To Kill a Mockingbird

Many thoughts went through my head as I hurled that tire down the hill as hard as I could. First being that my tongue was in severe pain as I bit it when I threw the tire, second being that this was probably a rash decision to send my tiny sister hurtling down a hill in a tire, and third was the realization that the tire was going to land directly in the Radley’s lot. The third thought made me cringe hard and I bit my tongue, again. I was starting to wonder if my tongue would ever heal. Then I looked at Dill and something in the eye contact confirmed that we both realized the tire was going to land in the Radley lot. Then the running and screaming at Scout commenced to, “slow down” and “get out of the tire”. As I saw the tire rapidly spinning down the hill I wondered what Scouts situation was, how she felt. I would guess pretty disoriented and probably a wee bit sick to the stomach. In all my years of tire riding I had never seen one go so quickly. I actually was slightly impressed with myself but I decided that that wasn’t really important at the moment, and I guessed that I would be thinking about it after for a long time. All of these thoughts raced through my head as I sprinted down the hill right foot and left pounding the ground and my eyes watching the tire flying at the speed of sound. Then the makeshift vehicle holding a family member I called Scout hit a bump and flew through the air and smacked into the side of a building, the building, the one that we had all come to fear and hate, the one that so many terrifying stories and legends circulated around. As the tire hit it, it made a deafening thud and I immediately stopped running and screamed and stared at the tire. I wondered if this was the end for my sister, but then I pushed the thought out of my head and slapped myself mentally and told myself to stop acting so womanly. Then suddenly Scout emerged out of the tire and I felt myself stop in time and let out a sigh of relief. But alas time resumed and I realized the urgent need to yell at my sister to get away from the house. Her first couple steps made her appear slightly uncoordinated, like a giraffe first learning to walk. But then she slowly got her bearings and realized she needed to get her wobbly legs going and get out of there. I yelled at her to get the tire but she didn’t budge and just kept on sprinting to Dill and I, secretly I couldn’t blame her, but I wasn’t going to let her know that. After what seemed like an eternity Scout finally made it to us, I looked at her and felt a wave of petrifying guilt roll over me. But of course, I couldn’t let her know that I cared so much, it would ruin my whole big brother act that I had going.