Mad Dog

Author's Note- This piece I made is told from the point of view of Stephanie Crawford, the town gossip. I wanted to expose her to show everyone that she might not try to overreact and tell tall tales, she just did.  She always thinks the worst of people other than herself and she trusts no one and nothing.  I suppose you could say she needs an attitude adjustment.  I don't know if half of the things told in this piece are true or not, but there isn't really a reason why they couldn't be.  It is what I imagine happening when no one is looking.

The road was dead, not a single soul dared exit the safety of their homes with the mad dog on the loose.  With a sudden curiosity, Stephanie Crawford poked her tiny head through the gape in the curtains in order to catch a glimpse of the action.  She gasped.  There was Atticus Finch; the town lawyer and peacekeeper aiming a large gun at the obnoxious dog belonging to that stupid Negro Tim Johnson.  Her legs shook.  She ached to tell someone about her findings, but, as they all most likely are watching it right now just like herself.  She picked up the telephone.  She rang a few numbers and then held it up to her ear. 

"Hello? Who is this?"the receiver asked.

"It's Stephanie Crawford. I would like to report  a rabid dog loose in Maycomb country. We have been trying to restrain it but it's mad!"

"Sorry ma'am about that ma'am.  I'll be there right away." The man's voice in the earpiece was replaced with a dial tone.  Stephanie placed the hand piece back on the doc.  She smiled. 'Bout time somebody put that darn Negro's dog in it's place.  She strutted over to her dining room table and pulled out a chair, but practically jumped out of her petticoat when the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired rang out in her house.  She ducked; hiding under the table and waited.  Oh no.  They've come for her! They were going to shred her dresses and cut her hair and- she stopped midsentence when a though arose in her head.  The blacks- they were uprising! Atticus had given  Tom respect so now they all thought they deserved something more! How dare he! That stupid Negro lover was going to get her killed! She crouched lower.  Then a sound erupted in the streets.  Not gunshots, not screams, not  anything she could ever have imagined at such a time.  It was applause.  She stood.  The idiot blacks thought that they had defeated her didn't they?  Well she'd teach them.  In a single burst of courage she grabbed the shotgun she always kept behind her large array of fur coats in the closet and ran into the street.  And froze.  It wasn't Negros applauding.  It was Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery and Jem and Scout Finch and all her other imbecile neighbors applauding. Averting her eyes from those strange people she saw a darkly clothed figure fallen in a heap on the road.  They killed someone and now they were applauding? What was going on?  Either way, she didn't need this she thought as she looked down at the gun still in her hands and bustled back to the house.  A few moments later, when she emerged again, the crowd had dispersed until only Jeremy, Jean Louise, and Miss Maudie remained on the road.  The figure was gone.