by Atticus Finch
Honestly, if this book had been written at almost any other time, it would have been pretty damn boring.
After old Bob Ewell closed that chapter in our lives by falling on his knife, the kids settled into their schoolwork and joined glee club. Jem played baseball for a while, but he didn't really like it. Sometimes they'd drop in at the Radley place to pay their regards to Arthur. They even stopped calling him Boo. After a couple years he died of pneumonia. Or was it diabetes? I suppose I was saddened that he didn't live to see another adventure—but then again, how many chances does one reclusive idiot man-child usually get to stand up for justice in the face of small-minded ignorance, and change the course of a community forever?
Scout's gone through some changes of her own. All fairly standard. Back when I was arguing that case, she was so young and spirited. Always fighting for what she thought was right, bless her heart. I thought she'd go to college and get a degree in journalism, like she talked about, but she dropped out of Tulane after a year and moved back to Maycomb and became a waitress.
I guess she was all adventured out after she got knocked down in her ham outfit.
Nobody really calls her Scout any more. She goes by her given name, Jean Louise. She's well liked by the customers at the diner, I hear tell. I'd like to think it's because of the advice I imparted to try to see things from other people's perspectives. Walk around in their shoes for a while. It probably makes her a good listener. But, from a novelistic standpoint, none of that really stacks up to the time she snuck into the negro balcony at the courthouse to watch me defend Tom Robinson.
My other child, Jem, became a lawyer, but instead of taking over my practice and engaging in more dramatic sagas of social justice, he moved to Birmingham and got a job in tax law. It's not the path I hoped he would take, but I'm proud of him nonetheless.
http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/i_would_say_to_kill_a?utm_source=onion_rss_dailyMaybe it's the English teacher in me, but I find this hilarious. :rofl: