Today while Jem and I were shooting our air guns, Jem spotted Tim Johnson, the town’s dog. He was walking kind of funny and Jem said she thought he was sick, so we ran home to Calpurnia. Jem told Calpurnia that there was a sick dog. Cal said that she had no time to patch up a hurt dog and told us that there was gauze by the sink in the bathroom. But then once Jem told her it wasn’t that and he acted out how the dog was walking. Once Cal had seen that, she then ran out to see the dog. She saw Tim and made us run inside with her. She called Atticus and told him that there was a mad dog. Although it was February, Calpurnia said she knew a mad dog when she saw one. She called Atticus to tell him about the dog and quickly hung up. When we tried to ask what he had said, she shook her head and dialed again. She called Miss Eula May and told her to notify everyone with a phone to stay inside because there was a mad dog. I was scared, I was struck with complexity about the situation and I was frightened. Atticus came home not too long after with the sheriff. They waited for Tim to see which way he was going, and to determine whether or not he was sick, or just tired and old. He started getting closer and the sheriff gave Atticus the gun to take the shot. Atticus was hesitant and finally took the shot. He killed Tim, and Jem and I were in awe of the situation. Especially because he wouldn’t even teach us about our air guns, he left that to Uncle Jack. Earlier that day, I was complaining about Atticus and how he was much older than the other parents of my school contemporaries. He would play tag, and football, but was just old and didn’t do the same things other parents did. But, after he shot Tim, my perspective on him changed. He was a hero and I was proud of Atticus. Miss Maudie told Jem and I about Atticus when he was younger and how he was the deadest shot in Maycomb. Jem and I were surprised. I wanted to tell everyone at school on Monday. But Jem told me not to say anything because Atticus obviously didn’t want us to know about or else he would have told us.
Mrs. Dubose was the meanest lady I have probably ever known. The day after Jem’s twelfth birthday, he was dying to spend his money. Mrs. Dubose lived on the way to town. Jem wanted to buy himself a steam engine, and was going to get me a twirling baton. While passing, Mrs. Dubose was on her front porch. Immediately she started hollering at us asking why we weren’t at school Jem replied “It’s Saturday Mrs. Dubose.” She was harassing us, and asking why we were walking alone. Each time, we would reply kindly. She then talked about the Finch’s and how Atticus gave our family and our town a bad name for defending a nigger. She told us, “Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for.” Mrs. Dubose had gotten to Jem and I and she knew it. We kept walking. On our way back home, Mrs. Dubose was not on her porch. Jem grabbed my baton, jumped through the fence and chopped the top of every Camellia bush. Broke my baton on his knee and threw it on the ground. I was yelling at him and he told me to shut up and pulled my hair, then kicked me to the ground. He helped me up roughly, but looked sorry. We went home and didn’t talk about it. Atticus got home and had my baton in one hand, and Camellia buds in the other. Jem immediately went to Mrs. Dubose to apologize. When he came home, he said that Mrs. Dubose wanted him to read to her every afternoon for two hours for a month. That month went by long and hard. When the month passed, she said she wanted another week. Every day, she would set her timer to be longer and longer. Finally, she told us that was all and to have a good day. We left her house and never went back. About a week later, Atticus got a call and went to Mrs. Dubose’s house. When he got back, we were informed that she had died. He gave Jem a chocolate box which had a Camellia bud. He threw the box in the fire. Angry, I did not understand why, but when I went off to bed, I saw him playing with the pedals.
Atticus was gone for the week and we were with Cal. It was Saturday night and church was the next day. Cal didn’t want us going alone, so she said we could go with her to her church. I was excited. Morning came and we went to First Purchase, a church that was purchased by Negroes and freed slaves. It was much different from our church. They had no hymn books, decorations and other things that most churches had. They sang differently too. A woman named Lula was not happy about Calpurnia bringing us there. She said we didn’t belong there and that we had our own church. Cal fought back and spoke in ways that I’ve never heard her speak before. She spoke nigger talk like the rest of them when at home with us, she spoke more proper. She talked like her acquaintances I did not understand this and when we got home, I asked her why. She said it was because she had to speak like them because people don’t like it when others know more than they do and that she didn’t need to talk like white folk.
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