Tom Robinson

         A long time ago, it seems, Atticus defended a black man in court, who was accused of rapin' Bob Ewell's daughter. Back then, I didn't know what "rapin' " meant, but now that I'm a big kid, I know exactly what it means.
         I remember the trial clearly, just like it was yesterday.
         Jem, Dill, and I were all sittin' in the black balcony, where all the blacks had to sit. Tom Robinson looked like a pretty normal black man to me, he didn't look like he would do somethin' as bad as rapin'. Right away, I believed what Tom had to say about the incident, because Atticus put his whole self into defending him. And you know what they say, dogs and kids have the best judgement of character, and I could sense right away that Tom Robinson did nothin' wrong.
         Mayella Ewell, on the other hand . . . She seemed like a huge fraud. With every word she said, it became more and more clear that she was the one to blame in this case. I wanted to cry, because everything that was goin' on down there was just tickin' me off, though I didn't know exactly why. Dill spoke my mind then. He ended up burstin' into tears, probably for the same reason I wanted to cry. We took him outside, and Dolphus Raymond gave him some Coca Cola.
         Tom Robinson ended up bein' convicted. I thought Atticus had an awesome arguement, and I thought for sure we would win, mainly 'cause Jem was so sure we would. Tom was taken to the prison. It made me sad, 'cause he was so young, and he had a family that was so worried about him. I thought he deserved to return to them. To this day, I still don't think he shoulda been sentenced to jail.
         Tom ended up dyin'. He tried to escape over the fence, and he coulda if his left arm wasn't so gimpy. They shot him. When I found out, I was shocked. And sad for his family. I wish I, personally, could go back in time and help Tom Robinson cross that fence.