The afternoon sun poured softly through the front window of the Curtis house, painting gold streaks across the worn wooden floor. Ten-year-old Darry sat cross-legged in the middle of the living room, his tongue poking slightly out the corner of his mouth as he tried to fix the wheel on Sodapop’s old toy truck. His brows were furrowed in concentration, like he was working on something much more important than a cracked plastic wheel.

“Is it fixed yet, Dar?” six-year-old Sodapop asked, bouncing on his knees beside him. His brown hair stuck up in every direction, and there was a faint smear of dirt on his cheek from playing outside. He looked up at his big brother with all the trust in the world.

“Almost,” Darry muttered, twisting the wheel back into place. “You’re lucky it didn’t break all the way off. You gotta quit crashing it into the wall, Soda.”

“I don’t crash it,” Sodapop said defensively, his grin returning a second later. “It crashes itself.”

Darry couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure it does.”

From the couch, a small voice piped up. “Can I help, Darry?”

Ponyboy, barely four years old, was sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, his curly brown hair all mussed and his thumb halfway to his mouth. He looked at his older brothers with wide, eager eyes, wanting to be part of whatever they were doing.

Darry’s expression softened. “You can hand me that screwdriver, little man.”

Ponyboy slid off the couch and padded across the floor in his socks, grabbing the tool with both hands like it was something precious. He handed it over carefully, and Darry gave him an approving smile. “Thanks, bud.”

Mama’s voice called from the kitchen a moment later, sweet and firm. “Dinner’s in ten minutes, boys! And I better not see any of you tracking mud inside!”

Sodapop’s eyes went wide—he looked down at his muddy socks and then at Darry, who sighed and shook his head. “You’re doomed, Soda.”

Ponyboy giggled, clapping his hands as Sodapop yelped and scrambled for the back door to try and clean up the evidence before their mama caught him.