When Are You Coming Home

Letter from Soda

(Friday, March 12, 1965)

A month has passed since Soda had left for Vietnam and things were going horribly in the Curtis household. Everything seemed to be tenser. Bexley hadn't been herself since then, she would spend hours in their bedroom, not interacting with anybody. She'd spend her time writing in her journal and reading.

Ponyboy was the same; he had lost his will for living. All he did was stare was the TV, looking dead in his eyes. They were both hoping that their goofy older brother was unscathed while fighting.

Darry exited the kitchen and sighed in disbelief. He was dealing with struggles of his own and their distance was making it harder on him.

"Ponyboy, is Bexley still in the bedroom?" he asked. "Yeah," he shrugged. Darry walked into the bedroom and saw that Bexley was laying on the bed, her nose in a book. "Bexley, I need you to come out here to the living room. I have to talk with you guys," Darry said, his voice stern.

Bexley rolled her eyes and set the book down on the bed. She'd come back to it. Sauntering into the living room, she saw how bleak-eyed Ponyboy looked while he stared at the TV. He didn't see her come in.

She sits down on the couch, awaiting what Darry was going to say. "Why'd you call me in here? I was in the middle of that book," Bexley whined, itching to go back to what she was reading.

"You've been in there all day, Bexley. You need to come out of there. And I know you two haven't done your homework." Darry said. "Why bother with it?" Ponyboy said, shrugging his shoulders. "Your teachers had called me and said both of you are failing your classes. I don't want to hear that your grades are dropping." Darry said with a lecture.

Bexley let her head drop against the back of the couch. Ponyboy slapped the arm of the couch. "There's so much to do though," he complained. "Whose fault is that then? You two do what I tell you to do. Have it done by dinner time tonight," Darry said strongly. He spoke in a way that wasn't to be dismissed.

"Can one of you grab the mail from the mailbox?" Darry said, going back to the kitchen. Bexley got up and made her way outside after seeing that Ponyboy hadn't moved.

__________________________________

Bexley grabbed the mail from the mailbox. She looked through each one, most of them were bills. However, there was one in particular that caught her attention. It looked dark brown with an official stamp on it from Vietnam.

Her heart dropped in excitement and a smile ran across her face. She had to show Darry and Ponyboy this. She went inside the house with the letter in her hands.

"Hand over the mail, Bexley. It doesn't belong to you," Darry called, seeing the amount of mail she was holding. She handed over the mail. "There's a letter from Vietnam," the 14-year-old girl said.

Ponyboy became intrigued when she said that and he stood up from the couch. He walked to the dining table, where Darry was sitting. They kept their eyes off the brown envelope. They looked over Darry's shoulder to get a better look at the letter.

"Don't be rude, you two," Darry said, pulling the letter away. "Darry, we need to know if Soda sent it. Please?" Ponyboy begged. Darry saw the desperation in their eyes and sighed. He lowered the letter again.

"Fine, just don't lean over me," Darry instructs. The twins stood on each side of Darry so they could read it.

"Hi, Ponyboy, Bexley, and Darry.

The commander gave us the okay to write home. And he said it was okay to have our family write back. I would love to hear back from you guys.