Who is Randy and what does he do for the boys?

Randy is a long-haired hippie who gives Mark and Bryon a ride to the hospital in his Volkswagen bus. In Chapter 2, the two boys hitch a ride with Randy, who tells them that he went to college in town, majoring in English. He explains to Mark and Bryon how he rents a house with a bunch of friends who live in peace and harmony together. Bryon mentions that the idea of living with other people doesn't appeal to him, but Mark seemed interested and began asking Randy numerous questions about what it was like to live with a bunch of people. When Randy drops them off at the hospital, he puts up his two fingers and says, "Peace" (Hinton 11). Randy Adderson was also a character in S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. He was one of the most understanding Socs who chose not to fight in the rumble against the Greasers after his close friend, Bob Sheldon, died. In the novel That Was Then, This Is Now, Randy traded his old lifestyle as a preppy Soc to become a peace loving hippie.