Scout's first day at school in To Kill a
Mockingbird was not a good one, despite the fact
that
I never
looked forward more to anything in my
life.
Scout ran afoul of her
new teacher, Miss Caroline, from the start, and when she tried to defend Walter
Cunningham Jr. and explain why the boy had no lunch money, Miss Caroline "whipped me"
with a ruler. Scout planned to get payback on Walter during lunch break, and she was
busy "rubbing his nose in the dirt" when Jem made her
stop.
"You're
bigger'n he is," he
said.
Instead of eating dirt,
Walter was invited to the Finches' house for lunch. Walter and Atticus got along fine,
and they "talked together like two men, to the wonderment of Jem and me." But when
Walter drowned all of his food in syrup, Scout couldn't resist protesting. Calpurnia
immediately led her from the kitchen, angrily explaining
that
"That
boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you
hear?"
Cal explained that any
guest--even a Cunningham--was considered company and that Scout's remarks were
"disgracin' " Walter.
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