Dally's view

Griffin Unger

Dally’s View

Tim Shepard and I were in a rumble, punching and kicking and banging and yelling. We were socking each other so hard I thought one of us was gonna croak. I dodged one of his left hooks and watched as his momentum took him to the ground. Seeing an opportunity, I jumped in the air and elbowed him right in the stomach. Just by looking at his pail, sweaty, and bloody face, I could tell the fight was over. I walked upstairs to an empty bedroom and plopped myself down to doze off for a while; sleep off the pain. I was just dreaming about some tuff looking girls when that no good Buck had to come in and disturb me. He through a pillow at my head.
“ What’s your problem? Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep! Some people are just total bozos.”
“Sorry to wake you sleeping beauty but 2 of your seven dwarfs are at the door. They say you know them, Johnny and Pony was it? Whatever I can’t remember.”
I slowly inched out of bed, aching with every step I took. Man did I take a beating. As I opened the front door I realized that something was wrong. Pony was soaking wet and Johnny looked like a ghost had just chased him.
“Jesus Pony, what happened?”
“J-J-Johnny, he k-k-k-killed a soc. It all happened s-s-s-so fast. D-d-d-didn’t know where t-t-t-to go.”
“Well come on, get inside, you’ll catch pneumonia and die before the cops ever get here.” I said.
I led them upstairs. We maneuvered ourselves through the seemingly endless trail of drinks, cigarettes, and vomit. When we got to the room I’d been napping in I gave Pony a dry shirt. I reached into the drawer and felt a cold and hard object. It was a gun. I slowly pulled it out and loaded it. Pointing the gun away from myself I handed it to Johnny. He looked so innocent, so untainted. I didn’t know what I was doing giving him a gun, he would never use it. Or maybe… judging on the circumstances, things will be different.
“Stow away on the 315 freight train outta here tonight, and ride along till you get to Windrixville. Buy a week’s supply of food and hide out at the old abandoned church on Jay Mountain. I’ll head up there when things look like their cooling down.”
“Thanks Dal, you’re a true friend.” Said Johnny.
I ruffled Johnny’s hair and just like that, they were gone. They were outlaws, vigilantes, criminals, and enemies of the law. Deep inside I kind of wished I was the one who was on the run. With the wind in my hair and the excitement of being free, I could do anything. I’d run forever if I had to. I began thinking about what I was gonna tell the guys. I wouldn’t tell them about where they were. Darry would probably rip me to shreds for helping them escape. Darry cared so much about Pony, if anything happened to him, he might just lay down and die. I guess I kind of feel that way about Johnny. If something happened to him I don’t know what I’d do with myself. Maybe I should go with them, just to make sure everything goes according to plan. And then I realized something, I truly cared about Johnny. I mean to most people it’s probably not a big deal to care about someone, but for me, this was huge. I had thought my heart had left years ago, back in the big apple. On those streets it was different. You can’t love anything when you’re a hood. The more you have, the more you have to lose.