boy I love your stories!,great job teary

I didn't want to read this story, but something about it dragged me ion. I'm really glad I got to read it, It was really great.
Whale, until next time,
STAY GOLD XD.

This was really sweet and shows what I think is the real Darry! Great job!

I liked it. I think Darry is so sweet!

Okay, I know this is a really inadequate way to start out a review for such an amazing one-shot, but I really love the word discombobulated. '

Anyway... I haven't read all of them, but so far I've not read a story of yours that I haven't loved and this is no exception.

Also, I think you chose a really nice title. It explains a lot.

I don't feel qualified to tell you this, but keep up the good work!

okay, so I see this is a oneshot, woohoo! I can actually get a chance to review it before I'm already ten chapters behind.

I could see the pain flicker in Pony's eyes as he slightly nodded his head at me.

** I like how you often start your stories in the present, go back to the past, and end again in the present, though it didn't necessarily make my angst in Splintered any less as I was reading, lol.

Why didn't he call? Could he call?

** I always thought that Susie made them go to the church partly for the reason that Pony COULDN'T call. since, if he could have, I think he definitely would have.

it was easy to tell that the ordeal hadn't been quite as bad as I'd imagined.

**I think most people who can conceivably step into Darry's shoes would have imagined far worse than the truth.

given that it was a Soc that had died in our territory, and two kid greasers were the cause for it.

**minor thing... to me "cause of it" seems more natural.

I guess we'd both expected him to come back relatively soon, at least within twenty minutes – but he didn't. Twenty minutes became thirty, which turned into forty, and so on until eventually an hour had gone by.

** It's interesting how in this scenario some people have soda go after him right away and some have him stay but I don't think I've ever read anyone write Darry running after him right away.

There was an argument over curfew, I'd explained. He got angry, I got angry, he stormed out. I'd left out the part about my hitting him, because I knew that would be the kiss of death for us. Soda'd be removed instantly, I'd be jailed, and wherever Pony was, he'd neither have a family nor a home to come back to – when he did come back.

**I always have to wonder about this. I think I did have the police get told about him hitting Pony. I know that hitting your kids wasn't nearly as taboo back then as it is now...I always wonder if that in itself really could cause him to lose custody. (But of course I am too lazy to have actually looked into it...)

Library's, theaters, skating rinks.

Tim had a few idea's of places they could be

**In these two lines above, libraries and uideas don't need apostrophes. Good rule of thumb: only use an apostrophie is 1) you have removed letters to make a contraction, or 2) you are showing possession. I've noticed this a lot in a lot of people's writing, and while it's not a huge detail, it's easy to fix if you remember those guidelines

including the kids laying like throw rugs on ragged piles of burlap and discarded bits of furniture.

** nice imagery here. Reminds me very much of some old scenes from 21 Jump Street where they are looking for kids in crack houses and the kids practically ARE the furniture.

I never told Sodapop what I'd seen, just that Ponyboy wasn't on the river bottom and he wasn't to go there looking either.

** I like this, that Darry didn't even want to plant ideas in Soda's head about the worst kinds of places Pony could be.

"Dal's out of lock-up," he'd said that night. His tone strained and his eyes hard.

**Minor punctuation thing. "Dal's out of lock-up," he'd said that night, his tone strained and his eyes hard.

It took another three days before I found Pony's sweatshirt – the one he was wearing when he disappeared, hidden under the mattress of their bed.

**Nice tie-in to Missing Days. Yes, I noticed. :-)

I wondered how much deeper we could conceivably collapse into this abyss of despair before there was nothing left of either of us.

**I see this as really the only thing, besides Pony actually dying, that could still Soda, subdue him completely. So while I got some crap for the Soda/sloth combination in this same canon situation, I think it's pretty realistic.

He was a little worse for wear and filthy beyond imagination

**He was pretty filthy, wasn't he. I'd have hated to be Tommy's hotel maid and have to clean that shower. :-)

He was sorry? No, baby... I'm the one that's sorry.

**I love how everybody makes Darry think this, but in almost all cases, he doesn't say it. He's such a boy! But I love him anyway...

They're not bad kids, just kids with bad luck.

**Amen to that.

I felt sorry for him, but tempered it knowing first that it was Dallas himself who'd sent the boys away, and second that if Dal had been wearing the jacket, then Ponyboy would have been burned instead.

**I love the irony of this - the fact that Dally actually unknowingly protected Pony with the totally unrelated act of giving him his jacket. Nice job pointing that out.

As always, very well written, and totally in character.

Looking forward to more... I'll try to be better about timely reviewing.

Great Darry POV.

Very emotional without being OOC or over the top.

Another good story. I can't wait to read more of anything you write.

that was amazing cant wait to read more

Very, very good. Darry is my fave and this made me love him more. Fantastic!

~Rosebud5

Always glad to read one of your stories. Nice work.

amazing as always!

please keep writing and updating!

GREAT!

Really good, as usual. I love all of your stories. This one was very good, not too depressing, but very well executed. Thanks for writing it!

-Lupelovell345 ;)