chapter 5 my naggin got the better of gem eventually as I knew it would and to my relief we slowed down the game for a while he still maintained however that attakus hadn't said we couldn't therefore we could and if attakus ever said we couldn't Jam had thought of a way around it he would simply change the names of the characters and then we couldn't be accused of playing anything Dill was in hearty agreement with this plan of action Dill was becoming something of a trial and anyway following jeem about he had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him then he promptly forgot about it he staked me out marked at his property said I was the only girl he would ever love and then he neglected me I beat him up twice but it did no good he only grew closer to Jim they spent days together in the tree house plotting and planning calling me only when they needed a third party but I kept aloof from their more fool hearty schemes for a while and on pain of being called a girl I spent most of the remaining Twilights that summer sitting with Miss motty Atkinson on her front porch Jim and I had always enjoyed the Free Run of Miss motty's yard if we kept out of her as alas but our contact with her was not clearly defined until Jem and Dill excluded me from their plans she was only another lady in the neighborhood but a relatively benign presence our tactic treaty with Miss motty was that we could play on her lawn eat her uper Nong if we didn't jump on the arbor and explore her vast back lot terms so generous we seldom spoke to her so careful were were we to preserve the delicate balance of our relationship but jeem and d drove me closer to her with their behavior Miss motti hated her house time spent indoors was time wasted she was a widow a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and men's coveralls but after her 5:00 bath she would appear on the porch and Rain Over the street in MA magisterial Beauty she loved everything that grew in God's Earth even the weeds with one exception if she found a blade of nutgrass in her yard it was like the Second Battle of the MN she swooped down upon it with a tin tub and subjected it to blasts from beneath with a poisonous substance she said was so powerful it' kill us all if we didn't stand out of the way why can't you just pull it up I asked after witnessing a prolonged campaign against a blade not 3 in high pull it up child pull it up she picked up the limp Sprout and squeezed her thumbs up its tiny stock microscopic grains oozed out why one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard look here when it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over makome County Miss M's face likened such An Occurrence unto an old testament pestilence Her speech was crisp for a makome county inhabitant she called us by all our names and when she grinned she revealed two minute gold prongs clipped two minute gold prongs clipped to her eye teeth when I admired them and hoped I would have some eventually she said look here with a click of her tongue She Thrust out her Bridge work a gesture of cordiality that cemented our friendship Miss mot's benevolence extended to Jim and Dill whenever they paused in their Pursuits we reaped the benefits of Talent Miss motty had hither to kept hidden from us she made the best cakes in the neighborhood when she was admitted into our conf confidence every time she baked she made a big cake in three little ones and she would call across the street Jim Finch Scout Finch Charles Baker Harris come here our promptness was always rewarded in summertime Twilights are long and peaceful often as not miss motty and I would sit silently on her porch watching the sky go from yellow to Pink as the sun went down watching flights of Martin sweep low over the neighborhood and disappear behind the schoolhouse rooftops Miss motty I said one evening do you think buo Radley's still alive his name's Arthur and he's alive she said she was rocking slowly in her big Oak chair do you smell my mimosa it's like Angel's breath this evening yes um how do you know no what child that but Mr R still alive what a morbid question but I suppose it's a morbid subject I know he's alive Jean Louise because I haven't seen him carried out yet maybe he died and they stuffed him up the chimney where did you get such a notion that's what Jem said he thought they did he gets more like Jack Finch every day Miss motty had known Uncle Jack Finch attacus his brother since they were children nearly the same age they had grown up together at Finch's Landing Miss motty was the a daughter of a neighboring Landover Dr Frank Buford Dr buford's profession was medicine and his obsession was anything that grew in the ground so he stayed poor Uncle Jack Finch confined his passion for digging to his window boxes in Nashville and stayed Rich we saw Uncle Jack every Christmas and every Christmas he yelled across the street for Miss motty to come marry him Miss motty would yell back call a little louder Jack Finch and they'll hear you at the post office I haven't heard you yet Jem and I thought this a strange way to ask for a lady's hand in marriage but then Uncle Jack was rather strange he said he was trying to get Miss mti's goat that he had been trying unsuccessfully for 40 years that he was the last person in the world miss m would think about marrying but the first person she thought about teasing and the best offense to hert her was Spirited offense all of which we understood clearly Arthur Radley just stays in the house that's all said Miss motty wouldn't you stay in the house if you didn't want to come out yes um but I'd want to come out why doesn't he miss M's eyes narrowed you know that story as well as I do I never heard why though nobody ever told me why Miss motty settled her Bridge work you know old Mr Radley was a foot washing Baptist that's what you are ain't it my Shell's not that hard child I'm just a Baptist don't you all believe in foot washing we do at home in the bathtub but we can't have communion with you all apparently deciding that it was easier to Define primitive baptistry than closed communion Miss motty said foot washers believe anything that's pleasure is a sin did you know some of them came out of the woods one Saturday and passed by this place and told me and my flowers were going to hell your flowers too yes ma'am they'd Burn Right with me they thought I spent too much time in God's outdoors and not in enough time inside the house reading the Bible my confidence in Pulpit gospel lessened at the vision of Miss motti stewing forever in various Protestant Hells true enough she had an acid tongue in her head and she did not go about the neighborhood doing good as did Miss Stephanie Crawford but while no one with a grain of sense trusted Miss Stephanie Gemini had considerable faith in Miss motti she had never told on us had never played Cat and Mouse with us she was not at all interested in our private lives she was our friend how so reasonable a creature could live in Peril of everlasting torment was incomprehensible that ain't right Miss motty you're the best lady I know Miss motty grinned thank you ma'am thing is footw washers think women are a Sin by definition they take the Bible literally you know is that why Mr Arthur stays in the house to keep away from women I have no idea it doesn't make sense to me looks like if Mr Arthur was was hankering after Heaven he'd come out on the porch at least attakus says God's loving folks like you love yourself miss m stopped rocking and her voice hardened you are too young to understand it she said but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of oh of your father I was shocked attakus doesn't drink whiskey I said he never drunk A Drop in his life no yes he did he said he drank some one time and didn't like it Miss motty laughed wasn't talking about your father she said what I meant was if attakus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn't be as hard as some men are at their best there are just some kind of men who who are so busy worrying about the next World they've never learned to live in this one and you can look down the street and see the results do you think they're true all those things they say about but Mr R Mr Arthur Arthur what things I told her that is 34s colored folks and 1/4 Stephanie Crawford said Miss moty grimly Stephanie Crawford even told me once she woke up in the middle of the night and found him looking in the window at her I said what did you do Stephanie move over in the bed and make room for him that shut her up a while I was sure it did Miss mot's voice was enough to shut anybody up no child she said that is a sad house I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy he always spoke nicely to me no matter what folks said he did spoke as nicely as he knew how you reckon he's crazy Miss motty shook her head if he's not he should be by now the things that happen to people we never really know what happens in houses behind closed doors What secrets adus don't ever do anything to Gem and me in the house that he don't do in the yard I said feeling at my duty to defend my parent gracious child I was raveling a thread wasn't even thinking about your father but now that I am I'll say this attacus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets how do you like some fresh pound cake to take home I liked it very much next morning when I awakened I found Jim and Dill in the backyard deep in conversation when I joined them as usual they said go away will not this yard's as much mine as it is yours gem Finch I got just as much right to playing it as you have Dy and Jem emerged from a brief if you stay you've got to do what we tell you Dill warned well I said who's so high and mighty all of a sudden if you don't say you'll do what we tell you we ain't going to tell you anything Dill continued you act like you grew 10 in in the night all right what is it Jem said placed we are going to give a note to BU Radley just how I was trying to fight down the automatic Terror rising in me it was all right for Miss motty to talk she was old old and snug on her porch it was different for us Jem was merely going to put the note on the end of a fishing pole and stick it through the shutters if anyone came along Dill would ring the bell Dill raised his right hand in it was my mother's silver Dinner Bell I'm going around to the side of the house said Jem we looked yesterday from across the street and there's a shutter loose think maybe I can make it stick on the window s at least gem now you're in it and you can't get out of it you'll just stay in it Miss pris okay okay but I don't want to watch Jem somebody was yes you will you'll watch the back end of the lot and Dill's going to watch the front of the house and up the street and if anybody comes he'll ring the bell that clear all right then what did you write him Dill said we're asking him real politely to come out sometimes and tell us what he does in there we said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice cream you all have gone crazy he'll kill us Dill said it's it's my idea I figure if he'd come out and sit a spell with us he might feel better how do you know he don't feel good well how' you feel if you'd been shut up for a hundred years with nothing but cats to eat I bet he's got a beard down to here like your daddy's he ain't got a beard he still stopped as if trying to remember uhhuh kcha I said you said before if you were off the train good your dad good your daddy had a black beard if it's all the same to you he sh saved it off last summer yeah and I've got the letter to prove it he sent me $2 too keep on I reckon he even sent you a Mounted Police uniform that never showed up did it you just keep on telling them son Dill Harris could be the biggest ones I ever heard among other things he had been up in a mail plane 17 times he had been to Nova Scotia he had seen an elephant and his Grand granddaddy was Brigadier General Joe Wheeler and left him his sword you all hush said Jem he scuttled beneath the house and came out with a yellow bamboo pull reckon this is long enough to reach from the sidewalk anybody who's brave enough to go up and touch the house hadn't ought to use a fishing pole I said why don't you just knock the front door down this is different said Jem how many times do I have to tell you that Dill took a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to Jim the three of us walked cautiously toward the old house d remained at the light pole on the front center of the lot and Jem and I edged down the sidewalk parallel to the side of the house I walked Beyond Jem and stood where I could see around the curve all clear I said not a soul in sight Jem looked up the sidewalk to Dill who nodded jeem attached the note to the end of the fishing pole let the pole out across the yard and pushed it toward the window he had selected the pole lacked several inches of being long enough and Jem leaned over as far as he could I watched him making jabbing motions for so long I abandoned my post and went to him can't get it off the pole he muttered or if I get it off I can't make it stay go on back down the street Scout I returned and gazed around the curve at the empty road occasionally I looked back at Jem who was patiently trying to place the note on the window sill it would flutter to the ground and Jem would jab it up until I thought if Boo Radley ever received it he wouldn't be able to read it I was looking down the street when the dinner bell rang shoulder up I reeled around to face bu Radley and his bloody fangs instead I saw Dill ringing the bell with all his might in atticus's face Jem looked so awful I didn't have the heart to tell him I told him so he trudged along dragging the pole behind him on the sidewalk attakus said stop ringing that Bell Dill grabbed The Clapper and the silence that followed I wished he'd start ringing it again attakus pushed his hat to the back of his head and put his hands on his hips Jem he said what were you doing nothing sir I don't want any of that tell me I was we were just trying to give M something we were just trying to give something to Mr Radley what were you trying to give him just a letter let me see it Jem held held out a filthy piece of paper attakus took it and tried to read it why do you want Mr Radley to come out Dill said we thought he might enjoy us and dried up when IUS looked at him son he said to Jem I'm going to tell you something and tell you one time stop tormenting that man that goes for the other two of you what Mr Radley did was his own business if he wanted to come out he would if he wanted to stay inside his own house he had the right to stay inside free from the attentions of inquisitive children which was a mild term for the likes of us how would we like it if attakus barged in on us without knocking when we were in our rooms at night we were in effect doing the same thing to Mr Radley what Mr Radley did might seem peculiar to us but it did not seem peculiar to him furthermore had it never occurred to us that the Civil way to communicate with another being was by the front door instead of a side window lastly we were to stay away from that house until we were invited there we were not to play an aine game he had seen us playing or make fun of anybody on this street or in this town we weren't making fun of him we weren't laughing at him said gem we were just so that was what you were doing wasn't it making fun of him no said attakus putting his life's history on display for the edification of the neighborhood gem seemed to swell a little I didn't say we were doing that I didn't say it attacus grinned dryly you just told me he said you stop this nonsense right now every one of you Jem gaped at him you want to be a lawyer don't you our father's mouth was suspiciously firm as if he were trying to hold it in line Jem decided there was no point in quibbling and was silent when attakus went inside the house to retrieve a file he had forgotten to take to work that morning gem finally realized that he had been done done in by the oldest lawyer's trick on record he waited a respectful distance from the front steps watched attakus leave the house and walked toward town when attakus was out of an out of earshot jam yelled after him I thought I wanted to be a lawyer but I ain't so sure now