TKAM Scout's Journal #10

What happened tonight is nothing of comparison of any other nights of horror. This is a night of unexpected violence right in front of my eyes.  I guess this night can be classified as the longest journey of me and Jem together. It all happened because of  Mrs.Merryweather’s Halloween pageant show.

 As I got to the back stage with my custom on for at least half an hour, I began to feel tired and sleepy. The custom was warm and acted like a quilt, it’s pretty easy to fall asleep in there, and so I slept without anybody noticin’. And undoubtly I missed my role as a “pork”, and undoubtly enough, Mrs.Merryweather poured all her pageant failures to me and proposed that I am the reason of it. Even though it brought some sadness, the horror did not start there. It started as we,me ‘n’ Jem, made our ways back home. As went across the school yard I suddenly realized I forgot my shoe, but as we moved back to the school we saw the school light went off , so we decided to go back tomorrow for it. It was just then; we heard a sound comin’ behind us, a shuffling sound, a small, rapid shuffling sound, like shuffling-foot. At first we thought it was Cecil Jacob, who pulled the trick of scarin’ me ‘n’ Jem form the behind, but as we called his name, there were no response. We became scared. We walked as fast as we could across the school yard, towards the live oak tree, but the person behind us seemed to be movin’ faster, too. As we reached the oak tree, the sound ran to us. “Run Scout, Run!” was all I heard from Jem. I ran as fast as I possibly can inside that custom, with ten steps of distance, I fell. Then I heard a rippin’ sound, metal against metal, didn’t know what it was, I tried to become loose from my custom.  My head got loose and Jem went back for me and dragged me along. I was so tangled that we didn’t go very far. Then, it was Jem’s turn to scream. I heard Jem fall and the next thing I know, there were four people, including me, in the scene. I then heard somebody breathing heavily.”Jem?” Nobody Answered.  From there fear took over, and I thought Jem was dead, until I saw a man carrying what seemd to be Jem across the street. I blindly followed the man and found home, where I also saw Jem lyin’ on bed with Atticus, aunty, Dr. Reynold, and a man hidin’ in the dark corner. Later Atticus introduced me to Arthur Radley, it was that man who saved Jem. And undoubtly, it was Bob Ewell who attacked us and tried to hurt me with a knife but stabbed on by custom and got himself killed. I was lucky enough to walk with Mr. Arthur home, I found out he ain’t as bad as people describe him to be, and in fact he is a very kind-natured man. Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow, and he will not be conscious until the earliest tomorrow.

Hope Jem wakes up tomorrow to see the sun rise.

TKAM Scout's JOurnal #9

 School started for me again. I always despised school, but this time it was different. I am in the fourth grade now with Miss Gates, and we are learning about things not involvin’ any forms of cards any more. Fourth grade is kinnda a magical time for me, with me steppin’ into the fourth grade, I noticed I can walk normally across the Radley place alone, not running, walking, and still with no sweat. The Radley Place ceased to scare me anymore. And now I began to see the little plays, games, or other little things that we did about Boo Radley were just little childish things that, to some degree, were not deliberately plot out. Now the image of Boo radley eating squirrels and dining on raw mice disappeared in my mind everytime I thought of him. I began to want to meet him, not makin’ him come out like makin’ a bat come out of its cave, but a more civilized way of meeting him in person, of greetin’ him just like how I greeted Miss Maudie everyday with the simple “Good Morning, right pretty spell we are havin’ isn’t it?”.  And as I realized it was Boo Radley who intentionally put the items in the knothole for us to pick up, I began looking for an opportunity to say thank you.

Today in school we talked about current events. This led us in talkin’ about Hitler, a point that Cecil Jacobs brought up with.  As our talk went on, Miss ate used the opportunity to differentiate a “democracy” and a “dictatorship” and how they were made different effects to people around the world. From the talks I noticed Miss Gates really hates Hitler a lot. But As I recalled my memory I remembered she sayin’ “It’s time someone give them (Negros) a lesson.” Is it right to hate Tom Robinson?  Can Tom Robinson and Hitler be compared? Ain’t Tom Robinson ever done something wrong ‘n’ the trial is just a part of a “democratic” display. I seize to find out the answer. As I went to Jem for the answer, Jem became overly aggressive and shook me the moment I mentioned about the trail, I was too surprised to cry. Maybe he needs time to suck it up.

Tom Robinson’s trial ain’t so fair, is it?

TKAM Scout's Journal #8

Today is the day that I’ve been waitin’ for, today is the day that I shall be washed free from any “daddy-nigger-lover” talks around me and finally recover my reputation-today is the day of Tom Robinson’s trial.

Despite the late sleep last night, I woke up quiet early and saw all sorts of people passin’ by my house (many of whom I’ve never seen) as we stood on our front porch, it was like a Saturday.   Without anybody’s permission, we gallantly followed the people as if we were naturally part of them to the county courthouse. As we expected, all the seats were taken up upon our arrival, but however, Reverend Syke was kind enough to let us join his colored folks in the black balcony.  We settled in at the front rows of the balcony, and it was not long before the trail started. As usual, Judge Taylor showed up in his uniform (as of every case in Maycomb) and the trial began with the testifyin’ of Mr. Heck Tate, our sheriff.  Then it was Mr. Robert Ewell’s turn to testify. During his testimony, his poor knowledge of etiquettes and his false sense of formality in the usage of English language brought frequent laughs, along with horrors and disgust to the audience and proved he proved himself to me that he deserved the title of “poor white trash” of the Maycomb County with no argument. Atticus really made him look like an idiot. And then it was Mayella Ewells, who either fake cried for sympathy or real cried because of sorrow and shame in her testimony. Then lastly it was Tom Robinson. There were no major long-durational, fierce debates between the two lawyers- Atticus and Mr. Gilmer during the testimony, but however I did notice a few things in the trail. First being, Atticus tried to emphasize on Mayella’s injury a lot especially on the area of her injury. He also tried to show Ewell’s lack of formality and his right handedness. Both proved to be effective to the case as it proved Tom Robinson’s innocence as her injury was most on her right side that is likely to be caused by a left-handed person, like Bob Ewell, instead of a Tom, who lost his left hand.  Secondly, Atticus used the method of cross examining Mayella, which also proved to be effective as it made her spit out the truth a bit, made her uncomfortable and speechless in the end. Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson were such great contrasts in the trial. Bob Ewell, the accuser, possessed this unbearable, unacceptable manner in court, appeared dirty and sluggish, and looked rather guilty.  Whereas Tom Robinson, a black Negro, a defendant, possessed respectful manner, appeared rather clean, and looked rather innocent. Everything went well for Tom; I can sense that the people were startin’ to lean a little bit towards him, until he made the mistake of poppin’ the phrase” I felt sorry for…so I ran…” outta his mouth. It kindda proved his guiltiness because if you did not do anything why are you feelin’ sorry and hence why did you run?  After the completely, testimony, we were discovered by Atticus, and went back for dinner. As we raced back to the court room after wards, nothing have changed, nobody moved, the judge was asleep to some degree, and the jury were not out. Jem and I patiently waited while Dill was asleep. As the jury were out , I guessed that Tom will not leave here free because no jury ever looked at the man that the convicted, and the jury just happened to not look at Tom Robinson. “Guilty, guilty, guilty….” About twenty guilty calls were all we got for the waitin’. Jem’s face went bloodless, each guilty was a stab to the heart for him as he almost promised Reverend Syke we are goin’ to win, he sat there for quiet sometime with his tears rollin’ out freely from his eyes. I was in shock too.  Atticus cleaned up his suitcase and left from his usual exit, an hour later I found myself home.

For what reason is Tom Robinson so guilty? I seek to know.

TKAM Scout's Journal #7

Yesterday was such a tiring, wild, and frightful day that I just could not bear to write a journal, so I have to write this one today in the very early morning as I woke up. If I was to use any word to describe how it feels like in this sunny morning right now, It would be the word ”rainbow”. Yes, at this particular moment, I feel like a “rainbow”, a rainbow that follows right after a devilish storm, brings light, brings peace-I am feeling a sense of sheer relief. It is unbearable for almost everybody to recall what happened last night, and to me, the whole story of what happened seemed like a dream. Even though everything happened in such a short period of time and my memory of it is not full, I don’t think I will ever forget what happened in any point of my life.

I remembered it all started with me, Jem ‘n’ Dill crept out of the house to the County Jail for Atticus. Surprisingly, moments later as we got there, we found that Atticus is not alone; he has companies-not very pleasant companies. It was a group or a mob of almost thirty drunk and angry men with no clear minds (at least that’s how I remembered most of them), immediately they surrounded Atticus as they hopped out of the car. Atticus seemed to be expecting ‘em as he calmly put down the newspaper, stood up into the crowd. The men talked in near whispers, but we still caught we they were talkin’ about, they are trin’ to go through Atticus to get to the jail door. I was stupod enough and hotheaded enough that I thought they were folks from town and dashed right into them for Atticus. After experiencin’ the uncomfortable moments of awkwardness and realizin’ they ain’t anybody we knew, it was too late, we were in for it. I was embarrassed, and am embarrassed right now as I thought about it. What is more embarrassing is I started talkin’ to them as if I knew them with no signs of appreciation. I don’t know what got me into talkin’, these men were men who could possibly hurt Atticus badly and potentially injury us, but suddenly I just found myself talkin’ about stuff to them. I was definitely scared and nervous at that time (in fact extremely scared and nervous), so I thought of the topic entailment to start with- nobody responded to my initiation of peace. Then as I realized Mr. Walter Cunningham was in the crowd, and I put my target on Walter Cunningham.  I mentioned how Walter is a good boy in school and how we invited him back home for dinner-this time, I got no immediate responses. The air started to tense up to a point of suffocation. Just as I thought they were probably further angered by my talk and I started to prepare myself for the big brawl, Mr.Walter Cunniham lowered down to the ground and expressed his sincere acknowledgement for takin’ care of his son. Seconds later we found them marchin’ out if the scene in almost single file. Then, when all was silent, a hoarse voice cracked from the jail cells inside,” are they gone” was all I heard-Tom Robinson was there and listening’ the whole time. Atticus answered him as he wiped his sweat that was rollin’ off his forehead, I rarely saw Atticus sweat that much. The terror was over, we all breathed heavily and felt tremendously lucky that we weren’t touched one bit. Atticus drove us home later last night.

Am I mighty glad that the night is over and mornings has come.

TKAM Scout's Journal #6

Out of pure summer non-Dill boringness and nothing-to-do-ness, and out of Calpurnia’s sincere invitation, Jem ‘n’ I decided to go to Calpurnia’s church this morning.

We dressed in our formal church clothes and following Calpurnia, slowly made our way to the First Purchase. The First Purchase was quite different from our church. First being, the place was simple, it was unceiled ‘n’ unpainted within, and it didn’t really look like a church to me ‘til I stepped in. We were genuinely welcomed b the Negros in the church, even though there was a little disapproval of our presence during our entrance. We noticed some unusual customs of the First Purchase that were completely different from our community church. There were no-hymn-books in the church ‘n’ no one red the lyrics when they sang. In the end of the worship, the reverend-Revernend Sykes mentioned to the people about Tom Robinson, how hard it is for his gamily now that Tom’s in jail. Then he shut the gate ‘n’ refused to let people go ‘til everyone dropped something in the donation jar to make it a total of $10 for the Robinson family. It never happened ever in our church, but I did not think for a bit that it as imprudent or rude, after all that ten dollars will serve a good cause.

The church visit was a fairly pleasant trip for us. But our tribulation came in the afternoon. When we strolled back to the house, my jaw almost fell out of surprise-Aunt Alexandra was sitting on our front porch. How did she get here? As she settled herself in the house, I started to think how long will she stay here. We waited till Atticus came home, and the worst news is still to come-we heard as soon as he was back he told us that Aunt Alexandra is not just staying with us, she is officially living with us. She is sacrificin’ herself to live with us for the “Good of the Family”. And Atticus seemed to be in full agreement with her action, so there’s no way we could stop it now.

I’m really looking forward to another year of boringness.

TKAM Scout's Journal #5

Today shall always be remembered as the day we broke free from our chains and recaptured our precious freedom. Today is the last day we’ll have to read to Mrs.Dubose. Over the past month or so Atticus demanded Jem to go to Mre.Dubose’s house every afternoon to read to her all because of the fact that Jem literally destroyed Mrs.Dubose’s garden and her “Snow-on-the-Mountains” as a result of sudden anger and frustration. With my company, every day after school we were havin’ to step into her dark, filthy house and read her Ivanhoe for at least two hours ‘till sun down. Just as I was wonderin’ when is this torture ever goin’ to end, here came our last day of readin’ with Mrs. Dubose, which is even worse than readin’ word cards at school.

Today as we stepped into the house, there was nothing of major difference, the house is still dark, the room still smells, and undoubtly Mrs.Dubose is still that mean. Mrs.Dubose gave me a usua greeting by makin’ remarks about my appearance, how I wore pans insteas of dress. And Jem still held the seemingly I’m-not-afraid-of-you look on his face. As Jem started reading, she still scolded about Atticus and how he tried to defend Negros. But there’s one thing I noticed that is a little bit different, she’s more conscious than ever! After almost 3 hours of painful reading there ain’t any irregular mouth twitchin’ or saliva droppin’ out of her, not even a sign! I sat there after three hours had gone by, countin’ the seconds with my eyes shut, waitin’ impatiently for our time of release, not carin’ what Jem is readin’. Jem’s voicewas slowly fadin’, bet his also desperate for the alarm clock to ting. But it did not ring, not after 30 more minutes. As the hand pointed 7:30, she announced our release. We marched as fast as we could out of the house not botherin’ to ever look back.

The air smelled so fresh.

TKAM Scout's Journal #4

Atticus is getting’ old. Comparin’ him with the other fathers in school, Jem ‘n’ my view on Atticus changed as time wore on. We began to think that Atticus have nothing of great competence ‘cept sittin’ in an office- that thought lasted ‘til today.

Today as we strolled down the street to Miss Stephaine Crawford’s house for Miss Maudie, we spotted the ol’Tim Johnson leapin’ up on the opposite side of the street like a mad dog. Without wastin’ a second, we ran back to the house and told Capurnia with deep disbelief that Tim Johnson had caught somethin’. As Calpurnia checked through the door we were reassured that ol’Tim Johnson did ctach somethin’ wrong ‘n’ hence we found Calpurnia bombardin’ Mr. Heck Tate’s phone like crazy.  Minutes later Mr. Tate, surrounded by his bullets ‘n’ shotgun, along with Atticus arrived beside our front door. After a brief inquisition of what is goin’ on here, Atticus ‘n’ Mr. Tate decided to wait; wait ‘til Tim Johnson gets to us instead of us goin’ to Tim Johnson.  With ten minutes of waitin’, ol’Tim Johnson stumbled into the scene and me ‘n’ Jem ran up stair to find a better view. We saw Atticus ‘n’ Mr. Heck Tate began discussing as ol’Tim Johnson reached the Radley front gate. Then we saw Mr. Tate just naturally handed the gun to Atticus as if Atticus was the real sheriff of the town. After much argument as to who will have the gun, Atticus finally took it over and walked into the middle of the road. Moments later, as Jem ‘n’ I were rubbin’ our eyes out of shear surprise, we found Atticus rasin’ the gun ike Robin hood with his silver bow, so swiftly ‘n’ coordinated. Atticus aimed from the barrel. Just as we were wonderin’ if he can hit it, with a deafening crack, the barrel spit fire and Tim Johnson collapsed on the ground (bet he’s as surprised as we were). We watched the whole thing without blinkin’ our eyes, not one bit.  I pinched my skin to check if I was sucked into a fairy tale. We were both verbally impaired for a whole ten minutes. When we finally were ourselves again, Atticus was long gone with Mr. Tate. Later with Miss Maudie we found out that Atticus was the “Ol’One-shot” back in the Landing in his days ‘n’ it is because us that he put down his gun and focused on his family…

Atticus is not just a lawyer, he’s a great, responsible gentleman.