Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders.

July 7th, 1967

It was visitor's day at the penitentiary. Bob Sheldon could not say he was looking forward to it; but neither could he say he was dreading it. He was sure is parent's would be there. They never missed a chance to see him.

He supposed he should be grateful but he wasn't so sure. He missed his mom and dad but, it wasn't the best thing in the world to be seen with dotting parents in the prison walls. The after effects were at best to be avoided.

The table in the visitor's lounge shook with his leg. Prison had made him, nervous. You had to be on your guard here. It didn't help that a good deal of the inmates were greasers. He'd had run into a few of the friends of the two greasers he had jumped. It hadn't been pretty. The guards had done little to stop it. He wasn't the most popular of the inmates.

'"here he is. Oh Donald he looks so thin." Bob's head shot up. He would know his mother's voice anywhere. It sort of stood out from the crowd.

She rushed to throw her arms around him and Bob found his face flushing. "What are they feeding you Bobby? You are thin as a rail." Bob bit his lip. Why did his mother always have to do this every time she visited?

His dad patted his shoulder. "Now come on Victoria. The boy's a man he can take it. It won't be long before he's out." Bob had been given a 35 year sentence. He didn't doubt his father's certainty of a loophole. He was a very well connected and rich man.

Bob didn't know which gave more credit to his reliability on the matter. But he was sure he would not be getting out. That Curtis kid's brothers would make sure of that. They'd go to the press or something and he would be stuck back behind bars. Nothing helps a cause like a good sob story.

Johnny

His mother wasn't home yet. She was out with some guy she had met . he was all alone bBut Johnny kind of liked the quiet. It seemed that these days everyone was fusing over him. if he were to find himself around one of the gang they would not let him lift a finger for himself. His mother could be even worse.

Before the accident Johnny had been independent. If he needed food Johnny would mooch off the gang, true. But more often than not he would have sifted through trash. Cloths, food, you name it the dumpster was where he got it.

Johnny often slept in the lot or the bench at the park. He was always welcome at the Curtis places or Two-Bit's but Johnny liked his independence. He always felt like an intruder sleeping there.

Things were completely different now; like day and night. His mother had never bothered to notice him before unless to yell at him or give him a good whack with the broomstick. She was always too drunk or beaten up to notice. But since the accident and his father's leaving, she had joined the AA. She was sober. She was almost codling him.

Johnny supposed he should be grateful. He'd gotten the family he'd always wanted. Nobody even thought of beating him. He was more confident, more; well he was happier at any rate. But his new found happiness came at a price. He'd lost a good deal of independence.

The house was just barley large enough for him to get around in his chair. The cabinets simply were not built for wheelchair height and they just didn't have the money to fix that situation.

He could not bend far enough to get his own shoes on, though he was getting more adept at finding ways around that. It was degrading to now need help in his day to day life. He could not even take a leak on his own. But Johnny knew that things could be much worse.

Just thinking of Ponyboy made him wince. It made him feel so stupid feeling sorry for himself. At least he could still think for himself. He could read. He could right. Johnny could feed himself, button a shirt. He could say more than a simple sentence.

Johnny had thought about going over to the Curtis place, instead of loniing it around the house; but he thought better of it. Ponyboy was coming home for good from the rehab center. Johnny still cared a great deal about his best friend, but he could not be there today.

Things were difficult enough for the Curtis brothers. Ponyboy was a handful in and of himself. And Darry and Soda were worn out between working overtime and weekend care of Pony. Johnny didn't know for sure how they would do it. Two-Bit had something about an adult day-care, preschool for those unable to care for themselves.

Johnny, in truth, did not much care for the idea. He knew he was being selfish worrying about his own problems. At least he still could get an education. Ponyboy didn't even understand what education was. Johnny was sure his wheelchair was not worse than that.

At one time Ponyboy had been Johnny's best friend. He didn't know if it was because Ponyboy was quiet like him or because he was younger but Pony was easy to talk to. Johnny could not ever bring himself to open up to anyone else in the gang like he could to Pony.

Even when they were kids Pony had been Johnny's buddy. He was smart, he was going places. He was always there to talk to or to help Johnny study for a test.

And now it felt as if Ponyboy wasn't even here anymore. It was a loss that cut deeper then the use of his lower extremities, as the doctor had called them. Ponyboy's body was still here but his mind was somewhere else. Some other person had taken over. The doctor's had told them that his mind would never progress more then having the mind of a three or four year old at best.

The door slammed and Johnny knew his mother was home from her date. She walked over and kissed his cheek. "Hey Johnny." Her dark eyes were twinkling. Hs mother looked younger and happier then he had seen her. She really cared about him.

Johnny sighed. In the end having his mother care about him outweighed his injuries, most days. His life was great in that aspect, lacking in others. But in the end he knew things could be worse. Maybe that bothered him worse than anything else.

Has it really been this long since an update? I am so sorry. I am swamped as of late and will not be updating as often. The more you review, however, the more likely I am to try for an update.