Journal #- Chapters 8-9 - Perspective: Atticus

Well, it was the coldest weather Maycomb has gotten since 1885. And not to mention it snowed! It has snowed since 1885 either! It was good for the kids though. They could experience something that that have never seen. Maycomb barely has a winter. Sometimes it feels like autumn just turns into spring. Jem and Scout asked if there was enough snow to make a snowman. I highly doubted it, but I knew they would think something up. And none the less, when I got home for lunch they had taken all the snow from the back yard, carried it into the front and made a snowman. It looked exactly like Mr. Avery, so were debating on how to disguise it. They ended up using Ms. Maudie’s gardening hat and pliers.

As I was walking back to work after lunch I was thinking about what scout had told me about Cecil Jacob’s saying things about me and how I was a disgrace for defending a black man. The perplexity of this new case was so much for Scout and Jem to handle it just wasn’t the right time to tell them everything, but they will find out soon enough.

I woke up at around 1 in the morning and there was a fire adjacent to our house. Ms. Maudie’s house was on fire! The whole neighborhood was fanatical, so I rushed upstairs and got the kids out of the house as quickly as possible. I told them to go stand in front of the Radley place, and with a little hesitation they listened. Then all of the men started to rush everything out of Ms. Maudie’s house, and after a little bit, I saw Boo Radley walk down his yard and rap a blanket around a shivering Scout. Neither she nor Jem noticed. When the commotion was over everyone went back home. When I awoke I told calpurnia the kids need not to go to school.

When I got home for lunch Scout still had the blanket wrapped around her, so I asked her where she got it. She and Jem were dumbstruck. They had no idea. They thought it had been Nathan Radley. They were both shocked when I told them it was Boo.

Uncle Jack came for Christmas, and like every year, we went to the Finch landing. Scout was acquainted with Francis, but I could tell that she did not like him. Later on that night, Scout had punched Francis in the face and Francis said she had called him bad things. Uncle Jack was quit to give her a licking. After that, I knew it was time to leave.

Once everyone was in bed I was talking to Jack. We were talking about the case and what it would do to Jem and Scout. I knew that scout was around the corner listening, but I wanted her to hear this. After a little bit of talking I called her name. She replied with a shocked yes sir, and I told her to go to bed. She would find out how I knew she was there later. It wasn’t important now. The only important thing was that she heard what she needed to.