sjsprWriting

Dear Johnny Cade,

I think that's how these damn things are supposed to start.  Listen kid, I'm going to cut right to the chase, I'm done- I'm all washed out.  Seeing you in the hospital bed like that, skin all burned up and your ain't being able to move and all, just ain't right.  Just ain't fair.  That's right, you heard me, it ain't fair.  The Johnny Cade I know ain't do nothing to nobody, and damn sure don't deserve to not be able to even get up from his bed to leave whenever he want to.  What I said earlier in the car with Pony, I meant it.  Johnny, I ain't all emotional like you, let's get that straight, but I owe you something you ain't never gotten before, a family.  Shoot, you're not like the rest of us, well maybe like Ponyboy, smarter, better.  You deserve better, too.  My folks, well they would've never cared for what happened to me.  When they threw in me the old big house, I never as so much got a single call, let alone a visit.  And when I got out the only things waiting for me was the gang, a heater, and a pack of weeds.  The greasers, that's the only family I ever had, and it ain't fair that you died because you and Pony just up and decided to play hero for those damn kids.  I ought to have beat your heads in.  But I suppose what happened was my fault.  I'm the one who told you to hold up in that old church.  I should have never left you out of my sight.  Johnny, I'm sorry I let you down.  I always wanted to be better, just for you.  It hurt, you know, seeing you cry whenever your folks beat you or yelled you away until you ran to only god knows where.  Its just 'cause you always went back for more.  You were like a wind-up doll or something.  I couldn't stand it.  I wondered why you thought you needed them when you had us, when you had me.  But I couldn't be there for you, and now you're gone.  Well, you know what?  You may just be the smartest of us all, getting your back broken and dying, leaving us greasers behind to crawl around these parts like some wild animals, proving those good-for-nothing Socs right.  You must've just gotten sick of us all and thought, "I'm outta here."  Well, you had the right idea, kid. Tell you the truth, I don't even know why I'm writing this, not like you're gonna read it, being dead and all.  But like I said, I owe you.  I'll see you soon, Johnny.  You ain't getting away from me that easy, not without a fight of course.

-Dally