"It ain't much," Scout said as soon as we walked into her studio apartment. "But I hope you like it."

"Well, I tell you what," I said as I put my suitcases down. "I will like any place as long as you're living in it."

"Smoothie," she said as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and we were going to kiss if it weren't for her telephone ringing.

"You better get that," I said as she frowned.

"It's Aunty," she said as she walked with a slouch to the phone. "I can tell by the way it rings that it's her."

"You mean Alexandra?"

"Yeah."

"Is she still an uptight cunt?"

"Yeah," she said as she took a deep breath while picking up the reciever. "Hello...Oh, hey Aunty...Yeah, sorry, I forgot today was Sunday...Yeah, I'm all right..."

She rolled her eyes at me and I pointed my finger at her and pulled my thumb as if it were a trigger. I tried not to laugh out loud when she pretended to keel over. The last thing I need is her to be scolded for me being here. Then it dawned on me that maybe breaking the news wouldn't be as easy as I thought and I knew it would be hard. I decided to take a look around and I thought she actually had the place looking nice. There was no table but high chairs for the kitchen bar; she had a sofa but no love seat; and I saw in the other room she had a full size bed in the middle of the room that I knew would be perfect for two. I took a walk into her bedroom and saw not only a bed but a desk in there with a typewriter. I was so happy to see it and I hoped that maybe she was a writer, too. She's the only girl I know who could match my imagination with her brother being the only guy.

"Hey," she said as she snuck up behind me.

"You okay?" I asked as I wrapped my arm around her neck. I knew she always took an ego beating after talking to her aunt.

"I'm beginning to think I never was," she admitted as she drew a heavy sigh as she laid down on her bed. I was more than happy to join her.

"What makes you say that? I know it's been a while but I say you shouldn't let that aunt of yours get you down so much."

"It's not really her."

"Well, what is it?"

"It's Atticus."

"He's okay, isn't he?"

"He's got the rheumatism real bad."

"Oh," I said. I felt awful to hear that. "That's gotta be tough. I'm sorry."

"That's not what's bothering me. He went to another goddamn counsil meeting to talk about how the new and improved black community is ruining Maycomb County."

"What?!"

"You heard me," she replied with disgust as she rolled over on the bed so she wouldn't have to look at me.

"Atticus Finch? Thee Atticus Finch that defended Tom Robinson even though it almost cost him everything? That same Atticus Finch is going to anti-black people meetings?"

"You got it," she replied, still not looking at me.

I couldn't even wrap my head around the news and I could only imagine how it made Scout feel. I have never seen a girl love her father the way Scout loved Atticus. Scout and Jem talked about him like he was better than God and I believed them. He, without preaching, lived like a man with perfect morals and I believed him. It was hitting me hard right along with her. I began to rub her back as I thought long and hard about what we just discussed.

"What about Jem?"

"What about him?"

"What does he think about all this?"

"Atticus and Hank tried to get him to go to one of those meetings. Jem upset himself into a heart attack pretty much."

"If I were him I would think I was having one, too."

"No," she said as she turned around to look at me again. It was nice to see her. "I mean it when I say Jem had a heart attack. He almost died."

"I didn't know that," I whispered. It was all I had to say about that. My Lord, what if he did die? What would've become of her? I'm sure she would find a way to go on but she would never be the same. They were more than brother and sister: they were soulmates.

"He's okay, though," she said as she got up and gave my cheek a kiss. She could tell that I was deeply upset by this.

"Yes," I say as I give her cheek a kiss. "So are you. You're okay, too."

"Oh," she said as she pulled me into a hug. "You're too kind."

"I know," I said as I make us fall onto the bed again. That makes us both giggle and it was good to hear her laugh again.