The front door slammed and I heard Atticuss footsteps in the hall. Automatically I wondered what time it was. Not nearly time for him to be home, and on Missionary Society days he usually stayed downtown until black dark.

He stopped in the doorway. His hat was in his hand, and his face was white.

Excuse me, ladies, he said. Go right ahead with your meeting, dont let me disturb you. Alexandra, could you come to the kitchen a minute? I want to borrow Calpurnia for a while.

He didnt go through the diningroom, but went down the back hallway and entered the kitchen from the rear door. Aunt Alexandra and I met him. The diningroom door opened again and Miss Maudie joined us. Calpurnia had half risen from her chair.

Cal, Atticus said, I want you to go with me out to Helen Robinsons house

Whats the matter? Aunt Alexandra asked, alarmed by the look on my fathers face.

Toms dead.

Aunt Alexandra put her hands to her mouth.

They shot him, said Atticus. He was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them

Didnt they try to stop him? Didnt they give him any warning? Aunt Alexandras voice shook.

Oh yes, the guards called to him to stop. They fired a few shots in the air, then to kill. They got him just as he went over the fence. They said if hed had two good arms hed have made it, he was moving that fast. Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didnt have to shoot him that much. Cal, I want you to come out with me and help me tell Helen.

Yes sir, she murmured, fumbling at her apron. Miss Maudie went to Calpurnia and untied it.

This is the last straw, Atticus, Aunt Alexandra said.

Depends on how you look at it, he said. What was one Negro, more or less, among two hundred of em? He wasnt Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner.

Atticus leaned against the refrigerator, pushed up his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. We had such a good chance, he said. I told him what I thought, but I couldnt in truth say that we had more than a good chance. I guess Tom was tired of white mens chances and preferred to take his own. Ready, Cal?

Yessir, Mr. Finch.

Then lets go.

Aunt Alexandra sat down in Calpurnias chair and put her hands to her face. She sat quite still; she was so quiet I wondered if she would faint. I heard Miss Maudie breathing as if she had just climbed the steps, and in the diningroom the ladies chattered happily.

I thought Aunt Alexandra was crying, but when she took her hands away from her face, she was not. She looked weary. She spoke, and her voice was flat.

I cant say I approve of everything he does, Maudie, but hes my brother, and I just want to know when this will ever end. Her voice rose: It tears him to pieces. He doesnt show it much, but it tears him to pieces. Ive seen him whenwhat else do they want from him, Maudie, what else?

What does who want, Alexandra? Miss Maudie asked.

I mean this town. Theyre perfectly willing to let him do what theyre too afraid to do themselvesit might lose em a nickel. Theyre perfectly willing to let him wreck his health doing what theyre afraid to do, theyre

Be quiet, theyll hear you, said Miss Maudie. Have you ever thought of it this way, Alexandra? Whether Maycomb knows it or not, were paying the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do right. Its that simple.

Who? Aunt Alexandra never knew she was echoing her twelve-year-old nephew.

The handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked White Only; the handful of people who say a fair trial is for everybody, not just us; the handful of people with enough humility to think, when they look at a Negro, there but for the Lords kindness am I. Miss Maudies old crispness was returning: The handful of people in this town with background, thats who they are.

Had I been attentive, I would have had another scrap to add to Jems definition of background, but I found myself shaking and couldnt stop. I had seen Enfield Prison Farm, and Atticus had pointed out the exercise yard to me. It was the size of a football field.

Stop that shaking, commanded Miss Maudie, and I stopped. Get up, Alexandra, weve left em long enough.