To Kill A Mockingbird: Ending
I was just starting to doze off when Jem nudged me. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and leaned over the railing in order to see better. People were come back into the court room and taking their seats. Almost everyone was seated when the jury started filing out of the room on the other side of the door they had entered earlier. Once the jury was seated, the courtroom fell silent.
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" asked Judge Taylor.
"It has." answered one member of the jury.
"And?" encouraged the Judge.
"We the jury, find the defendant, Tom Robinson-" dramatic silence,"-not guilty."
BANG!
I froze at the sound, not completely comprehending what it was and what was happening around me. I watched as Atticus fell to the floor, clutching at his right side. A faint coloring of red forming on his suit in a growing spot registered in my mind. It wasn't until Tom Robinson got up from the desk and ran, only to fall to the floor with a yelp, back arching forward, as another ear-splitting pang vibrated through the air, that I realised that someone was firing a gun.
Below and around us, people were beginning to panic, rushing towards the exits, heads bowed and backs bent, trying to make themselves smaller, and I vaguely wondered if maybe I should do the same but was to confused and unsure to trust in the judgment of these frightened people.
Some sense returned to me and I realized that the Reverend, who had scooped Dill's small frame up into his arms, was calling to us as Jem pulled on my arm in the direction of the exit.
A sudden movement caught the corner of my eye and I stopped, momentarily resisting Jem's insistent pulling, and saw my school teacher, Miss Caroline, with a small six shooter, a Lady Blacksmith it was called as Atticus would explain to me later, in her right hand. She was struggling for possession of it with Sheriff Tate, but he quickly over powered her and once he got the gun from her he slid it across the floor and out of reach while simultaneously wrestling Miss Caroline to the ground and bringing her hands to the small of her back. Not being in his uniform he had none of his equipment with him, including his hand cuffs, but the bailiff came up to them quickly, hand cuffs already at hand, which he then placed on the no longer struggling woman's slim pale wrist.
I had seen enough and so had Jem. He gave a rather hard tug on my arm and I didn't resist this time, allowing him to drag me for the most part out the exit.
Later, as Atticus sat in the living room, leaned back in a chair, carful of his bandaged right side -the doctor had said he was perfectly fine once they had gotten the bullet out and patched him up- Atticus explained the result of what happened in the court room to us. He said that Miss Caroline was a bit unstable and had somehow managed to sneak the gun in with her in the folds of her dress, as ladies who worked the saloons use to. She was arrested and tried and found guilty; she was now in an institution were woman who had broken the law went to work tirelessly on some little task, such as knitting clothes or making bullets for factories or the state or whoever else needed it.
Tom Robinson had unfortunately been killed; shot in the back. His family had been devastated but were doing all right now. Mr. Deas had given Tom Robinson's widow, Helen, a job doing things around the house that truthfully he didn't need any help with. At first Mr. Ewel had taken to harassing Mrs. Robinson, as well as a few other towns folk, on her way to work but Mr. Deas had a word with him and no one has had any trouble from him since, if you don't count his threat to kill Atticus.
I remember looking up at Atticus from my position on the floor by his feet and asking,"But why did she shoot him Atticus?"
He stopped a moment to consider my question before finally answering,"I don't know scout. I just don't know."
"I don't understand Atticus."
"Neither do I scout. Neither do I."
Eventually Atticus got better and the incident in the court house was soon old news and no one was really interested anymore. At school, my class had a been combined with the grade above ours for a awhile but eventually they were able to find a new teacher for us, Miss Marilyn, who I liked only slightly better then Miss Caroline, but who seemed much more sensible and more stable.
Time heals all wounds, and with time things in Maycomb County returned to their usual, lazy routine.
A/N:
this is just something i did for school. people seemed to like it so I'm like,"what the hell, post it!"
enjoy!
-Sneere
Thurs. April 13, 2006