19 Chapter 19 (1/2)
Thomas Robinson reached around, ran his fingers under his left arm and lifted it. Heguided his arm to the Bible and his rubber-like left hand sought contact with the blackbinding. As he raised his right hand, the useless one slipped off the Bible and hit theclerk's table. He was trying again when Judge Taylor growled, ”That'll do, Tom.” Tomtook the oath and stepped into the witness chair. Atticus very quickly induced him to tellus:
Tom was twenty-five years of age; he was married with three children; he had been introuble with the law before: he once received thirty days for disorderly conduct.
”It must have been disorderly,” said Atticus. ”What did it consist of?”
”Got in a fight with another man, he tried to cut me.”
”Did he succeed?”
”Yes suh, a little, not enough to hurt. You see, I—” Tom moved his left shoulder.
”Yes,” said Atticus. ”You were both convicted?”
”Yes suh, I had to serve 'cause I couldn't pay the fine. Other fellow paid his'n.”
Dill leaned across me and asked Jem what Atticus was doing. Jem said Atticus wasshowing the jury that Tom had nothing to hide.
”Were you acquainted with Mayella Violet Ewell?” asked Atticus.
”Yes suh, I had to pass her place goin' to and from the field every day.”
”Whose field?”
”I picks for Mr. Link Deas.”
”Were you picking cotton in November?”
”No suh, I works in his yard fall an' wintertime. I works pretty steady for him all yearround, he's got a lot of pecan trees'n things.”
”You say you had to pass the Ewell place to get to and from work. Is there any otherway to go?”
”No suh, none's I know of.”
”Tom, did she ever speak to you?”
”Why, yes suh, I'd tip m'hat when I'd go by, and one day she asked me to come insidethe fence and bust up a chiffarobe for her.”
”When did she ask you to chop up the—the chiffarobe?”
”Mr. Finch, it was way last spring. I remember it because it was choppin' time and Ihad my hoe with me. I said I didn't have nothin' but this hoe, but she said she had ahatchet. She give me the hatchet and I broke up the chiffarobe. She said, 'I reckon I'llhafta give you a nickel, won't I?' an' I said, 'No ma'am, there ain't no charge.' Then Iwent home. Mr. Finch, that was way last spring, way over a year ago.”
”Did you ever go on the place again?”
”Yes suh.”
”When?”
”Well, I went lots of times.”
Judge Taylor instinctively reached for his gavel, but let his hand fall. The murmurbelow us died without his help.
”Under what circumstances?”
”Please, suh?”
”Why did you go inside the fence lots of times?”
Tom Robinson's forehead relaxed. ”She'd call me in, suh. Seemed like every time Ipassed by yonder she'd have some little somethin' for me to do—choppin' kindlin', totin'
water for her. She watered them red flowers every day—”
”Were you paid for your services?”
”No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewelldidn't seem to help her none, and neither did the chillun, and I knowed she didn't haveno nickels to spare.”
”Where were the other children?”
”They was always around, all over the place. They'd watch me work, some of 'em,some of 'em'd set in the window.”
”Would Miss Mayella talk to you?”
”Yes sir, she talked to me.”
As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must havebeen the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who hadnot been out of the house in twenty-five years. When Atticus asked had she any friends,she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her.
She was as sad, I thought, as what Jem called a mixed child: white people wouldn'thave anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn't haveanything to do with her because she was white. She couldn't live like Mr. DolphusRaymond, who preferred the company of Negroes, because she didn't own a riverbankand she wasn't from a fine old family. Nobody said, ”That's just their way,” about theEwells. Maycomb gave them Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of itshand. Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. But shesaid he took advantage of her, and when she stood up she looked at him as if he weredirt beneath her feet.
”Did you ever,” Atticus interrupted my meditations, ”at any time, go on the Ewellproperty—did you ever set foot on the Ewell property without an express invitation fromone of them?”
”No suh, Mr. Finch, I never did. I wouldn't do that, suh.”
Atticus sometimes said that one way to tell whether a witness was lying or telling thetruth was to listen rather than watch: I applied his test—Tom denied it three times in onebreath, but quietly, with no hint of whining in his voice, and I found myself believing himin spite of his protesting too much. He seemed to be a respectable Negro, and arespectable Negro would never go up into somebody's yard of his own volition.
”Tom, what happened to you on the evening of November twenty-first of last year?”
Below us, the spectators drew a collective breath and leaned forward. Behind us, theNegroes did the same.
Tom was a black-velvet Negro, not shiny, but soft black velvet. The whites of his eyesshone in his face, and when he spoke we saw flashes of his teeth. If he had been whole,he would have been a fine specimen of a man.
”Mr. Finch,” he said, ”I was goin' home as usual that evenin', an' when I passed theEwell place Miss Mayella were on the porch, like she said she were. It seemed realquiet like, an' I didn't quite know why. I was studyin' why, just passin' by, when she saysfor me to come there and help her a minute. Well, I went inside the fence an' lookedaround for some kindlin' to work on, but I didn't see none, and she says, 'Naw, I gotsomethin' for you to do in the house. Th' old door's off its hinges an' fall's comin' onpretty fast.' I said you got a screwdriver, Miss Mayella? She said she sho' had. Well, Iwent up the steps an' she motioned me to come inside, and I went in the front room an'looked at the door. I said Miss Mayella, this door look all right. I pulled it back'n forth andthose hinges was all right. Then she shet the door in my face. Mr. Finch, I was wonderin'
why it was so quiet like, an' it come to me that there weren't a chile on the place, not aone of 'em, and I said Miss Mayella, where the chillun?”
Tom's black velvet skin had begun to shine, and he ran his hand over his face.
”I say where the chillun?” he continued, ”an' she says—she was laughin', sort of—shesays they all gone to town to get ice creams. She says, 'took me a slap year to saveseb'm nickels, but I done it. They all gone to town.'”
Tom's discomfort was not from the humidity. ”What did you say then, Tom?” askedAtticus.
”I said somethin' like, why Miss Mayella, that's right smart o'you to treat 'em. An' shesaid, 'You think so?' I don't think she understood what I was thinkin'—I meant it wassmart of her to save like that, an' nice of her to treat em.”
”I understand you, Tom. Go on,” said Atticus.
”Well, I said I best be goin', I couldn't do nothin' for her, an' she says oh yes I could,an' I ask her what, and she says to just step on that chair yonder an' git that box downfrom on top of the chiffarobe.”
”Not the same chiffarobe you busted up?” asked Atticus.
The witness smiled. ”Naw suh, another one. Most as tall as the room. So I done whatshe told me, an' I was just reachin' when the next thing I knows she—she'd grabbed meround the legs, grabbed me round th' legs, Mr. Finch. She scared me so bad I hoppeddown an' turned the chair over—that was the only thing, only furniture, 'sturbed in thatroom, Mr. Finch, when I left it. I swear 'fore God.”
”What happened after you turned the chair over?”
Tom Robinson had come to a dead stop. He glanced at Atticus, then at the jury, thenat Mr. Underwood sitting across the room.
”Tom, you're sworn to tell the whole truth. Will you tell it?”
Tom ran his hand nervously over his mouth.
”What happened after that?”
”Answer the question,” said Judge Taylor. One-third of his cigar had vanished.
”Mr. Finch, I got down offa that chair an' turned around an' she sorta jumped on me.”
”Jumped on you? Violently?”
”No suh, she—she hugged me. She hugged me round the waist.”
This time Judge Taylor's gavel came down with a bang, and as it did the overheadlights went on in the courtroom. Darkness had not come, but the afternoon sun had leftthe windows. Judge Taylor quickly restored order.
”Then what did she do?”
The witness swallowed hard. ”She reached up an' kissed me 'side of th' face. Shesays she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. Shesays what her papa do to her don't count. She says, 'Kiss me back, nigger.' I say MissMayella lemme outa here an' tried to run but she got her back to the door an' I'da had topush her. I didn't wanta harm her, Mr. Finch, an' I say lemme pass, but just when I say itMr. Ewell yonder hollered through th' window.”
”What did he say?”
Tom Robinson swallowed again, and his eyes widened. ”Somethin' not fittin' to say—not fittin' for these folks'n chillun to hear—”
”What did he say, Tom? You must tell the jury what he said.”
Tom Robinson shut his eyes tight. ”He says you goddamn whore, I'll kill ya.”
”Then what happened?”
”Mr. Finch, I was runnin' so fast I didn't know what happened.”
”Tom, did you **** Mayella Ewell?”
”I did not, suh.”
”Did you harm her in any way?”
”I did not, suh.”
”Did you resist her advances?”
”Mr. Finch, I tried. I tried to 'thout bein' ugly to her. I didn't wanta be ugly, I didn't wantapush her or nothin'.”
It occurred to me that in their own way, Tom Robinson's manners were as good asAtticus's. Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety ofTom's predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under anycircumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run—a suresign of guilt.
”Tom, go back once more to Mr. Ewell,” said Atticus. ”Did he say anything to you?”
”Not anything, suh. He mighta said somethin', but I weren't there—”
”That'll do,” Atticus cut in sharply. ”What you did hear, who was he talking to?”
”Mr. Finch, he were talkin' and lookin' at Miss Mayella.”
”Then you ran?”
”I sho' did, suh.”
”Why did you run?”
”I was scared, suh.”
”Why were you scared?”