"Almost there, Jack- no, it was the other way."
"Come on Atticus!" 11 year old Jack Finch protests in annoyance, peeking out of the rushes on the other side of the river, and glaring good naturedly at his older brother, to which his companion merely smiles genuinely in response. "How am I meant to find Mother's best Sunday hat if you keep sending me in the wrong direction?"
"I'm not." 21 Atticus replies. "I just can't see very well. But I see it now, and it is over there, so could you please retrieve it and come back across?"
"Alright, I will, big brother." Jack replies.
Atticus sighs. "And do be careful Jack!" He adds. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"Why, cos you'll get into trouble with mother dear?" Jack calls back teasingly, causing Atticus to laugh. She is a wonderful mother in some ways, but she has a short fuse, unlike her husband.
Jack goes back to rooting in the undergrowth for their mother's prized hat whilst Atticus sits astride the branch, observing the landscape beneath him.
Finch's Landing- the nesting place of many Finches until they were able to fulfil their future elsewhere- well, for the women, and that had very limited options anyway.
But Atticus has dreamed of becoming a lawyer someday. When he told Jack about this, he said he would make a good lawyer- Atticus was a sharp and remarkably perceptive young boy, not to mention having a dry sense of humour and Jack believed he would make a name for himself by defending the innocent from the harm caused by society's brutality and prejudice. But Jack said he wanted to become a doctor, and help people who were sick and injured, as he hated seeing others suffering, and vowed to save people from disease.
"I'm sure you'll do very well, Jack." His older brother said. "Here, once I become a lawyer, I'll help you become a doctor." He offered kindly.
"Thank you, Atticus." They shook hands and so it became a bond that the older brother would keep to the younger many years later.
He smiles at the memory, and adjusts his glasses as they slide down his nose.
But, unbeknownst to Atticus, the branch beneath him begins to bend and crack, and by the time he catches on, he falls from the tree and he hits the ground hard.
Wincing in pain, and trying not to cry, he starts running, but his right leg refuses to cooperate, and with his glasses askew, he doesn't notice that there is a black girl a bit older than him making her way along the river with an important errand.
He runs straight into her, knocking her to the ground by accident.
...