Interview by Kate Howell with Ponyboy Curtis

This morning, reporter, Kate Howell went to visit Ponyboy Curtis, 14, for an interview.

 Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade, 16, are known as legendary heroes for saving several young children from a church fire on Jay Mountain. Curtis got out without any serious injuries but Cade suffered from 3^rd degree burns, a broken back and he was also paralyzed from the waist down. A few days ago, Cade passed away in the hospital right in front Curtis. Cade managed to say a few words before he died and we had an interview with Curtis to see what they were.

Here is the interview by Kate Howell with Ponyboy Curtis:

When asked about how he was doing and how he liked living with his two brothers, Curtis replied, “I’m doing fine and living with my brothers is lots of fun. We get along fine and Darry, my oldest brother, works two jobs just to make money for me and Sodapop.”                               “Well, let’s move on to Johnny Cade, your best friend. I have heard that his parents are very abusive, is this true?” asked Howell.

“Of Course! You can hear them yellin’ an’ swearin’ an’ beatin’ him from 10 blocks away! He usually got ignored. Sometimes he would stay at our house for the night and for the other nights; he would just stay in an empty lot. He told me once that he would rather get hit by his careless old man than bein’ ignored. There’s nothing worse than that.”

Howell asked how Curtis and Cade had decided to save the children from the burning church because it must have been a hard decision to risk their lives over.

To which Ponyboy replied, “Well, we didn’t really decide, we just ran towards the church and I heard that some kids were missing and me and…Johnny went to rescue ‘em.”

After that, Howell asked about Cade’s last words, how inspiration they were and what they meant to Ponyboy.

“Johnny’s last words were… ‘stay gold Ponyboy. Stay gold’ and to me that means that he just wanted me to stay innocent and just like the way I am right now, reading, watching sunsets and movies. He ain’t wantin’ me to turn out like how he did. But what he did ain’t his fault. Anyways, he was referring to Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Nothing Gold Can Say.’

“I feel real bad now that Johnnycake’s gone…he was my best friend and I really miss him but I’m also happy that we saved the lives of those little kids” Ponyboy replied when asked of how he felt now that Cade was gone.

After that, the interview was over and Howell thanked Ponyboy for answering the questions.

 You can tell by listening to this interview that Ponyboy is still grieving over the loss of his beloved friend, Johnny Cade, but it looks like there is still hope for this young man.