Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

Although Aunt Alexandra never told us about the Finch family, the town's rumors continued.On Saturdays, whenever Jem promised me to come to town with him (he's now loath to hang out with me in public), we would lug some nickels and we'd weave through the sweaty crowd on the sidewalk Go, and sometimes hear remark: "That's his kid," or "There's two Finchs over there."We turned to see who was pointing, only to find two or three farmers studying an enema in a Maycomb pharmacy window, or two fat country women in straw hats sitting in a Hoover . "They're going to run around and rape the country and make the governor of this county scramble..." Once, we met a thin gentleman who passed us, and he made this unintelligible remark. , which reminds me I have another question for Atticus.

"What is rape?" I asked Atticus that night. Atticus looked around behind the paper.He was sitting in a chair by the window at the time.As we grew older, Jem and I felt we should show our generosity by giving Atticus a half hour alone after dinner. Sighing, he replied that rape was the involuntary sexual intercourse by a woman under the duress of violence. "If it's that simple, why didn't Calpurnia tell me the other day when I asked her?" Atticus had a thoughtful look on his face. "What's going on then?" "Oh, I came back from church the other day and I asked Calpurnia what rape was, and she told me to ask you, but I forgot, and now I remember."

He put the newspaper on his lap. "Can you say it again?" he demanded. I told at length how we went to church with Calpurnia, and Atticus seemed to be listening with interest, but not Aunt Alexandra, who was sitting in a corner doing it in silence. Needlework, after listening to the story I told, she put down the embroidery in her hand and stared at us with wide eyes. "You all went to Calpurnia's church that Sunday?" Jem said, "Yeah, she took us there." I remembered one more thing. "By the way, she promised me I'd come over to her house any afternoon. Atticus, if I can, I'd like to go next Sunday, okay? Calpurnia says if you drive Going out, she can pick me up."

"You can't go!" It came out of Aunt Alexandra's mouth. Startled, I turned to look at her, then back to Atticus, just in time to catch him winking at Aunt Alexandra, but it was too late.I blurted out: "I didn't ask you!" Atticus was a big man, but he got up and sat down faster than anyone I'd ever seen.In the blink of an eye, he had stood up. "Apologies to your aunt," he said. "I didn't ask her just now, I asked you..." Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye.His voice carried an extremely terrifying majesty: "First of all, I would like to apologize to my aunt."

"Auntie, I'm sorry." I muttered. "Okay," he said, "now let's get this straight: do what Calpurnia tells you, do what I tell you, and do what your aunt says as long as she lives with us. do it, understand?" I heard the words clearly, weighed them silently for a while, and felt that the only way to leave the scene with the last trace of dignity left was to go to the bathroom.I was in the bathroom long enough to convince them that I really needed it.I dawdled in the hallway before returning to the living room, when I heard a heated argument coming from inside.From the door I saw Jem sitting on the sofa, holding a football magazine in front of his face, turning his head from side to side as if a tennis game was being shown live in the magazine.

"...you've got to find a way to discipline her," said the aunt. "You've let her go too long, Atticus, too long." "I don't see any harm in sending her to the Calpurnias. The Calpurnias will take care of her, as they do in this home." Who is the "she" they keep talking about?My heart sank suddenly: it's me.I felt the gray walls looming over me, as if I were in a reformatory where prisoners were required to wear pink cotton prison uniforms.For the second time in my life, I thought about running away from home.leave now. "Atticus, it's okay to be soft-hearted. You are an easy-going person, but you must take your daughter into your heart, a daughter who grows up day by day."

"I have her in my heart all the time." "Don't change the subject. Sooner or later you'll have to face it, and it's best to settle it tonight. We don't need her now." Atticus' voice was as calm as water: "Alexandra, we can't let Calpurnia leave this house unless she wants to. You may not think so, but I couldn't have lived without her all these years." Go on. She's become a loyal member of the family, and that's all you have to accept. Besides, sister, I don't want you to be too busy for us - you don't have to. We still need Capo Ni, it's the same as before."

"But, Atticus..." "Also, I don't think Calpurnia raised these two kids and made them suffer one iota. If they did, it's that Calpurnia was tougher than a mother in some ways... She never overlooked any of their faults, and never pampered them like most black nannies. She tried to bring them up according to her own opinions--her opinions are quite good, and the children love she." I can breathe normally again.Turns out they weren't talking about me, they were talking about Calpurnia.I pulled myself together and walked into the living room.Atticus had stopped talking and was buried in the paper.Aunt Alexandra struggled with her embroidery.Boom, boom, boom, she poked her needle hard at the embroidered cloth stretched tightly by the round embroidery tape, stopped to pull the cloth taut, then boom, boom, boom again.It seemed she was on fire.

Jem stood up, walked softly across the carpet, and motioned for me to follow him.He led me into his room and closed the door.His face was serious. "They were arguing just now, Scout." Jem and I used to have a lot of quarrels these days over little things, but I never saw or heard of anyone arguing with Atticus.This is not a pleasant scene. "Scout, try not to make Aunty angry again, do you hear me?" I was still uncomfortable with Atticus' slap in the face just now, and for a moment I didn't catch Jem's gentle plea inside and out.I was like an aggressive rooster, the feathers all over my body stood up again. "Do you want to order me?"

"No, that's right—he has a lot of things on his mind now, so let's not let him worry about it anymore." "What's the matter?" Atticus didn't seem to have anything in particular on his mind. "It's that Tom Robinson case that makes him so worried..." I said Atticus wasn't preoccupied with anything.Besides, this case only troubles us once a week, and it won't last long. "That's because you never put anything on your mind, and forget it in a second," said Jem. "It's different, my lord, and we—" His condescension has been driving me crazy lately, and I just can't stand it.He doesn't want to do anything, except reading books and newspapers or going out for a walk alone.The books and newspapers he read will be passed on to me as usual, but there is a little change: in the past it was because he thought I would like it, but now it is for enlightenment and education for me.

"Jem, you bastard! Who do you think you are?" "Scout, I mean what I say. If you annoy Aunty again, I'll—I'll spank you." When he said that, I jumped up. "You damn hermaphrodite, I'm going to kill you!" He was sitting on the bed at the time, and I easily grabbed his forehead hair and punched him on the mouth.He slapped me back and I was about to give him a left uppercut when he landed on the floor on all fours in the stomach.He was blowing me out of breath, but I didn't care because I knew it was a fight and he was fighting back.We are still equal. "Aren't you so proud?!" I screamed hysterically, and rushed up again.He was still sitting on the bed, and I couldn't stand still, so I threw myself on him with all my strength, beating, pulling, pinching, and digging.What started as a fistfight turned into a melee.The battle was in full swing, and Atticus separated us. "Enough," he said, "you both go to bed." "Ha!" I yelled at Jem.By the time I turn out the lights and go to bed, he too is sent to bed. "Who started it?" Atticus said, sounding like he was trying to make peace with it. "It's Jem. He's trying to give me orders. I don't have to listen to him now, do I?" Atticus smiled. "Let's do it this way: you'll take Jem as long as he can convince you. Fair enough, isn't it?" Aunt Alexandra stood by in silence, and we heard her say, as she and Atticus walked down the aisle, "...I've told you over and over again..." Just this one sentence, let us form a united front. Our two rooms are connected.When I closed the partition, Jem said, "Good night, Scout." "Good night," I murmured back, fumbling cautiously across the room to turn on the light.As I walked past the bed, I stepped on something. It was warm and elastic and smooth, not like hard rubber. I felt like it was alive and I could hear it move. I turned on the light and looked at the floor next to the bed - the thing I stepped on was gone.I knocked on Jem's door. "What's the matter?" he asked. "What does a snake feel like?" "It's kind of rough, cool and rusty. What's the matter?" "I think there's a snake under my bed. Can you come and see it?" "Are you messing around?" Jem opened the door.He was only wearing pajama pants.I found that there was still the imprint of my fist on his mouth, and I couldn't help feeling a little proud in my heart.He was sure I wasn't joking, so he said, "You think I'm going to stick my head under the bed looking for a snake, then you're wrong. Wait a minute." He fetched a broom from the kitchen and said, "You'd better go to bed." "Do you think it's really a snake?" I asked.What happened tonight was no small matter.Our house has no basement and is built on a stone foundation a few feet above the ground, and reptiles sneak in, though not often.Miss Rachel drank a glass of scotch every morning, and her excuse was that the last time she went into the bedroom to hang her dressing-gown, she found a rattlesnake coiled on her laundry in the closet, and the fright had frightened her. Still can't get rid of the shadow. Jem hesitated and tried to swipe under the bed.I poked my head out of the bed and stared at the end of the bed to see if a snake had crawled out.No.Jem scanned the depths again. "Can snakes hum?" "It's not a snake," said Jem, "somebody's down there." Suddenly, a dirty brown package emerged from under the bed.Jem raised his broom and nearly hit Dill on the head as he emerged from the pack. "God Almighty!" exclaimed Jem, full of awe. We watched as Dill crawled out bit by bit, barely squeezing his way out.He stood up, relaxed his shoulders, turned his ankles, and rubbed the back of his neck.After his body resumed normal circulation, he greeted: "Hey!" Jem marveled again at the omnipotence of God.I was dumbfounded. "I'm starving," Dill said. "Anything to eat?" I sleepwalked into the kitchen and brought him back some milk and half a plate of leftover tortillas from dinner.Dill was hungry and raging, munching on tortillas with his front teeth, as usual. I could finally speak: "How did you get here?" It's been an amazing journey.Dill, refreshed after eating, began to tell us about his complicated history: his new father didn't like him, and actually chained him in the basement (Meridian houses usually have basements), and any It fends for itself.Fortunately, a farmer passed by his house, heard him crying loudly, and came to help him. He secretly survived on the raw peas the farmer gave him--this kind man poked pods one after another into the air vent, and there was a basket full of them. .Afterwards, Dill desperately pulled the chain off the wall and escaped.He left Meridian with chains on his hands, wandered aimlessly for another two miles, came across a small circus, and was immediately called in to bathe the camels.He followed the circus all over Mississippi, and one day, with his unerring sense of direction, he judged that he had arrived in Albert County, Alabama, across the river from Maycomb.He walked the rest of the way by himself. "How on earth did you get here?" asked Jem. It turned out that he had stolen thirteen dollars from his mother's purse and had taken the nine o'clock train from Meridian to the Maycomb station.The Maycomb station was still fourteen miles from the town of Maycomb, and in order not to fall into the hands of those who were prowling for him, he turned off the road and trekked about eleven or twelve miles through brush.For the last part of the journey, he took a cotton truck and jolted over the tailgate tightly along the way.He said he felt like he'd been lurking under my bed for two hours, going crazy listening to the clink of forks on plates as we ate dinner in the dining room.He thought Jem and I would never go to bed; he would have jumped up and helped me beat Jem up because Jem had grown a lot taller, but he knew Mr. will come and pull us apart, so he thinks it's better to stay where we are.He was dead tired and unbelievably dirty, but at last he was home. "They sure don't know you're here," said Jem, "if they're looking around for you we'll know..." "I guess they're still looking for me in the movie theaters in Meridian." Dill grinned. "You should let your mother know where you are," said Jem, "you should let her know you're here..." Dill flashed his big eyes at Jem, but Jem stared down at the floor.Then he stood up and destroyed the last contract of our childhood with practical actions.He walked straight out of the room and down the corridor. "Atticus," his voice came to us from a distance, "can you come here?" Dill's big painted face, smudged with sweat, turned white all of a sudden.My stomach churned.Atticus appeared at the door. He walked to the middle of the room, put his hands in his pockets, and looked down at Dill. I managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Dill, it's nothing. If he wants you to know anything, he'll let you know." Dill looked at me eagerly. "I mean it's all right," I reassured. "You know he won't give you a hard time, and you know you don't have to be afraid of Atticus." "I'm not afraid..." he muttered. "He's just hungry, I guess." Atticus' voice was as gentle and nonchalant as ever. "Scout, don't we have anything better to serve than cold corn tortillas? Fill your stomach, let's discuss what to do when I come back." "Mr. Finch, don't tell Aunt Rachel, don't let me go back, please, sir! Then I'll run away..." "Aha, boy," Atticus said, "no one's going to take you anywhere but to get you to bed. I just went over to say hello to Miss Rachel and tell her you were at our house , ask her if she can let you stay here for the night - you want to stay too, don't you? And, for heaven's sake, return the dirt on you, soil erosion is bad enough .” Dill stared blankly at the back of Atticus leaving. "He's trying to look funny," I said, "meaning to give you a shower. You see, I said he wouldn't give you a hard time." Jem stood in the corner, looking very much a traitor. "Dill, I've got to tell him," he said, "that you're three hundred miles away from home and your mother doesn't know it's not okay." Without saying a word, we dumped him across the room. Dill ate and ate and ate and ate.He hasn't eaten since last night.He bought a train ticket with all he had, boarded the train with ease, and chatted with the conductor calmly.He was an old acquaintance with the conductor, but he still didn't have the guts to ask for help.On the train, if a child on a long journey alone loses money, the conductor will usually lend him money for meals, and the child's father will return it at the end. Dill had cleaned up the leftovers and was reaching for a tin of pork and green beans in the sideboard when Miss Rachel came into the aisle shouting "For God's sake" and he shivered like a rabbit. He listened patiently to Miss Rachel's gossip about "I'll settle the score with you when you get home," and "your family is going crazy."When Miss Rachel said "I learned this from your unreliable father", he remained calm.He couldn't help smiling when he heard "I see you could stay here for a night," and finally received a long, loving embrace, and Miss Rachel's too. Atticus pushed up his glasses and rubbed his face. "Your father is exhausted," said Aunt Alexandra.It seemed to be the first thing she had said in hours.She was there from start to finish and I guess she was stunned most of the time. "You children, go to sleep." Atticus was still rubbing his face when we left the restaurant. "From rape, to mischief, to running away from home," we heard him giggling, "I don't know what's going to happen in the next two hours." Now that things seemed to work out, Dill and I decided to be a little more lenient with Jem.Besides, Dill has to sleep with him, so we better talk to him. I changed into my pajamas and read for a while, when suddenly I was so sleepy that I couldn't even open my eyes.Dill and Jem didn't move at all, and when I turned off the lamp, there wasn't a single light in Jem's room from under the crack of the door. I must have slept a long time, for when I was thrashed awake the room was dark with the last light of the setting moon. "Scout, make room for me." "He felt he had to," I said vaguely. "Don't be mad at him." Dill lay down beside me. "I'm not mad," he said, "I just wanted to sleep with you. Are you awake?" At this time, my mind is clear, but a little lazy. "Why did you do that?" no answer. "I'm asking why you ran away from home. Is he really as bad as you say?" "No……" "Didn't you say in your letter that you were going to build a ship together? Has it been built?" "He was just talking. We didn't build ships at all." I propped myself up on my elbows, facing Dill's shadow. "You can't run away from home because of this. Most of the time they can't do what they say, and they don't care at all..." "Not for that reason. He—they don't care about me." That's the most incredible reason to run away I've ever heard. "what happened?" "That's right. They are not at home all day, and even if they are at home, they are the two of them in the same room." "What are they doing in the room?" "Nothing but sitting there reading and reading—but they don't want me with them." I propped my pillows against the headboard and sat up. "You know what? I'm going to run away tonight too, because they're all around me saying this and that. Dill, you don't want them around all the time..." Dill let out a long breath, followed by a short sigh. "...good night. Atticus stays out all day, sometimes at midnight, working on that council, and I don't know what he's doing—Dill, if they hang around you all day, you'll It's annoying, you can't do anything like that." "That's not the case." As Dill explained it to me, I couldn't help but wonder: what would life be like if Jem were someone else, even if not the same as he is now?What would I do if Atticus felt that my company, help, and advice were all he needed?Let's just say he couldn't get through a day without me.Even Calpurnia couldn't live without me.They all need me. "Dill, you're wrong—your family can't do without you. They must just be mean to you. Let me tell you how to deal with..." Dill's calm voice came from the darkness: "Actually, what I want to say is——they are better off without me, and I can't help you much. They are not stingy at all. Whatever I want, they will Buy me something, but the result is - 'You have it now, use it yourself'. You have a house full of things. 'I bought you this book, you use it to read', only That's all." Dill deliberately made his voice sound deep, "You're not a boy. Boys will go out and play baseball with other boys, and they won't hang around the house all day and be annoying." He switched to his own voice again: "Oh, they ain't cheapskates. They kiss you, they hug you, they say good night, good morning, goodbye, and tell you how much they love you—Scout, let's go Get a baby." "Where did you get it?" Dill heard of a man who had a boat that would go to a cloud-covered island with so many babies that anyone could order one... "It's a lie. My aunt says that God throws children down the chimney. At least that's what she means, as far as I can see." Only then did my aunt not speak clearly. "That's not the case at all. Two people together can make a baby. But I've also heard of a man who had tons and tons of babies just waiting to be woken, and he could make them all with just one breath." live..." Dill began to fantasize again.In his fantasy world, there are all kinds of wonderful things floating around.On weekdays, he can finish two books in the time I read one book, but he is more willing to believe in the magic of his own imagination.He can add and subtract as fast as lightning, but he prefers to immerse himself in his own fantasy world-countless sleeping babies, waiting for people to pick them like lilies in the morning.As he talked, he led me to slowly fall asleep together, but on the quiet island surrounded by clouds and mist that he conceived, a vague picture appeared. It was a gray house with a few doors. Distressed brown door. "Dill?" "Ok?" "Why do you think Boo Radley never runs away from home?" Dill sighed and turned his back on me. "Maybe he has nowhere to go..."