It was the middle of a hot summer in 1968. Steve and Sodapop were working a long shift at the DX, and they were both filled to the brim with the desire to just leave and go run around Tulsa for a while, but they didn't. They both needed their jobs, so they finished out their shifts.

Driving away from the DX after work with Soda in the passenger seat, Steve sighed wearily. He didn't really want to go home. He didn't feel like getting into another screaming match with his father.

"Wanna go see if we can catch a movie or something at the Nightly Double? It ain't that late yet," he asked, looking over at his buddy, who shrugged. "We don't even gotta watch the movie, we can just mess around or stick by the concession stands. It ought to be cooling off soon, I'm sure we could cause some trouble comfortably."