holy fuck this is gonna take up my brain space for the rest of the night because holy shit?? there's so many places this could go??
if it's a "death cast will call the landline because it's 1965 or 67, they don't have telephones" au, darry would be waiting by the phone every morning pony is missing and he breathes a sigh of relief every time the phone doesn't ring because at least his baby brother has one more day.
but does that mean they got two calls the morning their parents died, and for months, if not years, after, all three curtis brothers would tense up and panic internally every time the phone rang.
and did johnny's parents get a call? does his mother go down to the hospital and tell them he's going to die and pony and dally hear it from her before it happens? or do they not care enough to go see their son or just don't want to have to see him die and so pony and dally still get no warning when they go down to the hospital.
speaking of dally, in a landline/slightly more time period accurate au, does his call ring at buck's place, since that's where he was staying at the time? was there anyone there/anyone awake to answer the call, or does buck only get the message after dally is already dead? or does the call go to whatever family he had left in new york? does mr. dead-beat-dad winston (if that's even his real last name) get a call in the middle of the night that the son he hasn't seen in seven years is going to die today?
or: is this all a modern/time that they both die at the end takes place au where the characters have cell phones, would johnny or dally tell anyone that they got a call?
i'd assume that dally wouldn't tell anyone, he seems like the type to keep that under lock at key, but would johnny have told pony?
i can't remember the exact timeline but i think johnny was in the hospital for a day or two before his death, so would pony have been given his phone and pony receives the call for him? or is it given to pony with johnny's letter and his jacket after he dies, and pony gets to listen to the voicemail telling him that his dead best friend is going to die?
but if we play with the timeline a bit, and johnny would have gotten the call the morning of the church fire, would he have told pony/would pony have been with him when he answered the call? or did he step outside to take the call, and doesn't tell pony about it because he doesn't want pony to worry.
did BOB get a call the morning of the day johnny stabs him??