The Outsiders Imagines and Short Stories

Schoolboy Father | Ponyboy

I walked in our house and shut the door, wandering into the kitchen, my mind going numb with scenarios of how this conversation would go. I hoped one of the guys would be there, except Steve, because then Darry couldn't skin me alive like I knew he would ache to do. I never imagined I'd get stuck in this kind of a dilemma, but I don't think anyone else dreams for this to happen to them.

The second Soda got home, my heart started racin' like one of them horses. The second Darry parked the truck, my hands went clammy and I would have liked nothing more than to just melt into a puddle. Sadly, I was given no such joy. Darry and Soda noticed I was quiet all dinner long. I was mainly plotting how to bring up the baby and praying that'd Two-Bit'd walk in any second, rip-roaring drunk so Darry could be mad at him before he could be mad at me.

"Soda, did you ever hear back from Sandy?" I croaked out, playing with my mashed potatoes

He looked at me long and hard. Darry looked at me as though I asked if they wanted to meet my best friend Satan.

"Naw, I never heard back from her. You know that, now why'd you ask somethin' like that?"

"I was just wonderin'..." I lied. I did know Sandy sent back all the letters, unopened and untouched. I know she never came back to Tulsa. I knew it pretty damn well. Soda'd moved on to better things by then too, it made me seem like a real goof, but I was so desperate for a way to bring up Christie that I'd cut my own arm off if it meant the conversation would be smooth sailing.

"What would make you wonder somethin' like that?" Darry asked me, slowly chewing his chicken, looking at me as though if he squinted hard enough, I would turn into a blabbermouth.

"It was just that girl in the paper from the other day, I guess."

"Ponyboy, you don't even know that girl. You know you shouldn't be getting' yourself all worked up about her."

I quietly choked down my water, trying to find a way to delicately phrase that I was the father of that baby boy. "Well... um-" I stuttered, clearing my throat as Darry looked over at Soda. Sodapop began to notice that I was getting all shaky and nervous, which meant I was really failing at bringin' this all up.

"You wanted to date 'er or somethin'?" Soda joked, a smile beginning to tug at his lips.

"I kinda... already... did."

"How come you never told no one you went out with a girl and when?" Darry asked

"'Cause... 'cause it was at camp over in Bixby. It only lasted 'bout a week, so I figured I'd just shut up about it."

"Man, summer really was forever ago, huh. Eight or... nine months ago." Soda said, the smile immediately wiped off his face as he put two and two together.

"Ponyboy Curtis." Darry said, putting his fork down and he looked harder at me than ever before, "I hope you're not tellin' us that you was the one knockin' that girl up at camp. Tell me that baby's birth she announced in the paper ain't yours."

"I'm sorry, Darry." I croaked out, my voice cracking. "But that was what I was tryin' t' get at. Christie and I did it at camp, I'm real sorry. I didn't think she'd get pregnant and she told me she never wanted to hear from me again after camp. I didn't think it'd be worth mentioning."

Darry threw the napkin from his lap onto the table. "You never think, do y'? Sodapop thought Sandy'd be faithful and she got pregnant with another guy. Protection ain't 100%, Ponyboy. After all that's happened with the other greases in town, I thought you'd know by now t' steer clear of that."