sweet tea. -tkam

unease.

-atticus' pov-

I entered the office in my home, setting my things on the desk. As I took my coat off and hung it up, I heard a faint noise from outside.
    I looked out the window from my desk to see a man walking with none other than miss Daisy Mae, his arm around her lower waist.
     I furrowed my brow a bit, of course, I knew everyone in town, but I knew him more than an acquaintance.
      He worked with me, he was a bailiff, and I had had some brief conversations with him in passing. But that wasn't the extent of what I knew.
     I may not have chosen to speak with him many times, but I had listened to plenty of his loud conversations in the halls outside my office.
    I felt an immediate sense of unease when I saw the two of them, but then again, some people really change around a special person in their life.
    Maybe he was different around her, but I still couldn't shake the feeling as I recalled the way he spoke of women in the past. He genuinely did not seem to view women as on the same level as men, much less him.
     And that excluded no women. However, daisy Mae was not a damsel in distress, in need of a savior, and I did not want to belittle her judgement of character.
      I did not like the thought of them together, knowing both of them, but I did not allow myself to overanalyze, and I reminded myself of my place.
     That place was not in the private affairs of anyone who I am not defending, and it was not in line for me to say how their relationship was or would become.
    I pushed the thought aside and opened my breifcase . Just as I reached for the files tucked away in them, I heard a harsh knocking at the front door.

"Atticus! Let me in this instant!" Shouted maudie.

Before I could get up, calpurnia opened the door, and mauide marched into my office.

"Atticus finch did you see who daisy Mae is dating?!" She said

I sighed softly and turned around to face her, leaning back against the desk.

"Yes, mauide I did."

"Well, surely you aren't just going to let that happen" she said with a chuckle of disbelief

"I am, why wouldn't I? It's hardly my place to stop them"

"Atticus!" She shouted

"You know he's absolutely no good! And she is...well..."

I raised an eyebrow at her as I waited for her to finish.

"It's not that she ain't smart...but...she's....easy to manipulate" she concluded

I hated that I agreed, but everything in her nature, her kind and optimistic heart, it made her an easy target for horrible men.

"So we are to assume every relation she gets into is bad?"

Mauide huffed

"Atticus don't be that way you know he's no good, don't defend it"

"Alright then I'll play along, let's say it is bad, what am I to do about that? What is anyone to do about that, and what makes me the only one to help?"

"Because people respect you, and she trusts you!" She cried.

"Mauide"

I look my glasses off for a moment as I pinched the bridge of my nose

"I admire your passion about this and your concern about miss Daisy Mae but even so that doesn't justify getting involved, and doesn't grant me with the power to do anything about what they choose to do as grown adults. We don't know the extent of it and it is not our business to know, and I believe she is capable of knowing when something is wrong."

Mauide sighed

"Well I don't like it one bit, not at all...look won't you just keep an eye on the two of them when you see them, and be looking to see is he talks about her any at work?" Asked mauide

I put my glasses back on and thought for a moment.

"I can be weary of them, but I will not go out of my way or stray from my normal routine to monitor them and their lives. But if it happens that I come across them I will observe while I can."

Maudie nodded and cal escorted her out kindly as they talked among themselves.
    I sighed and sat at my desk, my feelings of unease corroborated by another's.