Snow and Miss Maudie's Fire — To Kill a Mockingbird

Maycomb wakes to rare snow, enough to cancel school and not enough to cover a yard. The children try to build a snowman and run short of white. They make a core of mud, then a thin skin of snow. The figure looks like Mr Avery, the portly neighbour who has already blamed the weather on their misbehaviour. Atticus sees the joke and will not let a caricature stand in the yard. They disguise it as Miss Maudie with her sunhat and hedge-clippers. Miss Maudie, who can take a joke, inspects their work. The snowman is ugly, patched, and already tangled in the street's feelings.

That night Miss Maudie's house burns. Atticus sends the children into the street, where neighbours gather with buckets and no real hope. They are told to stand in front of the Radley place. They watch the roof go. Mr Avery has to jump from a porch roof. Miss Maudie, in an old overcoat, treats the fire as a problem to manage. Scout, half asleep, does not notice when someone settles a blanket around her shoulders. She stands in wool that did not come from home, watching a house die.

At home Atticus asks where the blanket came from. Scout has no idea. Jem almost tells everything: the knothole gifts, the folded trousers, the laughter. Atticus hears enough to name the giver. It was Boo. Arthur left his house, walked into fire and neighbours, and put warmth on a child who did not see him. Jem is ready to empty the secret. Atticus lets it rest. He will not march them to the Radley door or make a speech. They are to keep the knowledge and leave the man his privacy. The next day Miss Maudie is oddly cheerful. She hated that old house. It was too large and too hungry for time she would rather spend in the dirt. She will have a smaller house and a bigger garden. Neighbours who expect grief find her already planning. Scout watches an adult refuse to mourn a building.