony, he's usually here before i am." darry questioned, i shrugged.
"he said he'd be home at 5:30, that was 30 minutes ago." i suddenly realized, "dally ain't with them."
"shit!" darry yelled before running out of the house, i followed.
we hopped in the truck where we drove on for minutes around town, only to see ponyboy laying on the side of the street alone, johnny was nowhere to be seen or to be heard. i jumped out of the car even if it was still going down on its slow pace.
i ran over to pony who had bruises all over him, blood streaming down his nose that became dried. darry put the car in park to sprint towards us. he held ponyboy in his arms with a worried expression.
"socs got him good." he clicked his tongue.
"do we have to take him to a hospital?" i asked.
"if he won't wake up by the next hour then i'm afraid so." darry sighed on his way to the truck.
ponyboy looked sound asleep but not in a good way, especially when he's all bruised up by those socs. darry stepped on the gas while checking on ponyboy every second of the drive. i just thought of claire in vietnam, how she would end up if she made one small mistake in front of the enemy.
tears slowly circled around my eyes when the horrible thought kept repeating in my mind. i wanted the thought to just die that so that i had time to worry about ponyboy, but it just couldn't.
darry made a sharp stop in front of the house where he picked up pony in his arms. i followed him out where i opened the fence for him, then the door, later on closing both before i could even head back inside. ponyboy looked sound asleep when darry placed him in the couch to go grab a towel and ice pack for pony's burning face, he must've been out in the hot and cold for a while.
"soda god damn it, don't just stand there, go watch pony for god's sake!" darry demanded.
i nodded sadly when i kneeled by pony's side.
"look kid brother, you ain't gon' die because i know you're in there, just please make sure you won't leave darry and i, ever?" i held his hand, still not accepting the fact that he was nowhere near listening.
