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The Outsiders Chapter 10
Not knowing what to do, Ponyboy walks home alone. In a daze, he convinces himself that Johnny isn't dead. A man picks him up and drives him home, concerned about his cuts and bruises from the fight. Back at his house, Ponyboy is amazed at how beat up and sad everyone looks. He tells the other boys that Johnny is dead, and that Dally ran off, unable to deal with it. Ponyboy wonders, "How can I take it? Dally is tougher than I am. Why can I take it when Dally can't?" Chapter 10, pg. 152 Just then, Dally calls. He has robbed a grocery store and the police are chasing him. The boys run to meet him at a vacant lot, so they can help him hide. No one seems excited or thrilled, the way they were before the rumble.
Topic Tracking: Misunderstanding 9
When they get to the lot, the police are already there. Dally pulls a gun from his waistband, and Ponyboy realizes it is the gun Dally had recently told him wasn't loaded. Ponyboy knows that the police don't know the gun is unloaded, and he knows Dally knows that too. The police shoot Dally, killing him, and Pony knows that that is just what Dally wanted. Ponyboy faints.
He wakes up several days later. He has been in the hospital, but he doesn't remember it. No one is sure whether the three brothers will be able to stay together or not. Pony worries that when he was delirious, he only called for Soda and his parents--not for Darry. He wants to have a good relationship with Darry, but he always just feels uncomfortable.
When Soda comes in, looking like he hasn't slept the entire time Pony was sick, Pony asks him if he asked for Darry at all when he was sick. Soda reassures him that he did. Pony doesn't want to talk much about the events of the past few days. He wants to pretend Johnny isn't dead.
