Jem stayed moody and silent for a week. As Atticus had once advised me to do, I
tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the
Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next
afternoon. So I left Jem alone and tried not to bother him.
School started. The second grade was as bad as the first, only worse — they still
flashed cards at you and wouldn’t let you read or write. Miss Caroline’s progress
next door could be estimated by the frequency of laughter; however, the usual
crew had flunked the first grade again, and were helpful in keeping order. The
only thing good about the second grade was that this year I had to stay as late as
Jem, and we usually walked home together at three o’clock.
One afternoon when we were crossing the schoolyard toward home, Jem suddenly
said: “There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
As this was his first complete sentence in several days, I encouraged him: “About
what?”
“About that night.”
“You’ve never told me anything about that night,” I said.
Jem waved my words away as if fanning gnats, fie was silent for a while, then he
said, “When I went back for my breeches — they were all in a tangle when I was
gettin‘ out of ’em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose. When I went back — ” Jem took a
deep breath. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence. . . like they
were expectin’ me.”
tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the
Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next
afternoon. So I left Jem alone and tried not to bother him.
School started. The second grade was as bad as the first, only worse — they still
flashed cards at you and wouldn’t let you read or write. Miss Caroline’s progress
next door could be estimated by the frequency of laughter; however, the usual
crew had flunked the first grade again, and were helpful in keeping order. The
only thing good about the second grade was that this year I had to stay as late as
Jem, and we usually walked home together at three o’clock.
One afternoon when we were crossing the schoolyard toward home, Jem suddenly
said: “There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
As this was his first complete sentence in several days, I encouraged him: “About
what?”
“About that night.”
“You’ve never told me anything about that night,” I said.
Jem waved my words away as if fanning gnats, fie was silent for a while, then he
said, “When I went back for my breeches — they were all in a tangle when I was
gettin‘ out of ’em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose. When I went back — ” Jem took a
deep breath. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence. . . like they
were expectin’ me.”
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