TKAM post #3

Perspective: Atticus

Chapter 9



Scout keeps getting into fights at school. Apparently they are with a boy named Cecil Jacobs, and she claims to be defending the family name, because he keeps saying that I defend Negros. This is true, and personally I could care less. I just do the jobs that I am given, so I can bring home enough money to keep the family going. I entrusted with the duty to whenever Cecil says anything like that, to raise her head high and keep her fists down. I just hope it works, she hasn't seemed to learn yet that fighting doesn't solve anything.

Christmas had arrived that year very quickly, and the kids didn't seem very fanatical about it. They love their Uncle Jack, but it's different to their Aunt Alexandra and second cousin Francis. They have asked over the years if we could celebrate a Christmas at home with just our family, and I've always denied. We honestly don't have the money for that, and the visits with the family are the only thing that keeps me sane. Uncle Jack got them air rifles for Christmas this year. After they opened them, he told me that I would have to teach them how to shoot. I objected and told him that he could, and the only reason that I let them have them now was because it would have happened eventually. I could already tell that Scout was debating whether or not to shoot her cousin with hers, and I told them that if they even point them in the wrong direction that they were mine. That night at dinner, Scout complained that Aunt Alexandra had isolated her from the rest of the group when she was seated at the little kid table. I told her that because we were guests, that I didn't have the authority to make that kind of decision.

The next day, Scout got into a fight with her second cousin. From what I heard, Scout called him a whore-lady and jumped on him. She had been cussing all week, and when her Uncle Jack gave her a couple lickings, I decided she had it coming. Later, he patched up her cut knuckle, and told me that he had felt bad about punishing her. I was perplexed, seeing as how Francis had wronged her in no way, and she had been using her foul language all week. Mid-way through our conversation, I caught Scout evesdropping on our conversation. I sent her to bed, and was curious for the rest of the night about what she had heard.