Journal #2-Chapter 4-7

Jem


Finally school is over. I can relax and I won't have to worry about evading my sister. me n' Scout made some new discoveries. I came home one day an' scout was chewing double mint gum, I asked her where she got it and she said that she found it. Gross, she found it, I bet she got it off the ground, I thought to myself. I told her that she can't just go around pickin' up gum and eating it. She said she found it stuck to the Radley's ol' tree in their yard, it had gum rappers around it. I thought this was a little strange.

The next day we were walking past the Radley's place and there was a shiny little box on the same knot-holes the gum. Scout shouted and I reached up to pick up the tin foil. It was one of those boxes that hold wedding rings and inside there were two Indian head pennies. They were nice and polished so it was obvious they belonged to someone, but who? This was our new mystery for the summer.

Dill was coming again for the summer. I liked it when Dill came, he made my summers more fun. We were very bored and too lazy to do anything the first day we were with Dill. Scout went to go and get the tire so she could roll in it. I pushed her so hard and she was going so fast the she ran right into the Radley's door steps. I kept yelling at her to get up but she was taking really long, finally when she got up she forgot to get the tire ans she told me to go get it. I ran as fast as I could to get it and ran back. Just then Calpurnia called to us that it was lemonade time, we finished our lemonade and I had a great idea for a game to play.

"I know what we are going to play, something new and different!"

"What?"

"Boo Radley"

I still hadn't exactly figured out what it was but I had a pretty good idea about how it was going to go. I was going to be Boo Radley, I figured this would be the most fun to play. Dill was Mr. Radley and Scout was Mrs. Radley. We played this game for most of the days, reenacting all of the Radley rumors and one day Atticus heard us playing, he saw me reenacting stabbing. He asked us what we are doing and I lied. Scout was afraid to play the game now, I didn't care so we kept it up. Scout told me she now knows for sure that someone is in the Radley's house cus' she heard someone laughing, and that's why she doesn't want to play. I think she just being a girl

Me an' Dill are planing things together without Scout, cus' she always ruins our plans or she act to much like a girl. Miss Maudie Atkinson made us the best cakes the other day. That lady is a chameleon, she does everything from gardenin' to bakin'. Her n' Scout talked for a long while about Boo Radley. Miss Maudie Atkinson believes that Boo just doesn't want to come out of his house. I think that he is crazy. The next day me an' Dill made a note for Boo. We was goin' to stuck it onto a fishin' pole and stick it in his window, Scout was scared but we told her she had to help us if she wanted to play with us. The note got stuck on the fishin' pole and I couldn't get it off, then Atticus came and he got made at us for tormenting and makin' fun of Mr. Radley. I was about to start quibbling with Atticus but I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere.

Dill had to leave the next day. Me n' him were really upset that we didn't get to see Boo Radley, so we planed on going at night so no one could see us. Unfortunately Scout was with us when we were going for our "walk" and we couldn't get rid of her so we had to tell her what we were up to. she whined and pleaded like a little girl and told us we were crazy. I told her she was becoming more and more of a girl and that made her shut up, she decided to come with us. We went through the back yard and saw it was even worse then the front. we walked as slowly and as quietly as we could. finally we got up to the window, mean' Scout lifted Dill up so her could see, but the curtains were drawn. I volunteered to go to the front porch and look. As I was standing there on the Radley's porch I teetered back and forth. Then I saw a shadow behind me, it was the shadow of a man with a hat on. My knees buckled and I suddenly couldn't move. The figure raised his arm and put it back down again, I could hear Dill an' scout runnin' so I bolted down the steps to follow them. I could see that scout had fallen and I was about to go and help her when I heard the gun shot. I yelled at Scout to hurry to the school yard. She got up and ran with Dill. I tried to got out of the fence after them but my pants got caught, I pulled them off as fast as I could, and then I ran.

We got back to our house and saw that everyone had gathered around the Radley's place. We better go over there I thought. Me, Dill an' Scout went over there too. Miss Maudie Atkinson asked what had happened and we lied ans said we didn't know. Then she looked me up and down and asked "where are your pants Jem." I didn't know what I was supposed to say.
"I won them from him" Said Dill I blanked out on the rest of the conversation cus' I was still shaken up from what had happened. Then I heard Atticus tell me to go and get my pants from Dill so we walked to his house said our goodbyes and went home.

I couldn't sleep at all, nethier could Scout. I told her I needed to get my pants or else Atticus would find out what we had done. She begged me not to go said I was goin' to get myself killed. But I had to go. So I did.

School started up again. Scout wouldn't stop complaining 'bout how bad 2nd grade was. I was very quite sense that night and I had a secret that I hadn't told Scout yet. That night when I went to get my pants they were not in the same place I had left them. They were sewn up and folded by the gate, like someone knew i was comin' to get them. I was so scared that I couldn't tell Scout for weeks. After I told her we started finding things left in the knot-hole in the tree. First we found soap carvings of us, then gum, then a medal and one day the biggest surprise of them all. We got a watch with a chain and a knife. This was a little creepy but we were thankful so we wrote a note. We went to go and put it in the tree and saw that Mr. Radley had clsoed up the hole, he said the tree was dyin'. I cried all night.