Scout and Boo
A Short Story by: Meredith A. Jones

Author's Note: I had to read To Kill A Mockingbird for English recently, and we just watched the movie as well. This was honestly one of my favorite books, and I felt like...like I needed to write something TKAMb to post on here, so I wrote this oneshot in the two study halls I had one day. I will be posting some parodies in the future, so look out. Enjoy!

OoOoO

Scout didn't pay attention all through Math, English, or Social Studies. It was during Math that she started looking up at the clock.

Those days had all been the same - yesterday, the day before, and every day of the week before that. When she was dismissed from class at the end of the day, she told Jem she'd see him back at home, ignored Cecil Jacob's attempts at getting her to come to the park with him, and ran all the way to her neighborhood as fast and as hard as she could. This was one of those times when she was glad for overalls. A dress would have made running all the way to the Radley house impossible.

So, as she did every day, Scout stopped running when she got to the gate, brushed off her knees, and strode down the walk and up the steps. She rang the broken doorbell, which made, instead of a cheerful ringing sound, a horrible sour screeching noise. The sound reached all the way out to the street, so she covered her ears immediately. When it was finished, she uncovered them slowly and looked at the peep hole. The cover swung away, and an eye appeared.

Scout always thought Nathan Radley's eyes were confused. They were gray in some spots, but a strange blue in the other places. His left confused eyeball was staring at her, and she attempted a smile at him. Nathan creaked open the door and stared at her.

"What do you want?" he grunted. It was the same every time she came, and every time she'd answer in her same important-sounding voice that she had no doubt picked up from Atticus, "Hullo, Mr. Nathan. I'm here to see B - I mean, Mr. Arthur."

"Come in."

When Scout entered the house, she found it as smelly and as dusty as the last time. A lamp with a dead and broken light bulb that had gotten that way because of underuse, and a crooked lampshade stood next to the chewed up couch. The windows to the outside were either blackened as though there had been a fire inside, or fogged, and most of them were broken, or at least cracked. The house on the whole was a pigpen, as unwelcoming as the outside, yet it held some sort of charm - a charm that Scout, when she really thought about it, liked.

"Arthur!" Nathan croaked, as Scout took off her shoes and politely coaxed the dust off of the couch, and sat. She swore that Nathan Radley took out a bucket of dust every day and spilled it on everything in the house. It certainly seemed that way.

Boo knew what time it was, and didn't need to be called to know that Scout had come from school, so he rose from the floor of the attic, moved away from the single broken window with only three intact panes out of which he watched the neighborhood day in and day out, and went downstairs cautiously. His brother watched him sit next to Scout, concerned, and easily likened to a bird concentrating on its helpless prey. Once he was convinced that everything would be all right between the two, he disappeared into the kitchen, and when the pair on the faded couch heard him start to busy himself, Scout turned to Boo.

"'Afternoon, Boo."

Boo nodded.

"Well, I don't know what I was sayin' last time, so I'll just tell you whatever I can think of, okay?"

Another nod.

Scout rolled her eyes back into her head and stuck her tongue out, deep in thought. Boo sat staring at her, waiting patiently for her to begin speaking. As the moments passed, and the splintered grandfather clock in the corner ticked irregularly, Arthur began to wonder, though, whether she was still awake. Then, suddenly, she looked at him and smiled. He smiled back at her, and sat expectant. Then, she began to speak.

"Jem got a gun. A real gun of his own for his birthday. Atticus and him went out shootin' as soon as he opened the box. Atticus sold his guns years ago, you know. But he's still the best shot in Maycomb County, and probably the entire state of Alabama. Anyway, Jem told me he shot a bird. That's all he said, was that he shot a bird. I asked Atticus about it later and he said that after he did, Jem apologized for it - apologized up and down, he did. See, he thought he'd shot a mockingbird - Atticus says its a sin to kill one - but my daddy said to wait and see, son. When it did fall on the ground, it was just an ol' blue jay. Imagine that! My brother Jem - thinkin' he killed a mockin'bird, and it was only a blue jay! Atticus said that he was sure Jem's heart nearly jumped clear out of his mouth when he saw the critter fall down. Even when he saw it was a blue jay he said he'd never shoot anything livin' again if he could help it. He was just so torn up about killin' somethin'. See, my brother Jem acts tough, but he's not all hard skin. Once you cut past that skin - y'know, like when you cut open a frog? - he's all soft inside. Deep down in that heart'a his, he'd never really wanta hurt a soul.

"But, y'know...I wish Jem'd teach me how to shoot. I asked Atticus why I couldn't learn, and he said it's 'cause I'm still too young. I hate being too young all the time. I want to be as old as Jem." Scout paused. "But then...when I'm as old as Jem is now, he'll be even older anyway, and nothing'll be different, really. Know what, Boo? I don't think none of us should grow old. But, anyway, that's why I was so late yesterday. I hoped you wouldn't mind. 'Though I wish Mr. Nathan didn't kick me out so early 'cause I came so late. I only got fifteen minutes, remember? 'Cause I wasted five tryin' to think of somethin' to say. I know a lot'a stuff happened yesterday, but I wanted to save it all for when I had time, and I didn't wanta ramble. I'm glad I went to Jem's birthday party, though. It went real good. I stuck this big bow on Atticus's head, and he wore it the whole night. When I went into the living room to say goodnight, he still had it on, sittin' there readin' his paper. I reckon he even wore that silly thing shootin' with Jem.

"Dill made a card and sent it to Jem for his birthday. It was more apology than birthday, though. See, he drew a picture (Dill's becomin' a right da Vinci, he is) and stuck a dollar inside, and on the writin' side he apologized for the dollar. Said he wanted to give him a present, but it costs too much to send, and he doesn't have the money for it. He got a dollar for cuttin' the neighbor's yard the other day, so he gave that away to Jem. I got him a few things, too. I found a garden snake for him in the yard, but Atticus told me to let it go. So, I settled on spending a nickel on him at the store on some comic book. I should'a just given him a dollar like Dill. I don't even know if Jem likes comics, he's gettin' so old now." Scout sighed. "I miss Dill. We's gonna get married some day, you know. Gonna have a baby and everything, and we're thinkin' about namin' it Arthur, y'know, after you. If Jem gets a baby boy, he can name his Atticus. Me and Dill's got it all planned out. When Atticus dies and me and Jem get the house, me and Dill's gonna share it with Jem and his lady. That way we'll always be close, and we'll only hafta worry about one house, 'stead'a two.

"'Cept, it's kinda hard concentratin' on Dill when that Cecil Jacobs's gettin' in the way. I think he likes me or somethin' like that. And after he said what he said about Atticus, I don't know what to say to him. He keeps throwin' wads of paper at me durin' recess. See, he's between mine and Jem's grades, so he ain't in either of us's classes, but somehow he's always there waitin' for me at my classroom door before recess, and always in the school yard for me after school. But one day I asked him - I 'proached him and said, "Cecil Jacobs - why are you always followin me around like I was your shepherd and you was a sheep?" And he said, "'Cause I love you, Jean Louise Finch. I'm just sick in love with you." And I asked him after that, "And how're you always at my classroom door before recess? You must leave early just so's you can see me." He said that was right, and that he convinced his teacher that he had to leave early every day to see the nurse. I say that teacher'a his is thicker'n frozen butter." Scout looked at Boo, who was now staring out one of the broken windows, a vague smile on his face. She tried to angle her head so he might see her in his peripheral vision. "Anything new here at your place?"

Boo wasn't surprised at the question directed at him, as he'd been listening to every word Scout had said. His smile only faded a bit when he turned his head to meet the girl's eyes, and he began to look horridly older. He shook his head and looked down at his feet, twisting his fingers on top of a khaki-ed knee.

Scout drew her eyebrows together. "You know what you need, Boo?" Arthur Radley shook his head again, looking back at the little girl. "A lady friend." This put a smile right back on his face, and he fought back a laugh. Scout remained serious, though. "You do! I'm sure Atticus knows some old lady who'd love to meet you. Maybe you wouldn't be so damned quiet, then." Scout rolled her eyes to look at Boo fearfully. "You ain't gonna tell Atticus I'm still cussin', are ya?" Boo shook his head. "Good. 'Cause I haven't stopped." Scout straightened and raised her chin confidently. "Atticus told me cussin' ain't for young ladies, but I don't care one bit. I ain't some young lady, and I ain't gonna act like one either. And, Mr. Radley, I swear to you if I wasn't in your house right now, I wouldn't be one grain ashamed to spit right on the ground." Boo smiled again and nodded politely. "In fact, if this wasn't your house, I'd go spit right out the window like Jem does." Scout sighed, and as though she could read his mind, answered Boo's question. "Yeah, I look up to Jem a real lot. He's older and he's - well, Boo, boys always have the fun. Boys can go shootin' and they can spit - and they can play football. Why, Jem's okay with playin' football with me - but only so long as we're in the part of the backyard where no one can see us from the street. If I were to go to the other boys in the school yard before and after school and ask to play football with them, they'd shove my face right in the mud, I reckon.

"But I can do plenty of stuff, can't I? I'm still small enough to roll inside a tire. Well, you saw me, didn't ya?" Boo laughed this time, and something fell in the kitchen when he did. Nathan Radley could be seen through the fogged window in the door standing at the sink, staring dead in front of him. He held the spoon in his hand tighter. "You laughed at me didn't ya? That's who I heard laughin'! I was so scared, and it was just you all along!" Nathan looked out into the living room at his brother and the little girl, who was making his brother laugh. "I was so scared! And all along it was just - " both jumped at the sound of the door smacking against the wall, and their heads snapped to look at Nathan standing in the entrance to the kitchen. He composed himself quickly and dropped his voice dangerously.

"That's it, Jean Louise Finch. You can go on home, now," he said.

"All right, Mr. Nathan. Come on, Boo, you can walk me to the door."

Boo nodded, stood, and went with Scout to the entranceway to watch her adjust her school bag so she could bend down to put on and tie her shoes. When she stood straight again, she looked thoughtful.

"You know, Boo, I just thought of somethin'. When I come here to see you every day, Maycomb's just goin' and doin' its own thing without you. It's just goin' on it's merry old way. For a half an hour every day when you're down here with me, you ain't watchin' Maycomb, and for all you know, every house in the neighborhood could have been knocked or burned down." She looked up at Boo and grinned. "Thanks, Mr. Radley."

Boo nodded kindly, and held the door open for Scout, who returned the smile, and hopped down the steps. "See you tomorrow, Boo!"

"Bye, Scout," Arthur said quietly. He closed the door, and when he turned around, was met with his brother, Nathan.

"Do you like that girl comin' over every afternoon, Arthur? Tell me the truth, now. 'Cause if she's botherin' you, I'll send her straight home next time she comes."

Boo shook his head. "No, Nathan." He went and put his hand on the banister and was about to put his foot on the stair, but stopped, put it down, and turned. "Scout's fine how she's doin'. She just don't take the time to come up for air." He smiled to himself, standing there a moment. Satisfied, he turned back, and without a further word, climbed the stairs back to the attic.

Please Review! Thank you so much, I hope you liked it.