Chapter 8

Mrs. Radley died this morning. The citizen of Maycomb County didn’t show much concern to her death. Nobody arraigned or questioned the matter, but Jem and I had some inkling that Boo may have had something to do with it, but according to Atticus, she died of natural causes
School was cancelled today due to the bizarre snow fall this morning. I thought the world was ending cause I had never seen anything like it. I was afraid, but Jem wasn’t. I didn’t understand how he wasn’t, but Jem is something else so I was not surprised. Atticus told me to calm down cause it was just snow- a rare occurrence for Maycomb County. He said it hadn’t snowed since 1865.
After I calmed down, Jem and I got a brilliant idea: to build a snowman. I interrogated him on how you would make a snowman because I had never built one before in my life. Jem hadn’t either, but he seemed to know what he was doing.
Jem and I ran outside to where the snow fell from the sky. I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue meticulously out into the freezing air. I caught a snow flake on my tongue getting a sweltering feeling. I didn’t apprehend why it burnt, but Jem being the smart one told me why: “It swelters because it is so cold out, it feels hot instead.” Atticus told us there might not be enough snow on the ground for a snowman, but Jem didn’t care. He decided to get snow from Ms. Maudie’s garden in order to have enough snow for the snowman.
Jem brought several baskets of snow; most of filled with dirt instead. I told him the yard looked calamitous, but his response was “Looks messy now, but it won’t later” I believed him, but when we were done it looked like a “Nigger” snowman. Jem had added a cross face to our creation which made it look like Mr. Avery. For a final touch Jem placed a piece of stove wood on the snowman, or dirt man if you ask me.
Atticus came home later that afternoon, and at first view he liked it, but after stepping back and taking a better look at the creation he realized it was Mr. Avery. He wasn’t very impressed because he said we couldn’t go around creating creatures of our neighboors. Jem tried to defend his creation: he soon realized it was no use. He got Miss Maudie’s sunhat from her place across the street and placed it on the creations head. Atticus approved of Jems artwork, but Miss Maudie didn’t. She walked out of her front door not too impressed at the sight of a snowman wearing her sunhat. She talked to Atticus as she waved her hands all around the air. The only piece of the conversation I grasped was Miss Maudie telling Atticus that he will never raise us. A dissension aroused inside of me. I thought Jem and I were raised in a well mannered way, but according to Miss Maudie we weren’t and never will be.
The night came several hours later. It was chilly out, and more coal was needed in the fire to warm the house up. Atticus took care of that before coming to read me a bedtime story. The minute the coal touched the fire I could feel a difference. The house had acquired several degrees which made the house cosier. Atticus read me my story, tucked me into bed, and shut the light off. I fell asleep quite quickly cause I was so tired from the snow this morning.
What seemed to be minutes after falling asleep I got woken up. Atticus and Jem didn’t tell me what was going on until I saw it for myself. Miss Maudie’s house was in flames. Smoke flew out of the house and into the air; the sky grew darker. Everybody had gathered around her house: Atticus, Miss Rachel, Miss Stephanie Crawford’s among others. Atticus told us to stay out of the way and watch from a distance. We stood by the Radley house and watched. I saw furniture being moved. Atticus carried Miss Maudie’s heavy oak rocking chair: her most valued possession. I guessed everyone tried saving something before it was too late. Atticus believed the most valued possession is always the most important, which made him save the heaviest belonging there was; her oal rocking chair. I thought that she might have a hard time assimilating that her house had just burnt down.
At home later that evening we drank hot cocoa. Miss Maudie was going to stay at our place until she was settled down again. Atticus asked Jem and I if we could conspire with anything she may need during our stays. Of course I accepted, but it took Jem some time to agree as well. I sipped some hot cocoa from my cup when I noticed Atticus staring at me. He stared at a blanket that was thrown over my shoulders which I hadn’t even noticed. Jem said Boo had put the blanket around me and I didn’t even notice because I was too busy looking at the fire. I was frightened.
We went to sleep until we got woken up by Calpurnia at noon. It wasn’t too bad getting woken up though we talked to Miss Maudie and listened attentively to her stories. She puzzled me because I didn’t get how having lost all her possessions she still had interest in Jem and my life. It was nice of her, but confusing for me to understand.
The three of us talked: Miss Maudie, Jem and I. I wondered why Miss Maudies nose was a color I’d never seen before so I asked. Her response was she had been outside since six o’clock and her nose should have already frozen by now. Our talk ended soon after when Miss Maudie started acting in a weird manner: her lips moving silently, and her hand against her head chuckling.