New_Inventions

August 1st, 1930 Dear Diary, I have a brother named Jem and a dad named Atticus. Jem is my older brother. Atticus is a lawyer and lives in Maycomb County with us. We live with an African American cook named Calpurnia. Atticus has a brother named Jack who is in Boston studying medical and a sister named Alexandria who looks after Finchs Landing. Today was great! We met this kid named Charles Baker Harris. We nicknamed him Dill. He is from Mississippi. I have never been to Mississippi before. I must ask Atticus if we can ever visit Dill at his mom’s house. The name Mississippi just sounds so cool. Dill is an adventurous kid who is now my best friend. After hearing about Boo Radley who lives in a "haunted house" Dill dares Jem to try and get him to come out of the house. I am scared out of my head to go anywhere near Boos house…. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 2nd, 1930 Dear Journal, Dill left soon to go back to Meridian, and it was time for me to go to school for the first time. I have been waiting my whole life to go to school, but it turned out to be a great disappointment. Caroline, my very young first grade teacher from North Alabama, was surprised to find that I could read very well. Rather than being proud of me, Miss Caroline told me that I was not allowed to read with my father anymore because Atticus didn't know how to teach. I was crushed. Just before lunch, I tried to helpfully explain to Miss Caroline that Walter Cunningham did not have a lunch with him because he was poor. The class knew that because Miss Caroline wasn't from Maycomb she wouldn't understand that Walter couldn't take the quarter she kept offering him because the Cunningham's didn't borrow what they couldn't pay back. Miss Caroline, however, thought that I was just being rude, so she swatted my hand with a ruler and made me stand in the corner until lunch time. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 3rd, 1930 Dear Diary, As Jem started across the schoolyard to go home for lunch, he found me rubbing Walter Cunningham's nose in the dirt. I blamed him for getting off on the wrong foot with our teacher. Jem called me sister off of the little boy and invited Walter to come home with them for lunch. Walter was hesitant until Jem assured him that our fathers were friends. He also promised Walter that I wouldn't fight him anymore, and although it annoyed me to be bossed around by her big brother, I agreed to behave herself. When Atticus met us at home for lunch, he and Walter talked about farming. I noticed that Walter sounded like a grown man because he knew so much about farming. Dinner went along almost smoothly until Walter poured syrup all over his food and I asked him "what the sam hill was he doing." I had embarrassed Walter so Calpurnia called me into the kitchen and gave me a stern talking-to. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 4th, 1930 Dear Journal, The rest of the school year passed in a cloud of boredom as well as the following years of my public education. For me, the most exciting thing of that year was finding of surprises in the knothole of a Radley oak tree Jem and I passed on the way home from school. The first time I noticed the knothole was one day when something shiny caught my eye. I went back to look and found two pieces of gum in shiny wrappers. After sniffing and licking them to make sure they weren't poisoned, I chewed the wad until Jem came home and made me spit it out. On the last day of school as we walked by the knothole together, we found a ring box wrapped in the shiny tin of gum wrappers and inside were two scrubbed Indian-head pennies. Jem kept the treasures in a trunk in his room and we were puzzled as to who would leave their treasures in the knothole of the oak tree. We had all summer to think about it because school was over and they wouldn't pass by the Radley place anymore until the fall. A week later Dill came back to town. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 5th, 1930 Dear Diary, After enough of my nagging, Jem finally gave up the Boo Radley game. Although Dill had asked me to marry him, he and Jem spent a lot of time on their own. Since Dill and Jem were inseparable, I began to spend the evenings on Miss Maudie Atkinson's porch. Miss Maudie had always allowed Jem and Scout to play in her yard across the street from the Finch house provided that they stayed out of her flowers. Before I began spending time with her on her porch, Jem and I had never really gotten to know her, but once we did, we found out that she was a nice lady despite her big mouth. One night I asked her if Boo Radley was still alive. Miss Maudie said that Arthur was his name and he was indeed alive. She insisted that the stories I had heard were made up. The next morning Dill and Jem decided to write Boo a note and stick it on the windowsill with a fishing pole so that they wouldn't have to go up to the house and risk getting caught.  To me that plan was stupid. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 6th, 1930 Dear Journal, Although Atticus had instructed us to leave Boo Radley alone, Jem and Dill just couldn't let it go. So on Dill's last night in Maycomb, after watching Mr. Avery pee off of his porch, Jem and Dill convinced me to go with them over to the Radley place and sneak up to the house to look in the window. They couldn't see much in the window, so Jem had creeped up onto the porch and was peeking in the window when Dill and I saw a long, black shadow fall over him. Jem felt it and looked up. The shadow retreated and the kids took off running. Almost to the fence line that separated Radley property from the schoolyard, we heard a shotgun blast go off. We scrambled through the fence, but Jem caught his pants on the barbed wire and had to wiggle out of them and head for home. When we got to our house we saw a small crowd gathered in front of the Radley house, and they went over so as not to look suspicious. Nathan Radley was explaining that a colored man had been on his property and he didn't shoot at him, but he planned to put a bullet in whatever caused the next sound he heard out there. After a moment Miss Stephanie noticed that Jem wasn't wearing pants. We made up an excuse about losing the pants to Dill in a game of strip poker played with matches. That night while Jem and I were out on the porch, Jem decided that he had to go back to the Radley place for his pants so he wouldn't have to tell Atticus what happened. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 7th, 2009 Dear Diary, Jem stayed quiet and moody for a week, so I left him alone until he was ready to talk. School started, and I discovered that second grade wasn't much of an improvement on first grade. One afternoon Jem confessed the secret he'd been mulling over since the night he went back to the Radley place to retrieve his pants. He told me that when he'd wriggled out of his pants in such a hurry, they'd been tangled up in the fence, but when he went back to get them, they were folded across the fence and had been sewn up in a crude manner. They had seemed to be waiting for him, and that worried Jem. They walked past their tree with the knothole and a gray ball of twine was stuck in the hole. They waited for three days before they took it just to be sure it wasn't someone's hiding place, but no one claimed the twine, so Jem took it. As days passed we found two soap carvings that closely resembled us, an entire pack of gum, a spelling bee medal, and a broken pocket watch with an aluminum knife on its chain. We decided to leave a note for their owner, but beforewe could leave the note in the knothole, Nathan Radley had cemented the knothole over. Nathan claimed that the tree was dying, so he cemented it up to save it. Later that evening Jem asked Atticus if the tree looked sick, and he said no. When Jem came in from the porch, I could tell he'd been crying. I just stayed quiet and didn’t ask a thing. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 8th, 1930 Dear Diary, That winter an unusual thing happened in Maycomb County, it snowed. Mr. Avery insisted that the weather changed because of bad children like Jem and I. We ignored him and went on playing in the thin layer of snow. Then Jem was struck with inspiration. He constructed a skeleton of sticks and mud before he plastered the snow over it, and snowman looked suspiciously like Mr. Avery. Atticus, amused and impressed, insisted that we try to disguise the resemblance by dressing it up with Miss Maudie's straw hat and garden shears. That night was colder than anyone in Maycomb County remembered, and Atticus woke me up after what seemed like only a few minutes of sleep because Miss Maudie's house was burning. Atticus sent Jem and I down the street by the Radley place to watch from a safe distance, and we stood there shivering as their neighbor's house melted to ashes. Jem and I shivered together on the sidewalk in front of the Radley place, and when we went back home, Atticus noticed a brown blanket around my shoulders. I had no idea where it came from and was shocked when Jem and Atticus discovered that it was Boo who had covered me up. When Atticus suggested that we return the blanket, Jem refused and then poured out all their secrets about his pants, about the knothole, and how Nathan cemented up the knothole to keep them from having contact with Boo. Atticus agreed that they should just keep all of this to themselves and maybe one day I could thank the man who covered her with the blanket. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 9th, 1930 Dear Diary, A kid at school began giving me trouble because my father was defending a black man. I wasn't sure what he meant by that or why that was such a bad thing, so before I beat him up, I consulted Atticus to learn more about the matter. Atticus explained to me that he was defending Tom Robinson, a black man, in a trial. He said that he had to do it although he knew he wasn't going to win. I really didn't understand what he was talking about, but he asked me not to fight whenever someone made comments about him or this case. He wanted me to remember that although it might get ugly, these people were still our friends and Maycomb County was still their home. So I did the unthinkable and walked away from a fight because I didn't want to let Atticus down, and I made good on that promise until Christmas. I hate school. I am trying to get out of school by cursing. Atticus ignores me. When Uncle Jack came over for Christmas he spoke to me. I will never curse again. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 10th, 1930 Dear Diary, Atticus is somewhat older than most of the other fathers in Maycomb. His relatively advanced age often embarrasses us; he wears glasses and reads, for instance, instead of hunting and fishing like the other men in town. One day, however, a mad dog appears, wandering down the main street toward the Finches’ house. Calpurnia calls Atticus, who returns home with Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb. Heck brings a rifle and asks Atticus to shoot the animal. To my amazement, Atticus does so, hitting the dog with his first shot despite his far distance from the dog. Later, Miss Maudie tells us that, as a young man, Atticus was the best shot in the county—“One-shot Finch as they called him.” I am eager to brag about this, but Jem tells me to keep it a secret, because if Atticus wanted us to know, he would have told us. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 11th, 1930 Dear Diary, When I was well into second grade, Jem and I had moved beyond harassing Boo Radley and had grown more interested in the actual town of Maycomb. The only problem was that to get to town, we had to pass the home of Mrs. Dubose, who lived two doors down. She was a mean old woman who always yelled terrible things at Jem and I. She lived alone with only a colored girl who took care of her, and the part of the day that she didn't spend in bed, she spent wrapped in shawls in a wheelchair on her front porch. It was rumored among the town that she kept a Confederate pistol hidden under those shawls, but no one knew for certain. No matter how we tried to handle Mrs. Dubose, she was always cross and mean to us. Atticus told us to leave her alone because she was just a sick drug addicted old lady. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 12th, 1930 Dear Diary, Since Jem had turned twelve, he had grown hard to handle, moody and hungry all the time. I kept out of his way after he told me that it was time I started behaving like a girl. Atticus and Cal explained that he was just getting older and so I spent the beginning of her summer waiting for Dill. I was disappointed when I received a letter explaining that his mother had remarried, and he was not coming to Maycomb County that summer. To top it all off, Atticus had to go to an emergency session of the state legislature. Life wasn't going well. While Atticus was gone, Cal stayed with us. On Saturday Cal realized that Atticus hadn't made sure that our teacher would be at church on Sunday to make sure the kids behaved. Cal decided that we would go to church with her. When we went to church with Cal, there was an encounter with a woman who insisted that those white children didn't belong at a black persons church, but the rest of the congregation treated us like equals. Reverend Sykes introduced us to the congregation as well as the children of the lawyer who was helping Tom Robinson. On the way home from church, I was full of questions about the differences in the church service and the way Cal talked around the Finches and then around her friends and neighbors at church. Then I asked if I could visit Cal at home sometime, and Cal said that she'd welcome me anytime. When we reached home, Alexandra was sitting on the front porch with her bags. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 13th, 1930 Dear Diary, Aunt Alexandra announced that she'd be staying with us because she and Atticus had decided that it was time Jem and I had a feminine influence in our lives since our mom died. Aunt Alexandra moved right in and made herself at home, and soon enough it seemed as if she'd lived there forever. She was an active part of the community. It became obvious to her that Jem and I had no sense of pride concerning our family background. She insisted that Atticus explain to us that we were Finches and we should behave like it. Atticus tried to explain to us how we should behave being from a family of gentle breeding, and as he talked, he fidgeted uncomfortably and cleared his throat every once in a while. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 14th, 1930 Dear Journal, It came out that Jem and I had gone to church with Cal. I also remembered that she had wanted to visit Cal at home, but Alexandra said no before Atticus could answer. I insisted that I’d asked Atticus, and then got in trouble for sassing my aunt. She went to the bathroom to escape the heat and retain what was left of my dignity. On my way back to the living room, I listened outside the door as Atticus and Alexandra argued. Alexandra insisted that Calpurnia wasn't needed anymore, but Atticus refused to let her go because she was part of the family to him and his children. Jem took me upstairs and told me that he would spank her if she bothered aunty any more. Enraged at being reprimanded again that night, I fought him. When Atticus came upstairs and broke up the fight, I asked if she had to mind Jem now, too. Atticus answered that I only had to mind him if he could make me and sent us both to bed. As It prepared for bed, I stepped on something warm and dry, but when I turned on the light, it had disappeared under my bed. I called Jem thinking it was a snake, and he got the broom to sweep it out. It turned out to be Dill hiding under her bed. He'd run away from home, and he expected them to hide him for a while. Although Scout was willing, Jem called Atticus and told him what was going on. Dill and Scout were astonished at his betrayal. Atticus told Dill's Aunt Rachel where he was so that Dill's parents wouldn't be worried, and it was agreed that Dill could stay with them for the night. During the night Dill came and crawled in bed with me rather than sleep with Jem. He'd run away because his mother and her new husband didn't really need him around. Scout didn't know how he felt because she knew that Atticus and Cal needed her around. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 15th, 1930 Dear Diary, It came about that Dill's parents were convinced to let him stay in Maycomb County, and summer seemed perfect for about a week. Then the nightmare descended. One night while we were in the living room after dinner a group of men came to the Finch house to speak with Atticus. Although they'd only come to talk with Atticus about the danger of moving Tom Robinson to the Maycomb County jail, Jem thought it was a mob after Atticus. His father explained that those people were their friends and neighbors and that there were no mobs in Maycomb, so Jem need not worry. That night Jem told me that he was worried something would happen to Atticus, but he wouldn't be specific about his concerns. At church the next day, I saw Heck Tate and Mr. Underwood, The Maycomb Tribune editor, talking to Atticus although they were not churchgoing men. Atticus told her that they'd shown up to tell him that Tom had been moved back to the Maycomb County jail. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 16th, 1930 Dear Diary, When we returned home, I started crying when I went to bed because the full weight of what happened that night hit me and I was scared. Jem put me in bed with him and told me that it all might be over by the next day because that's when the trial was. The following morning Atticus ordered us to stay at home and then he left for court. Jem and I watched from the front yard as a parade of people walked past their house all dressed up and on their way to town to watch the trial. After lunch Jem, Dill , and I sneaked into town and made our way into the courthouse with the rest of the crowd. Inside the courthouse, the room was packed, so Reverend Sykes took the us up stairs with him and they watched the trial from the colored section of the court. No one saw us up there and we hoped that Atticus wouldn’t. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 17th, 1930 Dear Diary, At the trial we heard many things. We heard all sides of the story. Mr. Tate was first and he testified that on the evening of November twenty-first, Bob Ewell came to get him claiming that his daughter, Mayella, had been raped. When Heck and Bob returned to the Ewell home out by the town dump, Mayella was beat up and lying on the floor in one of the rooms of the small, dirty house. When Heck asked her who hurt her, she blamed Tom Robinson for the rape and beating. So Heck took him to jail and that was that. Atticus asked repeatedly if a doctor ever saw Mayella, but no one thought of taking her to the doctor. Next Mr. Ewell spoke and he testified that he was coming in from gathering kindling when he heard Mayella screaming. He dropped the load and went running to the house, but got tangled up in the fence. When he got away from the fence, he claimed that he ran to the window and saw Tom on top of his daughter. Ewell insisted that before he could get inside, Tom ran out, and because he was so worried about Mayella, he didn't go after Tom. He said he then went to get Heck Tate and brought him back to their home where Tom was identified as the raper. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 18th, 1930 Dear Diary, 19-year-old Mayella Ewell was called to the stand next and she seemed scared at first. She explained that she'd been on the front porch that evening while her father was gone. He'd left a chiffarobe for her to chop into kindling, but she said she wasn't feeling well. So when Tom walked by, she offered him a nickel to come in and chop it up for her. She said that when she went inside to get the money, he followed her in. She said he ran up behind her and got her around the neck. She said he hit her again and again. Then she said he flung her down and had his way with her. The next thing she claimed to remember was her father standing over her. Then she thought she fainted because the next thing that happened was Mr. Tate helped her up. Atticus then asked her some questions and she thought he was mocking her. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 19th, 1930 Dear Diary, Atticus called the defendant, Tom Robinson to the stand to testify. When Tom tried to take the oath, his left hand slipped from the Bible, further proof that it was useless to him. When he took the stand, Tom admitted that he'd been in trouble with the law one other time because he'd gotten in a fight with a man who tried to cut him. He'd spent thirty days in jail because he couldn't pay the fine, and although the other man in the fight had been convicted of the misdemeanor as well, he hadn't served jail time because he paid the fine. With his record exposed, Atticus moved the questioning toward the case at hand. Tom explained that he passed Mayella Ewell's home every day on his way to work for Mr. Link Deas. Tom said that he would always tip his hat to Mayella, and one day she asked him to come inside the fence and chop up a chiffarobe for her. One day in the spring after he did the chopping, she said she guessed she'd have to pay him for it, but he refused the money. From that point on, she'd often asked him to come in and do small chores, and he had done them because it looked like she didn't get any help from her father, Bob Ewell, or her siblings. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 20th, 1930 Dear Diary, Mr. Raymond was a peculiar man from an old, wealthy family. He lived with a colored woman and was the father to many mixed children, and he walked around town drinking from a brown paper sack. Mr. Raymond gave Dill a drink from the paper sack and Dill smiled. He told me that it was just Coke, and I was confused. Mr. Raymond explained that he walked around town and drank from the paper sack so that people could believe that whiskey was the reason he lived like he did. He didn't expect that they would understand that he lived how he wanted to just because he wanted to, so he gave them something to blame it on. He told Jem and I that although Dill was moved to tears by the way the Mr. Gilmer treated Tom Robinson, in a few years Dill would be so accustomed to it that he wouldn't cry anymore. He might not believe it's right, but he wouldn't be as upset over it as he was then. .. Later that day at the trial Just as Atticus finished his closing arguments, Dill pointed out that Calpurnia was walking up the center aisle to the railing. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 21st, 1930 Dear Diary, Cal gave Atticus a note from Aunt Alexandra telling him that we were missing and had been gone since noon. When Atticus explained it to the judge, Mr. Underwood, the town newspaperman, pointed us out in the balcony. Atticus called us down and met us in the foyer. He sent us home with Cal to eat supper, but he gave in and told us we could come back after our meal to wait for the verdict. After we'd eaten, we went back up to the courthouse and waited until well after eleven that night. When the jury finally returned, I watched in a dreamlike state as they came back in. Atticus had once told me that if the jury had convicted the defendant, they wouldn't look at him. No one in the jury looked at Tom Robinson. They declared Tom guilty, and Atticus gathered his papers, said a few words to Mr. Gilmer, whispered to Tom, and then left the courthouse. I watched from the balcony above as Atticus walked. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 22nd, 1930 Dear Diary, Aunt Alexandra was waiting up when we got home, and she seemed almost sad for Atticus. When she saw that Jem was upset she reminded Atticus that she hadn't thought it a good idea us to go to the trial. I don’t understand why though. Atticus told her that what happened at the trial was just as much Maycomb as the missionary teas she attended so we should learn to cope with it. Jem was in tears, trying to understand how the jury could have returned such a verdict, and Atticus told him, "'They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it -- seems that only children weep.'" With that he went to bed. The next morning Atticus, Jem and I woke to an unusually large breakfast comprised of all the goods grateful friends of Tom Robinson had left on the doorstep during the morning. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 23rd, 1930 Dear Diary, Jem and I are afraid for Atticus. Atticus says stand in Bob Ewell's shoes for a minute. Jem is mad about the unfairness of jury. Atticus says yes, but it’s improving. Aunt Alexandria won't let Walter Cunningham come over. She says they are a bunch of people who drink. She wants me to become a young lady (shhh!!! that will never happen). I HATE THAT AUNT ALEX WANTS ME TO BEOME A LADY AND GET INTERESTED IN BOYS( NOT THAT I DON”T ALREADY LIKE DILL OR ANYTHING). What is wrong with Aunt Alex. I wish I knew who my mom was. I WANT MY MOM BACK!!!!! I feel like screaming it out to the whole wide world. Why' why is my mother dead'''''''' I really love Aunt Alex but she makes my life suck. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 24th, 1930 Dear Diary, I can’t believe I had to join one of Aunt Alex’s missionary circles. It was scary. I had to dress like a lady and act ladylike. I thought I was going to pass out from humiliation. I can’t believe they thought Atticus shouldn’t have defended Tom. Atticus was right in defending Tom. I really look up to Atticus. Later that day Atticus burst in the house looking pale and requesting Alexandra's presence in the kitchen. Aunt Alex, Miss Maudie and I joined him in the kitchen with Calpurnia and he told us that Tom Robinson was dead. He'd been shot trying to escape the work prison. Atticus wanted Calpurnia to go with him to tell Tom's wife. When Atticus and Cal left, Alexandra talked to Maudie about the strain the case had put on Atticus. Although Alexandra didn't approve of all that he did, she didn't understand how much more the people of the town wanted from him. Miss Maudie explained to Alexandra as she'd explained to Jem that calling on Atticus to do these things was a tribute because he was the man they trusted to do it right. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 25th, 1930 Dear Journal, September came to Maycomb County, but summer weather stayed, I missed Dill. The last two days he'd been in Maycomb, Jem had taken Dill down to Barker's Eddy to teach him to swim, so I hadn't been able to play with him. On his last day in Maycomb, Dill was walking home with Jem from the Eddy when they saw Atticus pass by in his car. Cal was in the backseat. Atticus let them ride with him because traffic was so light that they'd have trouble hitching another ride home, but he made them promise to stay in the car. He and Cal had been on their way out to Tom Robinson's house to tell his wife the sad news. I found out the next day and wondered why I couldn’t have gone with them Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 26th, 1930 Dear Journal, One day at school Cecil Jacobs presented his current event concerning Adolf Hitler and his incarceration of Jews. Miss Gates discussed this injustice and crime against humanity, lecturing us at great length about how wrong it was for Hitler to persecute them that way. I t was confused about something, some disagreement in what I had heard that day. I questioned Atticus about whether it was right to hate Hitler, and he told her that it's never right to hate anybody. Then Istarted to ask Atticus something, but decided that Jem would be better for this question she couldn't articulate Jem said it was wrong to persecute anyone. I told him that I overheard Miss Gates talking to Miss Stephanie on the way out of the courthouse at Tom Robinson's trial. Miss Gates had said that what happened served those blacks right because they'd been getting above their station and needed to be taught a lesson. I was ready to pound her. I was so darn mad. ( excuse my bad language). Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 27th, 1930 Dear Journal, After Tom Robinson's death, his wife had taken a job with Mr. Link Deas, Tom's employer. The Ewell family harassed her until Mr. Deas set Bob Ewell straight with a threat to have him thrown in jail. Alexandra was worried about the incidents, but Atticus insisted that there was no reason to be alarmed. Bob Ewell had had his revenge on everyone involved in the case, and it was all over now. That served that darn Mr Ewell right. Maycomb went back to normal and seemed just as it had in years. The only difference in Maycomb at the time was the introduction of a Halloween carnival at the high school to prevent children from pranks. Mrs. Merriweather had written a pageant about the history of Maycomb and other ladies prepared a carnival in the high school auditorium. Mrs. Merriweather wanted some children to dress as the agricultural products of Maycomb County in the pageant, and I was given the role of a ham. My costume was chicken wire molded into the shape of a cured ham and covered with brown fabric and painted to resemble a ham. There were two eyeholes in the hock of the ham so that I could see, but she couldn't put on or take off the costume on her own because it kept my arms pinned at my sides. I looked like a lunatic. I hated my outfit. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 28th, 1930 Dear Journal, Jem got in a fight. I really wanted to help him. My suit was preventing me from fighting. I hope jem will be okay. He got into a really bad scuffle. Who is that man. I want to tear that man to shreds. Heck Tate, the sheriff, came over and they gathered in Jem's room. Alexandra was in a rocking chair in the corner of the room and Atticus was standing by Jem's bed. The man who'd carried Jem in was standing in a corner pressed against the wall. I assumed he was some countryman I didn't know who'd heard our screams and come to help. Heck told us that Bob Ewell was under the tree with a kitchen knife stuck under his ribs. Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 29h, 1930 Dear Journal, Atticus was stunned by the news. Heck asked me to describe what had happened and from Atticus' lap I recounted my story. Heck examined my crushed costume and pointed out a long, clean cut through the chicken wire where a knife had slashed the costume without harming me ( thank god). The ham costume had saved my life. I went on to describe the scuffling. I said that when Mr. Ewell was trying to squeeze me to death someone pulled him off of me, and I thought Jem had gotten up again. But then I heard the hard breathing of someone older and thought it was Atticus. Heck asked who it was and she pointed to the man in the corner and said that he could tell Mr. Tate his name. As I looked at himI noticed the paleness of his hands and face. He looked delicate and his eyes were so colorless he almost looked blind. His cheeks were thin and his face looked hollow, and when I pointed to him he seemed to tense up. I stared at him a moment in wonder and he smiled timidly as her eyes filled and then greeted him with, "'Hey, Boo.'" Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 30th, 1930 Dear Journal, Mr. Ewell is dead! Halleluiah! Halleluiah! Mr. Ewell is dead! I wish he had died sooner! He caused Tom to die. Mr. Ewell was a drunk! His daughter Mayella thought Tom was a hunk! She seduced tom to like her, but got Tom arrested. Mayella was scared of her dad, an evil bum of a dad. Atticus was right to defend an African American. I think Mr. Ewell deserved to die. What he did was wrong. How could he die by stabbing himself' I must remember to ask Atticus that ne day. * Note to self: Ask Atticus all of my questions no matter how big Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams) August 31st, 1930 Dear Journal, Atticus read to me until I had fallen asleep at his feet. He carried me into my room and put me into my pajamas as I had muttered that I'd heard every word and began repeating the story I knew so well. But as I told the story, I made a transition from the plot of The Gray Ghost to my own ghost story about Boo Radley, about how we had chased the ghost because we wanted to know what he looked like. And when we finally saw him, we realized that he hadn't done any of the terrible things we'd thought he had. He was really a nice person, and Atticus answered that most people are, Scout, when you finally see them. GOODNIGHT DIARY Sincerely, Jean Louise Finch (Sa’adia Williams)