In "To Kill a Mockingbird" where is Jem headed to when he gets angry at Mrs. Dubose?

The day after Jem's twelfth birthday his money was burning up his pockets, so we headed for town in that early afternoon.

In Chapter 10 of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Jem, accompanied by Scout, is on his way to purchase a miniature steam engine for himself while Scout plans to buy a "twirling baton."  As they pass Mrs. Dubose's house, she is "stationed" on her porch, reading to do battle with the children or anyone else who passes. 

1. Mrs. Dubose first accuses the children of "playing hooky" from school although it is Saturday.


2. She accuses Jem of "breaking down" Maudie Atkinson's grape (scuppernong) arbor.


3. When Jem contradicts this accusation, she accuses Jem of lying.


4. Mrs. Dubose insinuates that Scout, who does not wear dresses, will end up waiting tables at the O.K. Cafe, a rather disreputable place.


5. She adds to this insult, "Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers!...Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!"

This final insult causes Jem to turn "scarlet."  as Jem and Scout walk away, they hear Mrs Dubose give a "philippic" on their family's "moral degeneration, the major premise of which was that half the Finches were in the asylum anyway."

It is ironic that this encounter with the irascible Mrs. Dubose occurs shortly after Atticus introduces the significance of the novel's title by telling the children "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird." And, after Jem informs his father of the insult dealt him, Attitus, true to character responds in a charitable manner.  Afterall, Mrs, Dubose is a wounded mockingbird, in a sense, for, as later revealed, the woman is not herself since she is addicted to a powerful drug, morphine.