The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton
Table of Contents
CHapter 10 to Chapter 12
Chapter Ten
Wandering the streets, Ponyboy is offered a ride by a man who informs him that his head is bleeding. Arriving home and in a semi-state of concussion, Ponyboy informs the gang that Johnny is dead. Dallas calls, telling them he has robbed a grocery store and that the cops are pursuing him. The gang, with a tottering Ponyboy among them, rushes out to hide him. As they reach Dallas, the police drive up. Dally pulls out his unloaded revolver. The police shoot him dead. Reflects Ponyboy:
I knew that was what he wanted, even as the lot echoed with the cracks of the shots, even as I begged silently—Please, not him… not him and Johnny both—I knew he would be dead, because Dally Winston wanted to be dead and he always got what he wanted... Dally didn't die a hero, He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he'd die someday." (162).
Ponyboy faints. Later, he finds out that he'd been unconscious in the hospital for five days with a fever. Johnny had left him his copy of "Gone with the Wind." The chapter ends with Soda consoling him that he had requested for Darry during his delirium, and with Sodapop crawling in next to Ponyboy, falling asleep.
Chapter Eleven
One day, while Ponyboy was recuperating, Randy comes to visit. He wanted to please his father, who had told him to tell the truth at the hearing the next day, and he is upset to hear that the hearing will also involve a decision regarding whether or not the Curtis brothers would be separated.
Ponyboy keeps insisting that he, Ponyboy, was the one with the knife who killed Bob and that Johnny is not dead. Darry tells Randy that the doctor had urged them to go easy on Ponyboy; Ponyboy would recover his memory someday and get over his trauma.
Chapter Twelve
Randy and his parents, Cherry and her parents, other kids who were involved in the incident, and the doctor are present at the Curtis...
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