Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-One

Geek Radley stood up slowly, the light flickering on his forehead through the living room window.Every movement of his seemed hesitant, as if he had no idea, wondering if his hands and feet could touch things normally.There was another piercing cough, accompanied by a terrible guttural sound.He coughed and trembled violently, so he had to sit down again.He fumbled in the back pocket with one hand, pulled out a handkerchief, coughed desperately into the handkerchief, and then wiped his forehead. Tonight, he sat next to me for so long, which gave me a feeling of disbelief, because I was used to his invisibility.He had been silent all this time.

He stood up again, faced me, and nodded toward the door. "You want to say good night to Jem, Mr. Arthur, don't you? Come in, then." I led him down the hall and saw Aunt Alexandra sitting by Jem's bed. "Come in, Arthur," she said, "he's still asleep. Dr. Reynolds has given him a strong sedative. Jean Louise, is your father in the drawing room?" "Yes, I think so." "I'm going to talk to him about something. Dr. Reynolds left some..." Her voice drifted away with her footsteps. The weirdo had quietly stood in the corner, with his chin up, staring at Jem from a distance.I took his hand, this pale hand was so warm.I gave him a little tug, and he followed me to Jem's bedside.

Dr. Reynolds had set up a sort of tent over Jem's arm, to keep the covers off, I suppose.The weirdo leaned forward and studied Jem carefully.The expression on his face was shy and curious, as if he had never seen a boy before.With his mouth a little open, he looked Jem from head to toe.Then he raised one hand, but it dropped to his side again. "You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he's asleep. He won't let you pet him when he's awake..." I said to him, "Touch." The weirdo's hand wavered over Jem's head. "Touch, Mr. Arthur, he's asleep."

His hand fell lightly on Jem's hair. At this point, I began to read his body language.He squeezed my hand tightly, meaning he wanted to go home. When I took him to the front porch, he stopped cautiously, but still held my hand, showing no intention of letting go. "Can you take me home?" His voice was almost a whisper, like a pleading child who is afraid of the dark. No sooner had my foot landed on the top step than it stopped.I could walk around our house holding his hand, but I would never bring him home like that. "Mr. Arthur, you bend your arms like this. Come, sir."

I put my hand in the crook of his arm. He had to stoop a little to walk arm in arm with me, but if Miss Stephanie happened to be looking down from an upstairs window she would see Mr Arthur Radley walking with me like a gentleman On Pavement. When we got to the streetlight on the corner, I couldn't help but think of how many times Dill stood here, holding this thick pillar, watching, waiting, waiting; Passing by, but this is the second time in my life I've set foot in the Radley's gate.Boo and I walked up the steps to the front porch.He fumbled for the doorknob with his hand, and then lightly let go of my arm, opened the door, walked in, and closed the door behind him.Since then, I have never seen him again.

Among the neighbors in the neighborhood, if someone died in the family, everyone would send food; if someone in the family was sick, everyone would send flowers;The weirdo is our neighbor too.He gave us two soap dolls, a broken pocket watch and chain, two lucky coins, and our lives.Neighbors always have to reciprocate, but we just took out one gift after another from the tree hole, but didn't put anything in it in return-we didn't give him anything, which made me feel like Feeling sad. I turned around to go home.The street lights in front of me flickered and flickered all the way to the town.This is the first time for me to look around this all-too-familiar neighborhood from this angle.There's Miss Maudie's and Miss Stephanie's over there, and here's our house—I can see the swing set on the front porch, and Miss Rachel's is a little behind ours, and you can see it pretty well , even Mrs. Dubose's house can be included in my eyes.

I looked behind me again.To the left of the brown door was a long, narrow shuttered window.I walked over, stood in front of the window, and turned around to look around.I thought, if it was daylight, I could see the corner of the post office from here. In bright daylight... the night was driven away by my imagination, and now it was broad daylight, and the whole neighborhood was busy.Miss Stephanie was crossing the street to give Miss Rachel the latest news.Miss Maudie was bending over her favorite rhododendrons.It was summer, and two children were bouncing up and down the sidewalk to meet a man approaching from afar.The man waved his hand, and the two children ran after each other, not giving in to each other, and ran all the way to him.

The time is still summer, and the children are approaching.The boy hesitated, dragging a fishing rod behind him.The man stood there with his arms akimbo, waiting for him.It was still summer, and his children were playing with friends in the front yard, making up and acting out a little drama that they didn't understand. In the fall, his two children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose's house.The boy helped his sister up from the ground, and they walked home together.That autumn, his two children trotted all the way, passing that street corner back and forth, the troubles and joys of the day were written on their faces.Surprise, confusion, and a little panic flashed across their faces as they stopped by a large oak tree.

In winter, his two children were shivering in front of the courtyard gate, a house was burning, and their small silhouettes were reflected in the firelight.It was still winter, and the man went out into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a mad dog. It was another summer, and he watched the hearts of the children break.It's autumn again, and the little friend of the weirdo needs his help. Atticus was right.He told me once that you never really know a person until you walk around in his shoes and put yourself in his shoes.For me, standing on the front porch of the Radleys is enough.

The street lamps became dim in the quietly falling drizzle.I was walking home feeling as if I was very old.I stared at the tip of my nose to see the tiny drops of water dripping on it, but it got cross-eyed and made me dizzy and I had to stop looking.I was walking home thinking I had to tell Jem about something so important tomorrow, and he would be so angry that he missed me tonight that he would ignore me for days at a time.I was walking home thinking that Jem and I would grow up and not have much to learn when we got older, except maybe algebra. I ran up the steps and into the house.Aunt Alexandra was in bed, and the light in Atticus' room was dark.I wanted to see if Jem was awake, and when I came in, I found Atticus in his room, sitting on the edge of the bed reading a book.

"Is Jem awake?" "He slept soundly. He won't wake until tomorrow morning." "Oh, are you going to stay up late with him?" "I'll be here for an hour or so. Go to sleep, Scout. You'll have enough for the day." "Oh, I want to stay with you for a while." "Whatever you want," Atticus said.It must have been past midnight by this time, and I was surprised that he readily acceded to my request.But he was still smarter than me: I started to feel sleepy after just sitting for a while. "What are you reading?" Atticus turned the cover over and glanced at it. "It's a book by Jem called The Gray Ghost." I woke up suddenly. "Why do you want to read this?" "Baby, I don't know either. The one I picked up is a book I haven't read yet." He said frankly. "Atticus, please read it. This book is really scary." "No," he said, "you've had enough scares these days. It's too—" "Atticus, I'm not frightened." He raised his eyebrows, and I said hastily, "At least I wasn't frightened until I told Mr. Tate. Jem wasn't frightened either. I asked him, and he said he wasn't frightened. Besides, except in books It’s written, and there’s nothing particularly scary about it.” Atticus opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.He moved his thumb out of the book and turned back to the first page.I leaned over and put my head on his knee. "Well," he read, "Grey Ghost, by Sektri Hawkins. Chapter 1..." I tried my best to keep myself awake, but the sound of the rain outside was so soft, the room was so warm, his voice was so deep, and lying on his lap was so comfortable, I fell asleep unknowingly. What seemed like only a few seconds passed before I felt his shoe lightly touch my ribs.He picked me up and led me into my bedroom. "I heard every word you read," I muttered, "...and I wasn't asleep at all. It was about a boat and Three-Finger Fred, and Stoner boy..." He unhooked my overalls, leaned me against him, and pulled my pants off.Then he held me with one hand and reached out for my pajamas with the other. "Yeah, they all thought Stoner Boy was messing around in their club, spilling ink all over the place, and..." He led me to the edge of the bed, sat me on the bed, lifted my legs up on the bed, and then covered me with the quilt. "Besides, they tracked the Stoner boy around and couldn't catch him because they didn't know what he looked like. Atticus, when they finally saw him, they knew he didn't do any of those bad things. "Atticus, he's actually a very kind man..." He reached under my chin and pulled the covers up and tucked me in. "Scout, most people are good, and you'll find out when you get to know them eventually." He turned off the light and went back to Jem's room.He was going to be there all night, and when Jem woke up in the morning, he was still at the bedside.