TKAM post 4

Perspective of Jem

Scout and I were out shooting with our new air soft guns, and Atticus came out and said "I would rather you two shoot at some tin cans, but I know you are goin' for the birds, but remember; its a sin to kill a mocking bird." A few days later, there was a father football game, and I was sitting there watching all my classmate's dads play foot ball, but Atticus wasn't playing because he says he is too old.

Me and Scout go out to play in the front yard, and we see old Tim Johnson out down the street. We notice that he is was walking funny, but that old dog is always up to something. We run inside to tell Cal about the dog, and she says that every time we see something out of the ordinary when our dad isn't home, we cant come telling her to look at it. After we beg her to come out and look, she says that Tim Johnson has turned into a "mad dog," with rabies. She tells us to go inside, because we are in peril. Calpurnia runs in, and calls Atticus, and says that there is a mad dog coming up our street. She calls everyone in the neighborhood, and warns them too. The Radley's didn't answer their phone, so she runs out and bangs on their door to tell them that there is a Mad Dog out on the loose but no one answers the door either.

After a few minutes, Atticus pulls up in Heck Tate, the Sheriff's car, and they both step out. They have to shoot poor Tim Johnson. Heck looks down the road, and sees Tim Johnson slowly walking up the street in a straight line. He says "Atticus, I can't shoot that good, and for a mad dog, you only get one shot." He throws the gun to Atticus, and he doesn't want to shoot either, but he does. He aims the gun at Tim Johnson, and looks with his right eye, and fires. It hits the dog right in his head. Heck and Atticus walk up to the dog in front of the Radley place, and heck said that Atticus was a little to the right, but it was a great shot.

Scout and I walk to town, because I had some money to spend, and I wanted to get my steam engine, and scout wanted a baton that I said I might get for her. In order to get to town, we have to pass Ms. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house. Ms. Dubose is a sick, grumpy, old woman who sits in her wheelchair on her porch all day. When we pass her house, Atticus tells us to be polite, and don't say anything that might offend her. When we passed her house I said Hey Ms. Dubose. She responded "Don't you say Hey Ms. Dubose, you say Good Afternoon Ms. Dubose, and you, you should be wearing a dress, not those filthy overalls." I said i was just trying to be nice, and she said "Don't you Contradict me." So we walked away, and I was very upset, because she said some very mean things about Atticus, and I did not like it. After I bought my to steam engine, and I got Scout a baton, we walked back home. Scout dropped her baton so many times trying to flip it in the air, it was filthy. When we walked back passed Ms. Dubose's house, she wasn't on her porch, so I took Scouts baton, walked up the steps, and broke Scout's baton on my knee. I broke all of her Camellia buds, and left the broken baton there. Scout started yelling, so I kicked her and she fell on her face. Then I felt bad, and helped he up. We walked away, and I acted like nothing happened.

When we got home, I sat in my room and when I heard Atticus come in the front door, i tried to hide. He yelled my name real loud, and I went to him. He help half the baton in his hand, and asked me if I was responsible for it. I murmured "yes sir," so quiet, it was almost inaudible. So Atticus told me to immediately go over, and apologize to Ms. Dubose. when I was there, she told me that she wants me to read to her out loud for two hours each day for a month. So I started reading to her the next day, but it was only for about 20 minutes. After a week or so, I realized that when her alarm goes off, I have to leave, and it is set a little later each day. After a month of reading, it turned out that we read for more then two hours, and I only knew that because Atticus came in and said he would stop by because we were not home yet. So I asked Ms. Dubose if this was my last day reading to her, and she said she wants me to continue for 2 more weeks.

I left, and when we got home, I was talking to Atticus about it and he said that even if I didn't earn it, he would ask me to go over and read to her, because he is sick. He explained to me that she is very sick and is dying soon, and is addicted to morphine. He said that it is just a distraction to keep the pain away, and that the most time I am just inconspicuous to her. After reading for 2 more weeks, Atticus got a phone call that said that Ms. Dubose had just died. I had mixed feelings about this, but was grateful too, becasue I was tired of reading to her and sick of hearing her say bad things about my father. Atticus went over to Ms. Dubose's house, and came back with a box for me. Inside the box was Camellia bud; this was a sign of forgiveness from her and she is saying that it is okay now (that she is dead).

Atticus left to go on a business trip type thing, and we were here with Calpurnia. She was wondering on Sunday if we would go to our church or not, since Atticus wasn't here. She decided that she would take us to her church. Calpurnia dressed us up real nice, and made scout wear a dress. I had on my dark blue suit with a green tie, and she told me to change, because they didn't match, so I changed my tie. When we got to church, it was not like the church that me and Scout are used to, and it was not very ecclesiastical. There were no books, and no organ or piano. when everyone donates money, it is not passed around in a basket, everyone has to go up to the front, so the people at the church know who donated money, and who didn't.

Everyone was looking at us funny, because they knew that we were Atticus's children, and we were white. We got a lot of respect from the Negros, because they are all friends of Tom Robinson, and they are very grateful that my dad is defending him in his case. The man who worked at the church, Reverend Sykes, did not let everyone leave until there was 10 dollars total in the can with all the money, and he closed the doors, and asked everyone with out children to donate money. Later i found out that all the money goes to Tom Robinson's family, because since they have some kids, Ms. Robinson wont be able to work when Tom is at court. Reverend Sykes kept calling names, and saying that they have not come up and put in some money yet. Scout and I went up and put in our dimes that Calpurnia gave to each of us. Reverend Sykes was very grateful for that, because he expect the white people to have more money then most of the Negros. When 10 dollars was finally added up, we left, and went home.