TKAM #2

Journal #2
Chapters 4-7
Perspective: Scout


Dear Diary,

As the school year passed by, I was let out 30 minutes before Jem, which meant I had to walk by the Radley Place. Every time I go by there, I run quickly as possible till I tagged the front porch of our house. One day after school, I was running past the Radley Place when something caught my eye, making me go back. There were two oak trees at the corner of the Radley's area and one of them caught my attention. I went up to it and tinfoil stuck out of a knothole. The knothole was right about where my eyes were, so I tiptoed and stuck my finger in the knothole. I found two pieces of unwrapped chewing gum. The first thought I had was to get it in my mouth as soon as possible. Then I realized where I was. When I made it safely to the front porch, I checked out my gum. It looked fresh and smelled fine. I licked it and waited to assume if it will kill me. When I didn't die, I stuffed the gum in my mouth. It was Wrigley's Double Mint. When Jem came home, he asked where I got the gum. I said that I had found it and he got mad. He argued telling me that I should not eat things that I found. I told him I had found it in Radley's tree, and he got even more mad, thinking it was poisoned. He told me to spit it out and gargle or he will call Calpurnia. The last thing I want is for Calpurnia to be mad at me. Summer was coming, and we were impatiently waiting for it. It was the best season for us. The landscapes were colorful, everything was good to eat, sleeping in the tree house, and most of all, Dill. On the last day of school, Jem and I were let out of school earlier. We talked about Dill on the way home. We walked by Radley's and I pointed at the tree where I found my gum for the hundredth time. I wanted Jem to believe me. He looked around on the tree, reached in the knothole and pocketed a shiny package. It looked like one for wedding rings covered in tinfoil from gum wrappers. We ran home. We examined it. We opened it, finding two pennies on top of each other. Jem said they were Indian heads. They were old too. We were trying to figure whose these would belong to because they were valuable. We then decided to keep it till school started. Dill came two days later with a story. We went back to playing our character games. I got sick of them and Jem didn't want to make up characters anymore. We went to the front yard and Dill said he smelled death, saying that I will die in 3 days. I got mad at Dill and Jem started talking about Hot Steams. It was when you walked by a house and its hot. Its someone who cant get to heaven. When you walk through one, you will become one when you die and suck peoples breaths. I told Dill not to believe what Jem said because Calpurnia said it was nigger talk. Jem said to play something and I suggested to roll in the tire. I got into the tire and when Jem pushed it, I could tell he was not happy about what I said of his hot steams story. He was pushing with much force. I then started choking, not being able to breath. I couldn't stop the tire because my arms were folded in, hoping that Jem will stop it or the tire will hit a crack in the road. I heard Jem yelling, chasing the tire behind me. It finally hit a gravel and rolled off to the side of the road. I popped out of the tire, feeling dizzy. I was laying, hearing Jem's shouts. I finally focused and realized I was in front of Mr. Radley's porch. When I realized it, I didn't move. I unfroze and tried to carry myself out of there. Jem kept shouting telling me to bring the tire too. I told him to get it. He showed that he wasn't afraid. There was something else he didn't know about but I remained silent. Calpurnia called for us to drink our lemonade. Jem developed an idea of a new character, Boo Radley. We acted out scenes and perfected it throughout the summer. One day, We were playing a scene without noticing Atticus. We weren't sure if it was a good idea to play this game anymore. This was the second reason I wanted to quit this game. The first reason happened when I rolled into Radley's place. I heard another sound, a low sound apart from the noise Jem made. I heard someone inside, laughing.

I kept nagging Jem to give up the game when he came with an idea, to give the characters new names. Over the summer, Dill and Jem have been getting closer, and I am starting to feel left out. I've bee hanging out with Miss Maudie Atkinson who was a widow. She works on her flowerbeds and she makes the best cakes in the neighborhood. She and Jack, Atticus' brother had known each other. She told me a story of Boo when I asked her if he was alive. She said yes and that his father was a foot-washing baptist. I was confused so she told me that foot-washers believed everything that gives pleasure is sin. Boo used to be so nice and he is crazy now. The next morning, I saw Jem and Dill talking. I insisted to know what they were talking about. They said they were planning to give Boo a message, to come out and have ice cream. They said that since they told me, I can't pull out. It was Dill's idea. Jem took a yellow bamboo stick and goes over to the house. Jem attached a note on the stick and when he can't get the note off onto the window sill, Dill constantly rang the bell. Atticus caught us and told us to stop bothering him.

It was the last day before Dill was returning to Mississippi, and Atticus let us go to Miss Rachel's fishpool. Me and Jem jumped into Miss Rachel's yard. The boys were planning to go to Boo's house and peak through a shutter. They said that I can come along or keep my mouth shut. I came along and we checked out a window which was covered with curtains. We went to another window, finding his shadow. I thought it was a tree. We ran, and I tripped in the collards. A shotgun shot in the air, and Jem and Dill dove. Jem said to go to the school yard's fence. We rolled under the wire and ran to the tree. We senced that Jem was missing. We went back finding him trying to set free from the wire. His pants were stuck. We made it to the tree and went home. The whole group was there. Maudie said that Boo had shot at a nigger, but shot in the air. Atticus was confused finding Jem pantless when Dill covered it up saying that he won it in strip poker. He said they played with matches. Atticus told Jem to retrieve his pants. We went to Dill's house, and Dill offered his pants which didnt fit. We went to bed, and then Jem woke us up, going to get his pants.

School started, and second grade is just as bad as the first grade. Jem was still very silent, giving incomplete sentences. One afternoon, Jem said that he didn't tell me something. Wow! His first complete sentence in several days. I said about what. He said it was about that night. He said that when he went to get back his pants, it was folded on the wire, whereas he left it stuck on the wire. Plus i was sewed, the way Jem would do it. He said that it was like they were expecting him. We walked to our tree and found something in there. It was like they only came during the school year. We found a ball of gray twine. I told Jem not to talk it, that it probably belonged to someone. We left it to see if anyone would claim it and after two days, we took it. Jem was assuring me that school would get better along the way. Later in the fall, we found soap that was carved out. They were carvings of us. We guessed who would be carving these for us. We found a pack of gum in there which we enjoyed, minus the thought of it being poisoned. We found a medal, asking Atticus about it. It was a spelling medal from a long time ago. We also found a pocket watch which didn't work, hanging on a chain with an aluminum knife. Jem wanted to fix it. We wanted to leave note for the person who were leaving these things to us. The next morning, Jem went ahead and went to put the envelpe in the knothole. His face turned white as he called me over. We discovered that it was filled with cement. Later, Jem asked Boo's brother Nathan if he filled the tree with cement. He said yes because it was dying. Jem was looking upset and later he asked Atticus if the tree was dying. Atticus said no, and that it was healthy. He then added that the Radley's knew more about their own trees, so maybe it was.

Well, until next time,
Scout