To while away their free time during the boring summers in Maycomb, the children turned to play-acting. They had been acting out imaginary scenes of the Rover Boys--Tom, Sam and Dick--but Scout was tired of that, so she asked Jem to invent a new game. He decided that they should act out scenes from the life of Boo Radley. Scout was assigned the role of Mrs. Radley, one that at first she refused to play. Dill would be Mr. Radley, and Jem would play Boo. Scout mostly swept the porch; Dill walked up and down the sidewalk and coughed; and Jem shrieked and howled from under the porch.
As the summer progressed, so did our game. We polished and perfected it, added dialogue and plot until we had manufactured a small play upon which we rang changes every day.
Dill was a "villain's villain," playing any character that Jem assigned. Scout expanded to various female roles (though she claims it "wasn't as much fun as Tarzan"), while "Jem was a born hero." When Atticus found out what they were doing, he strongly discouraged their production. But the children had another audience: From inside the Radley house
... I heard another sound... Someone inside the house was laughing.
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