Beacon

I'm almost there.

Through the darkness, a treacherous journey

Ups and downs, unexpected turns

I found my way before, but I'm lost once more

I'm on the verge of coming to a standstill,

losing all hope.

However, I know

I can keep moving forward

Taking my time, patience till the end

There's no rush.

There's a light at the end of every tunnel.

I can see it.

Jealousy

Jealousy, quite the fiend!

Fickle and infectious, staining like paint blots

Origins of envy, opening to pain,

hate, anger, sadness.

Retaliating violently, hurting others

And so the paint spreads.

-Ethan

Journal #7 - Chapters 26-29 - Perspective: Scout

Scout's Diary

School started again a few weeks ago. A big inconvenience was that I hardly got to see Jem anymore, because I only saw him at mealtime. Every single day before school and after school we would walk by the Radley place, hoping to catch a glimpse of Boo. Anyways, back to school life. It's not all that different, but our teacher, Miss Gates, is such a hypocrite. She says Hitler has been treating Jews badly, but she was persecuting people herself. Back at the courthouse, I overheard her belittling the black people in town. It was really terrible.

However, right when I mentioned the trial to Jem, he burst out in fury. I was really upset by this, because it scared me half to death. I went to Atticus for comfort, and I got a little better over time. Around the middle of October, I heard that Bob Ewell got a job, but was off of it shortly. He's been hating on Atticus a lot, and I can only imagine the fury building up inside of him. He's been trying to get back any way he can. I even heard he tried to wreck Judge Taylor's house by breaking in. Luckily, Judge Taylor was in the house, and Bob was put to a stop.

The next thing I've been hearing, is that he's allegedly been following Tom's wife, Helen, to work. He's been insulting Helen on her way to work. She really didn't like it, so he told Link Deas to put a stop to it. We've been worried about Bob and what he might do, because he's been mad at nearly the whole town. Aunt Alexandra pointed out he's been mad at everyone that had to do with the case, which would explain a whole lot. I think that he just needs to assess the situation and stop being so mad. Revenge is never the answer, and I wish someone would teach Bob that lesson.

A few days later, it's time for the school pageant. I'm dressing up as a ham, which is quite silly if you ask me. However, I consented to wear it. It was unusually warm, and it was even warmer in this ham suit. We passed the big tree, but all of the sudden we got a big scare. Cecil leaped at us, and we were so surprised! “God almighty!”, is what Jem said. We got over it in a matter of minutes, and headed towards the place of the pageant. I had forgotten money, and there were a ton of booths to play at. I was a bit sad at the moment, but Jem soon offered me thirty cents to have fun with. I was really happy Jem was so nice, because I was about to not have fun here. Cecil and I then proceeded to the booths.

Cecil also had thirty cents of his own, which made us even. We first went to the House of Horrors, which wasn't quite scary at all. It was more like a sad attempt to scare us. We entered the room to be greeted by a “ghoul”, and he showed us around and prompted us to touch several things. We were supposed to believe they were organs of a dead human, but I didn't believe it one bit. Two grapes aren't eyes, and a raw liver is not a human heart. So much for scariness on Halloween. We bought a sack of candy and went on with the pageant. I fell asleep and missed my call, but Jem said it was okay. He's getting more like Atticus, and knows just how to cheer me up.

We heard noises again on the way home and thought it was Cecil again, but it turns out it wasn't. We were in for quite a scare, because it turns out it was Bob Ewell. Bob had been looking for a way to get back at Atticus, and he thought he could get away with it. However, at the time, we didn't know it was Bob, so I just ran for my life back to the house. I didn't know where Jem was, but I saw him being carried by a man back to our house.

Dr. Reynolds arrived, and he examined Jem's condition. I found out soon after that Jem has a broken arm and a bump on his head, but the doctor said he would be okay. I hoped so, because Jem was my only brother, and one of my best friends. We then learned that the attacker, Bob, had been killed by someone.

Heck Tate told me I barely got out alive, and that my ham costume saved me. I was now thankful that I had that sweaty costume on. I told the folks how the story went, and then I asked who had saved our lives. For the first time, I looked at the man who had carried Jem back home. He was completely pale, had torn clothes, and colorless eyes. The next thing I knew, I found myself looking at Boo Radley.

~Scout

Journal #6 - Chapters 16-19 - Perspective: Atticus

Atticus' Journal

It all started about a week ago. That morning, at breakfast, Scout was telling me about how Mr. Cunningham wanted to hurt me. She was really worried about it, and her face showed it. She was also interested into why the mob would want to hurt me. She wouldn't understand at that age, but I had to tell her that they're still people. People sometimes lose their minds, and you have to set them right again. That's what Scout did that very night, she made Mr. Cunningham realize what he was doing, and how I felt. Scout's a good kid, and she'll grow up to be a fantastic person one day. I'm just a bit worried about her self control. She said she was gonna beat up Walter, and I really hope that doesn't happen.

In the morning, I had helped picked the jury for the Tom Robinson case. Subsequently, it was time to go to the actual case. I heard murmurs about me defending a black man, but I'm fine with it. If I won't try for this case, no one else will. I hold equality as my highest value, which is why I took this case. In the courthouse, I thought I caught a glimpse of Scout, Dill, and Jem, but it might have just been my imagination.

Anyways, this is getting irrelevant. We started off with Heck Tate, and Mr. Gilmer started asking the questions. Tate explained the story. He found Mayella on the floor, found out Tom supposedly had committed rape, and took him into custody. I asked if he called a doctor. He replied no, so that would suggest no serious injury. This is a big fraud, because she obviously had bad injuries by Tate's description. She also had her right eye banged up, which led to stealthy clue. Also, there were finger marks all around her throat.

Next up was Bob Ewell. He had testified that her daughter was screaming, and he came to the source of the sound. He also states he found Tom Robinson raping Mayella. Lastly, he stated that the room looked like there could have been a fight there. Right after, I decided to make a cross-examination of my own. I asked again if he had called any doctors, and his reply was no. This caused a predicament. Considering her physical condition, I would think that someone would call a doctor in order to remedy Mayella's injuries.

Next, I asked if he could read or write. Gilmer had objected to irrelevance, but was overruled. This led to a big chance. He signed his name with his LEFT hand! This could easily suggest that Bob Ewell beat up Mayella. However, I still had lots to prove. Next up to the stand was Mayella.

Mayella had disclosed a little information to Mr. Gilmer before she stopped. She was afraid of me, which I perfectly understand. She has the misconception that I'm a bad person. However, shortly afterwards, she resumed. She started talking about how she fought back against Tom without prevail. It was my turn next. I had cross-examined to find out a little bit about her family life. She seemed like a tough girl, and I asked why she didn't put up a better fight, and why the screams didn't bring any of the children. However, I had to point out that Tom was crippled: his left arm was useless, and her right eye was bruised. This was highly improbable, and it was an important fact. I pleaded her to accept that Tom was innocent, but she simply refused to answer any more questions. The prosecution rests, and I call up a single witness.

Tom Robinson is now on the stand. He has agreed with everything so far, but started disagreeing at the day of the incident. Supposedly, Mayella was actually trying to admit her love to Tom. She was hugging Tom and asking for a kiss. However, at that moment, Bob was at the window and started treating Mayella with verbal punishment. Tom had fled the scene, supposedly in fear of punishment. Right after, Link Deas interrupts. He is Tom's white employer, and states that Tom is a good man and hasn't done any wrongs. This helped my side, but Deas was then expelled from the court room. Gilmer proceeded the cross-examination, and discovers that Tom was once arrested for disorderly conduct and that he has enough strength to choke a woman with one hand. He then started bothering Tom by asking about what his motives for working for Mayella were. He states that he felt sorry for her, but it was hardly believable because of all the prejudice.

Anyways, this is only half the case. I still have the rest of the case to fight for. I'm hoping that Tom will be conceived as innocent, because I'd hate for someone to get convicted of a crime that we're not even sure happened. With these clues so far, we have a higher chance of winning. It might not be much, considering that Tom is black, but we just might win.

~Atticus

Journal #5 - Chapters 13-15 - Perspective: Scout

Scout's Diary

What a surprise... Aunt Alexandra is staying with us for “a while”. I'm not sure what she means by a while, because in Maycomb it could be three days to thirty years! Anyways, apparently she came to give us “feminine influence”. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, because I like how I am right now. People keep telling me I need to be more ladylike, to not do things boys should do, and stuff like that. I think it's just a bunch of crap that they tell me. It's sexist! I want to be just the way I am, which is doing whatever I want. Oh, if only Aunt Alexandra would understand that no matter what, I wouldn't change.

Our conversations are terribly painful to me, because she asks all the worst questions. She asks what I've been doing, and I say nothing. It's just a pain to have her think I'm boring. She even told Atticus that I was sluggish! I just don't get how Atticus thinks he's doing us a favor by having her live with us. To me, it's not so much a favor. Still, everyone welcomed her to Maycomb, and she became a normal part of the social life. She talked to us about the Maycomb families and such, but I've never heard of them. Atticus never told us, so he started now. He was pretty serious about it too, so much that he yelled at me and I cried. He went back to normal soon though, and it was alright afterwards.

After that, I asked Atticus what rape was. He asked why I asked, and it was 'cause Cal wouldn't answer at the church. When we brought up the topic, Aunt Alexandra banned me from going to the church, which was just downright ridiculous. She even tried to get rid of Cal! Thank god Atticus refused her, because I would be so lost without Cal. Cal's been there for us whenever we needed her, and she's one of my best friends.

That night, Jem tried to tell me what to do. What a morphodite! He's just so bossy these days, thinks he's all high and mighty. I was fist-fighting him, and eventually we had an all out brawl. At least till Atticus came and broke up the fight.

When we went to sleep, I heard something rustling under my bed. I thought it was a snake! I asked Jem to beat it up, but we found out it was only Dill. How in the sam heck did he get all the way over here?! The next thing we knew, we were hearing his story. He had taken the 9:00 Meridian to Maycomb Junction, and hitched a ride on a cotton wagon. It was a weird story, but I'm glad that I'm able to see Dill again. However, when Atticus came and found out, he begged not to go back to Aunt Rachel. Aunt Rachel found out, but she let him stay here for a night. He came into my bed in the middle of the night so we could talk. He wanted to get a baby, and so did I. We didn't exactly know where they came from though, so I guess I'll find out eventually.

A week later, Heck Tate came over to our house. It was weird, because they were talking outside about some sort of crazy mob with his case. Anyways, at about 10:00, Atticus takes the car over to somewhere. We (Jem, Dill and I) decided to follow him. We snuck out and saw Atticus reading the paper in front of the jail. What was he doing there? Jem, being the bossy morphodite he is, wanted us all to go home so we wouldn't bother Atticus, but I wanted to stay a little longer.

Right when he suggested leaving, four cars pulled up to the jail, and a large group of men get out. They told Atticus to move from the door, but he refused. What the heck was going on? Anyways, I dove out of my hiding place to greet them, but after I got there I realized I dove into a pit full of strangers I've never seen before! Jem and Dill followed me into the pit as well. Atticus told us to just go home, but we didn't want to.

The next thing, we got a little scared. One of the men said we had fifteen seconds to go home, and I was freaked out because it looked like he was gonna try something. We didn't leave though, and nothing happened. I saw Mr. Cunningham in the crowd, and I said hi to him. I tried talking to him, but he wouldn't budge. When I mentioned the legal entailments, he flushed red and caved. The next thing, they go ahead and leave. I don't even know what that was about, but it sure looked like the mob wasn't intending to be friendly. After all of that, Mr. Underwood all of the sudden comes out and said he had Atticus covered! Still, I'm glad that he did, because they might have tried something.

~Scout