Jem kicked off his shoes and swung his feet to the bed. He propped himself against a pillow and switched on the reading light. You know something, Scout? Ive got it all figured out, now. Ive thought about it a lot lately and Ive got it figured out. Theres four kinds of folks in the world. Theres the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, theres the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.

What about the Chinese, and the Cajuns down yonder in Baldwin County?

I mean in Maycomb County. The thing about it is, our kind of folks dont like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams dont like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks.

I told Jem if that was so, then why didnt Toms jury, made up of folks like the Cunninghams, acquit Tom to spite the Ewells?

Jem waved my question away as being infantile.

You know, he said, Ive seen Atticus pat his foot when theres fiddlin on the radio, and he loves pot liquor bettern any man I ever saw

Then that makes us like the Cunninghams, I said. I cant see why Aunty

No, lemme finishit does, but were still different somehow. Atticus said one time the reason Auntys so hipped on the family is because all weve gots background and not a dime to our names.

Well Jem, I dont knowAtticus told me one time that most of this Old Family stuffs foolishness because everybodys familys just as old as everybody elses. I said did that include the colored folks and Englishmen and he said yes.

Background doesnt mean Old Family, said Jem. I think its how long your familys been readin and writin. Scout, Ive studied this real hard and thats the only reason I can think of. Somewhere along when the Finches were in Egypt one of em must have learned a hieroglyphic or two and he taught his boy. Jem laughed. Imagine Aunty being proud her great-grandaddy could read an writeladies pick funny things to be proud of.

Well Im glad he could, or whoda taught Atticus and them, and if Atticus couldnt read, you and med be in a fix. I dont think thats what background is, Jem.

Well then, how do you explain why the Cunninghams are different? Mr. Walter can hardly sign his name, Ive seen him. Weve just been readin and writin longern they have.

No, everybodys gotta learn, nobodys born knowin. That Walters as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothins wrong with him. Naw, Jem, I think theres just one kind of folks. Folks.

Jem turned around and punched his pillow. When he settled back his face was cloudy. He was going into one of his declines, and I grew wary. His brows came together; his mouth became a thin line. He was silent for a while.

Thats what I thought, too, he said at last, when I was your age. If theres just one kind of folks, why cant they get along with each other? If theyre all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think Im beginning to understand something. I think Im beginning to understand why Boo Radleys stayed shut up in the house all this time . . . its because he wants to stay inside.

24

Calpurnia wore her stiffest starched apron. She carried a tray of charlotte. She backed up to the swinging door and pressed gently. I admired the ease and grace with which she handled heavy loads of dainty things. So did Aunt Alexandra, I guess, because she had let Calpurnia serve today.

August was on the brink of September. Dill would be leaving for Meridian tomorrow; today he was off with Jem at Barkers Eddy. Jem had discovered with angry amazement that nobody had ever bothered to teach Dill how to swim, a skill Jem considered necessary as walking. They had spent two afternoons at the creek, they said they were going in naked and I couldnt come, so I divided the lonely hours between Calpurnia and Miss Maudie.

Today Aunt Alexandra and her missionary circle were fighting the good fight all over the house. From the kitchen, I heard Mrs. Grace Merriweather giving a report in the livingroom on the squalid lives of the Mrunas, it sounded like to me. They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they had no sense of familyI knew thatd distress Auntythey subjected children to terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot and then got drunk on it.