"Bing!" "Maycomb was a tired old town even in 1932 when I first knew it." "Somehow, it was hotter then." "Men's stiff collars wilted by 9:00 in the morning." "Ladies bathed before noon, after their 3:00 naps and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." "A day was 24 hours long, but it seemed longer." "There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go and nothing to buy and no money to buy it with." "Although Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." "That summer I was 6 years old." "Good morning, Mr. Cunningham." "Good morning, miss." "My daddy's getting dressed." "Would you like me to call him for you?" "No, miss, I don't care to bother." "Why, it's no bother, Mr. Cunningham." "He'll be happy to see you." "Atticus." "Atticus!" "Here's Mr. Cunningham." "Good morning, Walter." "Good morning, Mr. Finch." "I didn't want to bother you none." "I brought you these hickory nuts as part of my entailment." "Thank you." "The collards we had last week were delicious." "Well, morning." "Morning, Walter." "Scout, I think maybe next time Mr. Cunningham comes, you'd better not call me." "I thought you'd want to thank him." "Oh, I do." "But I think it embarrasses him to be thanked." "Why does he bring you all this stuff?" "He is paying me for some legal work I did for him." "Why is he paying you like this?" "That's the only way he can." "He has no money." "Is he poor?" "Yes." "Are we poor?" "We are, indeed." "Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?" "No, not exactly." "The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers." "The Crash hit them the hardest." "Scout, call your brother." "Atticus, Jem's up in the tree." "He says he won't come down until you agree to play football for the Methodists." "Jem?" "Son, why don't you come on down out of there now and have your breakfast?" "Calpurnia has a good one." "Hot biscuits." "No, sir." "Not until you agree to play football for the Methodists." "Son, I can't do that." "I explained to you, I'm too old to get out there." "After all, I'm the only father you have." "You wouldn't want me to go and get my head knocked off, would you?" "I ain't coming down." "Suit yourself." "Morning." "Good morning, Miss Maudie." "What's going on over there?" "I'm having a terrible time, Miss Maudie." "Jem's staying up in the tree until Atticus agrees to play football for the Methodists and Atticus says he's too old." "Every time I want him to do something, he's too old." "He's too old for anything." "He can do plenty of things." "You be good, children." "Mind Cal." "Good morning, Maudie." "Good morning, Atticus." "He won't let me have a gun and he'll only play touch football with me, never tackle." "He can make somebody's will so airtight you can't break it." "You count your blessings and stop complaining, both of you." "Thank your stars he has the sense to act his age." "Jem, he is pretty old." "I can't help that." "Hey." "Hey, yourself." "I'm Charles Baker Harris." "I can read." "You got anything that needs reading, I can do it." "How old are you?" "Four-and-a-half?" "Going on seven." "No wonder, then." "Scout's been reading since she was born, and she don't start school till next month." "You look right puny for going on seven." "I'm little, but I'm old." "Folks call me Dill." "I'm from Meridian, Mississippi and I'm spending two weeks next door with my aunt Stephanie." "My mama worked for a photographer in Meridian." "She entered my picture in the Beautiful Child contest and won $5 on it." "She gave the money to me and I went to the picture show 20 times with it." "Our mama's dead but we've got a daddy." "Where's your daddy?" "I haven't got one." "Is he dead?" "No." "Well..." "Well, if he's not dead, you've got one, haven't you?" "Hush, Scout." "What did I do?" "What did I do?" "Uh, Dill, this is Calpurnia." "Pleased to know you, Dill." "Pleased to know you." "My daddy owns the L and N Railroad." "He's going to let me run the engine all the way to New Orleans." "Is that so?" "He says I can invite anybody..." "Shh." "There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life." "Why is he the meanest man?" "Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder." "Come on." "See, he lives over there." "Boo only comes out at night when you're asleep and it's pitch dark." "When you wake up at night, you can hear him." "Once I heard him scratching on our screen door but he was gone by the time Atticus got there." "I wonder what he does in there." "I wonder what he looks like." "Well, judging from his tracks, he's about 6'6" tall." "He eats raw squirrels and all the cats he can catch." "There's a long, jagged scar that runs all the way across his face." "His teeth are yellow and rotten." "His eyes are popped, and he drools most of the time." "Oh, I don't believe you." "Dill, what are you doing here?" "My Lord, Aunt Stephanie!" "You almost gave me a heart attack." "Dill, I don't want you playing around that house over there." "There's a maniac lives there and he's dangerous." "See?" "I was just trying to warn him about Boo." "He wouldn't believe me." "You'd just better believe him, Mr. Dill Harris." "Tell him about the time Boo tried to kill his papa." "I was standing in my yard one day when his mama come out yelling, "He's killing us all. "" "Turned out that Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up the paper for his scrapbook, and when his daddy come by, he reached over with his scissors, stabbed him in his leg, pulled them out and went right on cutting the paper." "They wanted to send him to an asylum." "But his daddy said, "No Radley is going to any asylum. "" "So they locked him up in the basement of the courthouse till he nearly died of the damp, and his daddy brought him back home." "There he is, to this day, sitting over there with his scissors." "Lord knows what he's doing or thinking." "Six, seven, eight, nine, ten." "Come on, Scout." "It's 5:00." "Where are you going?" "Time to meet Atticus." "Why do you call your daddy Atticus?" "Because Jem does." "But why does he?" "I don't know." "He just started to ever since he began talking." "Wait, stop." "Mrs. Dubose is on her porch." "Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back." "There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you as quick as look at you." "Come on." "Hey, Mrs. Dubose." "Don't you say "hey" to me, you ugly girl." "You say, "Good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose. "" "You come over here when I'm talking to you." "You come over here..." "Hey, Atticus." "You listen to me..." "Atticus, this is Dill." "How do you do, Dill?" "Don't your daddy teach you to respect old people?" "You come back here, Jean Louise Finch!" "Good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose." "My!" "You look like a picture this afternoon." "He don't say a picture of what." "My goodness gracious, look at your flowers." "Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?" "Mrs. Dubose, the gardens at Bellingrath have nothing to compare with your flowers." "I don't think they're as nice as last year." "I can't agree with you." "He gets her interested in something nice so she forgets being mean." "I think your yard is going to be the showplace of this town." "Well..." "Grand seeing you, Mrs. Dubose." ""I had two cats" ""which I brought ashore" ""on my first raft." ""And I had a dog. "" "Atticus, do you think Boo Radley ever really comes and looks in my window at night?" "Jem says he does." "This afternoon when we were over by their house..." "Scout." "I told you and Jem to leave those poor people alone." "I want you to stay away from their house and stop tormenting them." "Yes, sir." "I think that's all the reading for tonight, honey." "It's getting late." "What time is it?" "8:30." "May I see your watch?" ""To Atticus, my beloved husband. "" "Atticus, Jem says this watch is going to belong to him someday." "That's right." "Why?" "Well, it's customary for the boy to have his father's watch." "What are you going to give me?" "I don't know that I have much else of value that belongs to me." "But there's a pearl necklace, there's a ring that belonged to your mother." "And I've put them away, and they're to be yours." "Good night, Scout." "Good night." "Good night, Jem." "Good night." "Jem?" "Yeah." "How old was I when Mama died?" "Two." "And how old were you?" "Six." "As old as I am now?" "Mmm-hmm." "Was Mama pretty?" "Mmm-hmm." "Was Mama nice?" "Mmm-hmm." "Did you love her?" "Yeah." "Did I love her?" "Yeah." "Do you miss her?" "Mmm-hmm" "Evening, Atticus." "Good evening, Judge." "Rather warm, isn't it?" "Yes, indeed." "How's Mrs. Taylor?" "She's fine, thank you." "Atticus, you've heard about Tom Robinson?" "Yes, sir." "Grand jury will get around to charging him tomorrow." "I was thinking about appointing you to take his case." "I realize you're very busy these days with your practice and your children need a great deal of your time." "Yes, sir." "I'll take the case." "I'll send a boy over for you tomorrow, when his hearing comes up." "Well, uh," "I'll see you tomorrow, Atticus." "Yes, sir." "And thank you." "Yes, sir." "Hey, Jem." "I bet you a Gray Ghost against two Tom Swifts you wouldn't go any farther than Boo Radley's gate." "You're scared to, ain't you?" "I ain't scared." "I go past Boo Radley's house nearly every day of my life." "Always running." "You hush up, Scout." "Come on, Dill." "Me first!" "You gotta let Dill be first." "No, me." "Let her be first." "All right, get in." "Hurry up." "All right." "You ready?" "Uh-huh." "Let her go." "Scout!" "Scout, get away from there!" "Scout, come on!" "Scout, don't just lie there." "Get up!" "Come on, Scout." "Run for your life, Scout!" "Come on, Dill." "Now who's a coward?" "You tell them about this back in Meridian County, Mr. Dill Harris." "I'll tell you what let's do." "Let's go down to the courthouse and see the room they locked Boo up in." "My aunt says it's bat-infested, and he nearly died from the mildew." "Come on, I bet they've got chains and instruments of torture down there." "Come on." "Young Finch." "Yes, sir." "If you're looking for your daddy, he's inside the courthouse." "Thank you, sir, but we're not looking for..." "Thank you, Mr. Townsend, sir." "What is your daddy doing in the courthouse?" "He's a lawyer and he has a case." "The grand jury is charging his client today." "I heard something about it last night when Judge Taylor came over." "Let's go watch." "No, Dill." "He wouldn't like that." "Dill!" "Dill, wait a minute." "Is that the courtroom?" "Yeah." "Shh." "I can't see anything." "Shh." "You all lift me up so I can see what's going on." "All right." "Make a saddle, Scout." "Not much is happening." "The judge looks like he's asleep." "I see your daddy and a colored man." "The colored man..." "Shh." "The colored man looks to me like he's crying." "And I've seen him..." "I wonder what he's done to cry about." "What's going on?" "There's a whole lot of men sitting together on one side and one man keeps pointing at the colored man and yelling." "They're taking the colored man away." "Where's Atticus?" "I can't see your daddy now, either." "I wonder where in the world..." "Scout, Jem." "What in the world are you doing here?" "Hello, Atticus." "What are you doing here?" "We came down to find out where Boo Radley was locked up." "We wanted to see the bats." "I want you all back home right away." "Yes, sir." "Run along, now." "I'll see you there for dinner." "Hey, Atticus." "Mr. Ewell." "Captain, I'm real sorry they picked you to defend that nigger that raped my Mayella." "I don't know why I didn't kill him myself instead of going to the sheriff." "That would've saved you and the sheriff and the taxpayers lots of trouble." "Excuse me, Mr. Ewell, I'm very busy." "Hey, captain, somebody told me just now that they thought that you believed Tom Robinson's story against ours." "And you know what I said?" "I said, "You're wrong, man." "You're dead wrong." ""Mr. Finch ain't taking his story against ours. "" "They was wrong, wasn't they?" "I've been appointed to defend Tom Robinson." "And now that he's been charged, that's what I intend to do." "You're taking his..." "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Ewell." "What kind of man are you?" "You've got children of your own." "Hey, Jem." "Jem?" "I think we ought to stay right here in Miss Stephanie's yard." "You don't have to come along, Angel Mae." "What are you going to do?" "We're going to look in the window at the Radley house and see if we can get a look at Boo Radley." "Come on, Dill." "Jem, please, I'm scared." "Then go home if you're scared!" "I swear, Scout, you act more like a girl all the time." "Come on, Dill." "Wait for me." "I'm coming." "Shh." "We'll go around back, crawl under the high wire fence at the rear of the Radley lot." "I don't believe we can be seen from there." "Shh." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on, help me." "Shh." "Don't make a sound." "Spit on it." "All right." "Jem..." "Shh." "Spit some more." "All right." "Come on." "Hurry." "Hurry." "Scout." "Quick." "Come over here." "Shh." "Shh." "Quiet." "What are you going to do for pants, Jem?" "I don't know." "Dill?" "Dill!" "You come on in, now." "Shh." "I'd better go." "Dill?" "Coming, Aunt Stephanie." "So long." "I'll see you next summer." "So long." "So long." "Dill?" "I'm coming." "I'm going back after my pants." "Please, Jem, come on in the house." "I can't go in without my pants." "Then I'm going to call Atticus." "No, you're not." "Now, listen." "Atticus ain't never whipped me since I can remember and I plan to keep it that way." "Then I'm going with you." "You ain't." "You stay right here." "I'll be back before you can count to 10." "Jem." "One, two, three, four..." "Jem." "Scout." "Come on in." "Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten," "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen." "Jem." "Shh." "Shh." "What was that?" "What is it?" "What happened?" "What's going on?" "What is it?" "Atticus, what is it?" "Will somebody please tell me what's going on?" "Mr. Radley shot at a prowler out in his collard patch." "A prowler?" "Oh, Maudie!" "Whoever it was won't be back anytime soon." "Mr. Radley must've scared them out of their wits." "Good night." "Good night." "Good night, Atticus." "Scared the living daylights out of me." "I swear, a prowler." "He said a prowler." "Come on, now." "The excitement is over." "Time for bed." "Scout, Jem." "Morning." "Good morning, Miss Maudie." "Morning, Calpurnia." "I came to see Jean Louise ready for her first day at school." "Scout." "Morning, Mrs. Maudie." "All ready for school?" "Yes, ma'am." "Scout!" "What are you going to do with yourself this morning with both children at school?" "I don't know, and that's the truth." "I was thinking about that just now." "Scout?" "Scout?" "Scout!" "Did you hear me, Scout?" "Now, hurry." "Hey, everybody, look at Scout." "Shh." "Come on in here, Scout." "Have your breakfast." "I think your dress is mighty becoming, honey." "Now don't go tugging at that dress, Scout." "You want to have it all wrinkled before you even get to school?" "I still don't see why I have to wear a darn old dress." "You'll get used to it." "I'm ready." "Oh, Jem." "Jem..." "It's half an hour before school starts." "Sit back down and wait for your sister." "Well, hurry up, Scout." "I'm trying to." "Come on." "It's your first day." "You want to be late?" "I'm ready." "Come on, let's go." "Bye." "Bye, bye." "Darn you, Walter Cunningham!" "Come on, Walter!" "Cut that out!" "What do you think you're doing?" "He made me start off on the wrong foot!" "I was trying to explain to that darn lady teacher why he didn't have no money for his lunch and she got sore at me." "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Is your daddy Mr. Walter Cunningham from Old Sarum?" "Come home and have dinner with us, Walter." "We'd be glad to have you." "Our daddy's a friend of your daddy's." "Scout here is crazy." "She won't fight you no more." "I hope that's a dinner that you enjoy." "Yes, sir." "I don't know when I've had a roast." "We've been having squirrels and rabbits lately." "My pa and I go hunting in our spare time." "You've got a gun of your own?" "Uh-huh." "How long have you had a gun?" "A year or so." "Can I have the syrup, please?" "Certainly, son." "Cal." "Will you bring in the syrup dish, please?" "Yes, sir." "How old were you when you got your first gun, Atticus?" "Thirteen or fourteen." "I remember when my daddy gave me that gun." "He told me that I should never point at anything in the house." "And that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard." "But he said that sooner or later he'd suppose the temptation to go after birds would be too much." "That I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted if I could hit them." "But to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird." "Why?" "I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy." "They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncribs." "They don't do one thing, but just sing their hearts out for us." "How did you like school, Scout?" "All right." "Thank you, Cal." "That's for Walter." "What in the Sam Hill are you doing..." "But, Atticus, he's gone and drowned his dinner in syrup and now he's pouring it all over." "Scout." "What?" "Come out here." "I want to talk to you." "That boy is your company and if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you'll let him, you hear?" "And if you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just sit here and eat in the kitchen." "Scout." "Scout." "Scout, what in the world has got into you?" "Not going back." "Now, now." "Not going back." "Atticus, I'm not going back to school anymore." "Scout, it's just the first day." "I don't care." "Everything went wrong." "My teacher got mad as the devil at me and said you were teaching me to read all wrong, and to stop it." "Then acted like a fool and tried to give Walter Cunningham a quarter when everybody knows Cunninghams won't take nothing from nobody." "Any fool could have told her that." "Well..." "Maybe she's just nervous." "After all, it's her first day, too, teaching school and being new here." "Oh, Atticus." "Now, wait a minute." "If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks." "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view." "Sir?" "Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." "But if I keep going to school, we can't ever read anymore." "Scout?" "Do you know what a compromise is?" "Bending the law?" "Uh..." "No." "It's an agreement reached by mutual consent." "Here is the way it works." "You concede the necessity of going to school and we'll keep right on reading the same every night, just as we always have." "Is that a bargain?" "There just didn't seem to be anyone or anything" "Atticus couldn't explain." "Though it wasn't a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends," "Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that." "But that was all he was good at, we thought." "See, there he is!" "Scout, Jem, come on inside." "Come on, get in." "Mr. Finch?" "This is Cal." "I swear to God, there's a mad dog down the street apiece." "He's coming this way." "There he is." "He's got it all right, Mr. Finch." "Stay inside, Son." "Keep him in there, Cal." "He's within range, Heck." "Take him, Mr. Finch." "No, Mr. Tate." "He can't shoot." "Don't waste time." "For God's sake, Mr. Finch, he's got to be killed right away, before he starts running." "Look where he is." "I can't shoot that well." "You know it." "I haven't shot a gun in years." "I'd feel mighty comfortable if you did now." "Don't go near that dog, do you understand?" "He's just as dangerous dead as alive." "Yes, sir." "Atticus?" "Yes, Son." "Nothing." "What's the matter, boy?" "Can't you talk?" "Didn't you know your daddy is the best shot in this county?" "Hush, Heck." "Let's get back to town." "Remember, don't go near that dog." "Yes, sir." "I'll send Zeebo out right away to pick him up." "Hey, Atticus." "Can we go with you?" "Can we, please?" "Can we?" "No." "I have to go to the country on business, and you'll just get tired." "No, not me." "I won't get tired." "Promise to stay in the car while I go in and talk to Helen Robinson?" "Mmm-hmm." "And not nag me about leaving if you do get tired?" "All right, climb in." "Who's Helen Robinson?" "She's the wife of the man I'm defending." "Good evening, David." "Evening." "Evening, Helen." "Evening, Mr. Finch." "I came over to tell you about my visit with Tom." "Yes, sir." "And to let you know that I got a postponement of the trial." "Give things a chance to cool down." "Would you tell my daddy to come out here, please?" "You nigger lover." "No need to be afraid of him, Son." "He's all bluff." "Nigger lover!" "There's a lot of ugly things in this world, Son." "I wish I could keep them all away from you." "That's never possible." "Cal, you wait until I get Scout in bed." "I'll drive you home." "Yes, sir." "Jem, would you mind staying here with Scout till I get Cal home?" "No, sir." "Night, Jem." "Night, Cal." "Atticus!" "Atticus!" "Atticus!" "Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore." "I was far too old and too big for such childish things and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be." "I soon forgot." "Cecil Jacobs made me forget." "What is it, Scout?" "Atticus, do you defend niggers?" "Don't say "nigger," Scout." "I didn't say it." "Cecil Jacobs did." "That's why I had to fight him." "Scout, I don't want you fighting." "I had to, Atticus, he..." "I don't care what the reasons are." "I forbid you to fight." "Yes, sir." "Anyway, I'm simply defending a Negro, Tom Robinson." "Scout, there are some things that you're not old enough to understand just yet." "There's been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn't do much about defending this man." "If you shouldn't be defending him, then why are you doing it?" "For a number of reasons." "The main one is that if I didn't," "I couldn't hold my head up in town." "I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again." "Oh, Scout." "You're going to hear some ugly talk about this in school." "But I want you to promise me one thing, that you won't get into fights over it, no matter what they say to you." "Yes, sir." "What're you doing?" "I'm walking like an Egyptian." "We were studying about them in school." "Teacher says we wouldn't be no place without them." "Is that so?" "Cradle of civilization." "They invented embalming and toilet paper." "That's wrong, Scout." "You dig your feet, this way." "Look, Jem." "Look, the boy wore his hair in front of his eyebrows like you do." "And the girl wears bangs like you." "These are us." "Jem, are you awake?" "Go back to bed." "I can't go to sleep." "Go back to bed." "What you got in the box?" "Nothing." "Go back to bed." "Come on." "If I show you, will you swear never to tell anybody?" "I swear." "Cross your heart." "I found all of these in the knothole of that old tree at different times." "This is a spelling medal." "They used to award these in school to spelling winners before we were born." "And another time I found this." "And this." "And Scout..." "Something else I never told you about that night I went back to the Radley house." "Something else?" "You never told me anything about that night." "Well..." "You know the first time I was getting out of my britches?" "Uh-huh." "They was all in a tangle, and I couldn't get them loose." "Well, when I went back though," "they were folded across the fence, sort of like they was expecting me." "It was to be a long time before Jem and I talked about Boo again." "School finally ended and summer came and so did Dill." "Good morning." "My, you're up mighty bright and early." "I've been up since 4:00." "4:00?" "Yes." "I always get up at 4:00." "It's in my blood." "You see, my daddy was a railroad man until he got rich." "Now he flies airplanes." "One of these days, he's just going to swoop down here at Maycomb, pick me up, and take me for a ride." "Who's that in the car with Sheriff Tate?" "Tom Robinson, Son." "Where's he been?" "In the Abbotsville jail." "Why?" "The sheriff thought he'd be safer there." "They're bringing him back here tonight, because his trial is tomorrow." "Good evening, Heck." "Evening, Mr. Finch." "Come in." "The news has gotten around the county about my bringing Tom Robinson back to the jail." "I heard there might be trouble from that bunch out at Old Sarum." "Cal, if I need you to stay here tonight, can you do it?" "Yes, sir, I can." "Thank you." "I think you'd better count on staying." "Yes, sir." "What's going on?" "Shh." "Go back to sleep." "What's going on?" "Shh." "Hey, there's his car." "See, there he is, over there." "No, Scout, don't go to him." "He might not like it." "I just wanted to see where he was and what he was up to." "He's all right." "Let's go back home." "Come on." "He in there, Mr. Finch?" "He is." "He's asleep." "Don't wake him." "You know what we want." "Get aside from that door, Mr. Finch." "Walter," "I think you ought to turn right around and go back home." "Heck Tate's around here somewhere." "No, he ain't." "Heck and his bunch is out chasing around Old Sarum looking for us." "We knew he was so we came in this other way." "You ain't never thought about that, had you, Mr. Finch?" "I thought about it." "I can't see Atticus." "That changes things..." "Atticus!" "Hey, Atticus." "Jem, go home, and take Scout and Dill home with you." "Son, I said, go home." "No, sir." "I'll send him home!" "Don't you touch him." "Let him go!" "That'll do, Scout." "Ain't nobody gonna do Jem that way." "Now, you get them out of here, Mr. Finch!" "Jem, I want you to please leave." "No, sir." "Jem." "I tell you, I ain't going." "Hey, Mr. Cunningham." "I said, hey, Mr. Cunningham." "How's your entailment getting along?" "Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham?" "I'm Jean Louise Finch." "You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember?" "We had a talk." "I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you." "I go to school with your boy." "I go to school with Walter." "He's a nice boy." "Tell him "hey" for me, won't you?" "You know something, Mr. Cunningham?" "Entailments are bad." "Entailments..." "Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry." "Takes a long time sometimes." "What's the matter?" "I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham." "No harm taken, young lady." "I'll tell Walter you said "hey. "" "Let's clear out of here." "Let's go, boys." "Now, you go home." "All of you." "I'll be there later." "Good luck." "Come on." "Mr. Finch, are they gone?" "They've gone." "They won't bother you anymore." "Morning, Mr. Sykes." "How do you do?" "Ever see so many people?" "Just like on Saturday." "Where you going?" "I can't stand it any longer." "I'm going downtown to the courthouse to watch." "You'd better not." "You know what Atticus said." "I don't care if he did." "I'm not going to miss the most exciting thing that ever happened in this town." "It's packed solid." "They're standing all along the back." "Reverend." "Yes?" "Reverend Sykes, are you going upstairs?" "Yes, I am." "Thanks, Brother Jones, for holding my seat." "Please be seated." "Come on, children." "It's the Rev." "This court is now in session." "Everybody rise." "On the night of August 21," "I was just leaving my office to go home when Bob..." "Mr. Ewell came in." "Very excited, he was, and he said to get to his house as quick as I could, that his girl had been raped." "I got to my car and went out there as fast as I could." "She was pretty well beat up." "I asked her if Tom Robinson beat her like that." "She said, "Yes, he had. "" "I asked if he'd taken advantage of her." "She said, "Yes, he did. "" "That's all there was to it." "Thank you." "Did anybody call a doctor, Sheriff?" "No, sir." "Why not?" "I didn't think it was necessary." "She was pretty well beat up." "Something sure happened, it was obvious." "Sheriff, you say she was mighty beat up." "In what way?" "She was beaten around the head." "There were bruises already coming on her arms." "She had a black eye starting." "Which eye?" "Let's see, it was her left." "Now, was that..." "Was that her left, facing you, or looking the way that you were?" "Yes, that would make it her right eye." "It was her right eye, Mr. Finch." "Now I remember." "She was beaten up on that side of her face." "Which side, again?" "Her right side." "She had bruises on her arms." "And she showed me her neck." "There were definite finger marks on her gullet." "All around her neck, at the back of her throat?" "I'd say they were all around." "The witness may be seated." "Robert E. Lee Ewell." "Place your hand on the Bible, please." "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "I do." "Sit down, please." "Now, Mr. Ewell, will you tell us, just in your own words, what happened on August 21?" "Late that night," "I was coming in from the woods, with a load of kindling and I heard Mayella screaming as I got to the fence." "So, I dropped my kindling and run just as fast as I could, but I run into the fence." "But when I got loose," "I run up to the window, and I seen him with my Mayella." "What did you do after you saw the defendant?" "I ran around the house trying to get in, but he done run through the front door, just ahead of me." "But I seen who it was, all right." "I seen him!" "And I run in the house and poor Mayella was lying on the floor, squalling." "Then I run for Mr. Tate as quick as I could." "Mmm-hmm." "Thank you, Mr. Ewell." "Would you mind if I just ask you a few questions, Mr. Ewell?" "No, sir, Mr. Finch, I sure wouldn't." "Folks were doing a lot of running that night." "Let's see, now." "You say that you ran into the house, you ran to the window, you ran inside, you ran to Mayella, and you ran to Sheriff Tate." "Did you, during all this running, run for a doctor?" "There wasn't no need to." "I seen who done it." "Now, Mr. Ewell, you've heard the sheriff's testimony." "Do you agree with his description of Mayella's injuries?" "I agree with everything Mr. Tate said." "Her eye was blacked." "She was mighty beat up." "Mr. Ewell, can you..." "Can you read and write?" "Yes, Mr. Finch." "I can read and I can write." "Good." "Then will you write your name, please?" "Right there." "Show us." "Now what's so interesting?" "You're left-handed, Mr. Ewell." "What's that got to do with it, Judge?" "I'm a God-fearing man." "That Atticus Finch, he's trying to take advantage of me." "You've got to watch tricky lawyers like Atticus Finch." "Quiet, sir." "The witness may take his seat." "Mayella Violet Ewell." "Put your hand on the Bible, please." "Solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Sit down, please." "Now, Mayella, suppose you tell us just what happened, huh?" "Well, sir..." "Sir," "I was sitting on the porch and he come along." "There was this old chifforobe in the yard and I said," ""You come in here, boy, and bust up this chifforobe and I'll give you a nickel. "" "So, he come on in the yard and I go in the house to get him the nickel." "And I turn around, and before I know it he's on me." "I fought and hollered, but he had me around the neck and he hit me again and again." "And the next thing I knew," "Papa was in the room, standing over me, hollering," ""Who done it?"" "Thank you, Mayella." "Your witness, Atticus." "Miss Mayella, is your father good to you?" "I mean, is he easy to get along with?" "Does tolerable." "Except when he's drinking?" "When he's riled, has he ever beaten you?" "My pa's never touched a hair on my head in my life." "You say that you asked Tom to come in and chop up a..." "What was it?" "A chifforobe." "Was that the first time that you ever asked him to come inside the fence?" "Yes." "Didn't you ever ask him to come inside the fence before?" "I might have." "But can you remember any other occasion?" "No." "You say," ""He caught me, he choked me," ""and took advantage of me," is that right?" "Do you remember him beating you about the face?" "No, I don't recollect if he hit me." "I mean, yes, he hit me!" "Thank you." "Will you identify the man who beat you?" "Most certainly will." "Sitting right yonder." "Tom, will you stand up, please?" "Let Miss Mayella have a good, long look at you." "Tom, will you catch this, please?" "Thank you." "Now, then, this time, will you please catch it with your left hand?" "I can't, sir." "Why can't you?" "I can't use my left hand at all." "I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was 12 years old." "All my muscles were tore loose." "Is this the man who raped you?" "Most certainly is." "How?" "I don't know how." "He just done it." "You have testified that he choked you and he beat you." "You didn't say that he sneaked up behind you and knocked you out cold, but that you turned around" "and there he was." "Do you want to tell us what really happened?" "I've got something to say!" "And then I ain't gonna say no more!" "He took advantage of me." "And if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain't going to do nothing about it, then you're just a bunch of lousy, yellow, stinking cowards!" "The whole bunch of you!" "And your fancy airs don't come to nothing!" "Your "ma'am-ing" and your "Miss Mayella-ing,"" "it don't come to nothing, Mr. Finch!" "Sit down, there." "Poor girl." "Atticus?" "Mr. Gilmer?" "The State rests, Judge." "Tom Robinson, take the stand." "Put your hand on the Bible." "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "I do." "Sit down." "Now, Tom..." "Were you acquainted with Mayella Violet Ewell?" "Yes, sir." "I had to pass her place going to and from the field every day." "Is there any other way to go?" "No, sir, none as I know of." "And did she ever speak to you?" "Yes, sir." "I'd tip my hat when I'd go by." "One day she asked me to come inside the fence, bust up a chifforobe for her." "She gave me the hatchet and I broke it up." "And then she said, "I reckon I'll have to give you a nickel, won't I?"" "And I said, "No, ma'am, there ain't no charge. "" "Then I went home." "Mr. Finch, that was way last spring, way over a year ago." "And did you ever go on the place again?" "Yes, sir." "When?" "I went lots of times." "Seemed like every time I passed by yonder, she'd have some little something for me to do." "Chopping kindling and toting water for her." "Tom, what happened to you on the evening of August 21 of last year?" "Mr. Finch," "I was going home as usual that evening." "When I passed the Ewell place," "Miss Mayella was on the porch, like she said she was." "She said for me to come there and help her a minute." "I went inside the fence and I looked around for some kindling to work on, but I didn't see nothing." "And then she said to come in the house, she has a door that needs fixing." "So I follows her inside and looked at the door and it looked all right." "Then she shut the door." "All the time I was wondering why it was so quiet like." "Then it come to me, there was not a child on the place." "And I said, "Miss Mayella, where are the children?"" "And she said they all gone to get ice cream." "She said it took her a slap year to save seven nickels, but she done it, and they all gone to town." "What did you say then?" "I said something like," ""Why, Miss Mayella, it's right nice of you to treat them. "" "And she said, "You think so?"" "Well, I said I best be going, I couldn't do nothing for her." "And she said, oh, yes, I could." "And I asked her, "What?"" "And she said to just step on the chair yonder and get that box down from on top of the chifforobe." "So I done like she told me and I was reaching" "and the next thing I know, she grabbed me around the legs." "She scared me so bad, I hopped down and turned the chair over." "That was the only thing, the only furniture disturbed in the room," "Mr. Finch, I swear, when I left it." "And what happened after you turned the chair over?" "Tom?" "You've sworn to tell the whole truth." "Will you do it?" "What happened after that?" "Mr. Finch," "I got down off the chair and I turned around and she sort of jumped on me." "She hugged me around the waist." "She reached up and kissed me on the face." "She said she had never kissed a grown man before and she might as well kiss me." "She said for me to kiss her back." "And I said, "Miss Mayella, let me out of here. "" "And I tried to run." "Then Mr. Ewell cussed at her from the window and said he's going to kill her." "What happened after that?" "I was running so fast, I don't know what happened." "Tom, did you rape Mayella Ewell?" "I did not, sir." "Did you harm her in any way?" "I did not, sir." "Robinson, you're pretty good at busting up chifforobes and kindling with one hand, aren't you?" "Strong enough to choke the breath out of a woman and sling her to the floor?" "I've never done that, sir." "But you're strong enough to?" "I reckon so, sir." "Mmm-hmm." "How come you were so all-fired anxious to do that woman's chores?" "Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her." "Like I said..." "With Mr. Ewell and seven children on the place?" "You did all this chopping and work out of sheer goodness, boy?" "You're a mighty good fellow, it seems." "Did all that for not one penny." "Yes, sir." "I felt right sorry for her." "She seemed..." "You felt sorry for her?" "A white woman?" "You felt sorry for her." "To begin with, this case should never have come to trial." "The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with" "ever took place." "It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant." "There is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely" "by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left." "And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses," "his right." "I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the State." "She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance." "But my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake," "which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt." "I say "guilt," gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her." "She's committed no crime." "She has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society." "A code so severe, that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with." "She must destroy the evidence of her offense." "But, what was the evidence of her offense?" "Tom Robinson, a human being." "She must put Tom Robinson away from her." "Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did." "What did she do?" "She tempted a Negro." "She was white, and she tempted a Negro." "She did something that in our society is unspeakable." "She kissed a black man." "Not an old uncle, but a strong, young Negro man." "No code mattered to her before she broke it." "But it came crashing down on her afterwards." "The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court," "in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted," "confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption," "the evil assumption that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women." "An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie" "which I do not need to point out to you." "And so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro who has had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman" "has had to put his word against two white people's." "The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is." "Now, gentlemen, in this country, our courts are the great levelers." "In our courts, all men are created equal." "I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in our jury system." "That's no ideal to me." "That is a living, working reality." "I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard," "come to a decision and restore this man to his family." "In the name of God, do your duty." "In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson." "How long has the jury been out now, Reverend?" "Let's see." "Almost two hours now." "I think that's an awful good sign, don't you?" "Court's now in session." "Everybody rise." "Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" "We have, Your Honor." "Will the defendant please rise and face the jury?" "What is your verdict?" "We find the defendant guilty as charged." "Gentlemen, this jury is dismissed." "Court's adjourned." "I'll go to see Helen, first thing tomorrow morning." "I told her not to be disappointed, we'd probably lose this one." "Tom." "Yes, Mr. Finch." "Miss Jean Louise?" "Stand up." "Your father's passing." "Atticus." "I'm sorry, Atticus." "Thank you, Maudie." "Atticus, can I see you for a minute?" "Will you excuse me?" "Jem?" "Yes, ma'am." "I don't know if it'll help, but I want to say this to you." "There are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us." "Your father's one of them." "Oh, well." "What's the matter, Atticus?" "Tom Robinson is dead." "They were taking him to Abbotsville for safekeeping." "Tom broke loose and ran." "The deputy called out to him to stop." "Tom didn't stop." "He shot at him to wound him and missed his aim." "Killed him." "The deputy says," ""Tom just ran like a crazy man. "" "The last thing I told him was not to lose heart, that we'd ask for an appeal." "We had such a good chance." "We had more than a good chance." "I have to go out and tell his family." "Would you look after the children, Maudie?" "Atticus, you want me to go with you?" "No, Son." "I think I'd better go up there alone." "Atticus." "I'm going with you." "All right, Son." "Hello, Mr. Finch." "I'm Spence, Tom's father." "Hello, Spence." "Is Helen here?" "Yes, sir." "She's inside, lying down, trying to get a little sleep." "We've been talking about the appeal, Mr. Finch." "How long you think it will take?" "Spence..." "There isn't going to be any appeal." "Not now." "Tom is dead." "Dead?" "Helen." "Boy, go inside and tell Atticus Finch I said, "Come out here. "" "Go on, boy." "By October, things had settled down again." "I still looked for Boo every time I went by the Radley place." "This night, my mind was filled with Halloween." "There was to be a pageant representing our county's agricultural products." "I was to be a ham." "Jem said that he would escort me to the school auditorium." "Thus began our longest journey together." "Scout?" "Yeah?" "Will you come on?" "Everybody's gone!" "I can't go home like this!" "I'm going." "It's almost 10:00 and Atticus will be waiting for us." "All right, I'm coming." "But I feel like a fool, walking home like this." "It's not my fault you lost your dress." "I didn't lose it." "I just can't find it." "Where are your shoes?" "I can't find them, either." "You can get them tomorrow." "But tomorrow is Sunday." "You can get the janitor to let you in." "Come on." "Here, Scout, let me hold on to you before you break your neck." "You don't have to hold me." "Shh." "What's the matter?" "Hush a minute, Scout." "I thought I heard something." "Ah!" "Come on." "Wait." "Are you trying to scare me?" "Shh." "You know I'm too old." "Be quiet." "I heard an old dog then." "It's not that." "I hear it when we're walking along." "When we stop, I don't hear it anymore." "Oh, yeah, my costume rustling." "Halloween got you." "I hear it now." "I'll bet it's just old Cecil Jacobs trying to scare us." "Cecil Jacobs is a big wet hen!" "Come on." "Run, Scout!" "Run, Scout!" "Run, run!" "Scout!" "Scout!" "What happened?" "I swear I don't know." "I just don't know." "Cal, you go and tell Dr. Reynolds to come over." "Yes, sir." "You all right?" "Yes, sir." "Are you sure?" "Yes, sir." "Sheriff Tate, please." "Atticus, is Jem dead?" "No, he's unconscious." "We won't know how badly he's hurt until the doctor gets here." "Heck, Atticus Finch." "Someone's been after my children." "He's got a bad break, so far as I can tell." "Like somebody tried to wring his arm off." "I'll be right back, Atticus." "How's the boy, Doc?" "He'll be all right." "Sheriff Tate." "What is it, Heck?" "Bob Ewell's lying on the ground, under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs." "He's dead, Mr. Finch." "You sure?" "Yes, sir." "He's not gonna bother these children anymore." "Miss Scout, do you think you could tell us what happened?" "I don't know." "All of a sudden somebody grabbed me, knocked me down on the ground." "Jem found me then." "Then Mr. Ewell, I reckon, grabbed him again, and Jem hollered." "Then somebody grabbed me." "Mr. Ewell, I guess." "Somebody grabbed him." "Then I heard someone panting and coughing." "And I saw someone carrying Jem." "Who was it?" "There he is, Mr. Tate." "He'll tell you his name." "Hey, Boo." "Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley." "I believe he already knows you." "Heck, let's go out on the front porch." "Would you like to say good night to Jem, Mr. Arthur?" "You can pet him, Mr. Arthur." "He's asleep." "You couldn't if he was awake, though." "He wouldn't let you." "Go ahead." "Come sit in the swing, Mr. Arthur." "I guess that the thing to do is..." "Good Lord, I must be losing my memory." "I can't remember whether Jem is 12 or 13." "Anyway, it'll have to come before the County court." "Of course, it is a clear-cut case of self-defense." "I'll run down to the office..." "Mr. Finch, do you think Jem killed Bob Ewell?" "Is that what you think?" "Your boy never stabbed him." "Bob Ewell fell on his knife." "He killed himself." "There's a black man dead for no reason and now the man responsible for it is dead." "Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch." "I never heard tell it was against the law for any citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did." "But maybe you'll tell me that it's my duty to tell the town all about it, not to hush it up." "You know what will happen then." "All the ladies in Maycomb, including my wife, will be knocking on his door bringing angel food cakes." "To my way of thinking, taking the one man who's done you and this town a big service and dragging him, with his shy ways, into the limelight," "to me, that's a sin." "It's a sin and I'm not about to have it on my head." "I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still Sheriff of Maycomb County" "and Bob Ewell fell on his knife." "Good night, sir." "Mr. Tate was right." "What do you mean?" "It would be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" "Thank you, Arthur." "Thank you for my children." "Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness, and little things in between." "Boo was our neighbor." "He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife" "and our lives." "One time, Atticus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them." "Just standing on the Radley porch was enough." "The summer that had begun so long ago had ended and another summer had taken its place, and a fall, and Boo Radley had come out." "I was to think of these days many times, of Jem and Dill and Boo Radley and Tom Robinson" "and Atticus." "He would be in Jem's room all night." "And he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."