Dualism: Two Birds on a Wire
None of them can remember when Brady started hanging out with them, one day he wasn't there and then the next day he just showed up, he never left. Brady and Tommy got along in a way that no one really understood, they were complete polar opposites.
They made the most unlikely of friends, which made them all more appealing to look at. Watching them walk through the halls, or down at the beach, or watching Tommy pick Brady up in the morning for school, you always wondered ‘what are they talking about?’ ‘What could these two kids possibly have in common?’ But that was the secret, truth was, they had nothing in common, they disagreed on almost every topic they spoke about. But that was what drew them both toward each other, for Tommy, Brady was a challenge, he was an equation that Tommy couldn't solve. For Brady, Tommy was a thrill, he was in awe of Tommy, and looked up to him. He thought Tommy was the bravest boy he ever knew. The others might not remember when the boys first met, but Brady remembers.
It was the first day of freshman year and Brady was walking to his first class of the day, English.
As he pulled out his copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ he ran the torn edges through his fingers, looking at the beat up cover. That summer, Brady took this book everywhere with him, he loved it. But he never told anyone, he read in the darkness of his room after his father went to bed. God forbid he caught his son reading a book and not catching a football. Or ever worse, what if his teammates caught him reading, he’d never live that one down. As the rest of the students started filing in, he shoved the book back in his bag, he decided that he’d tell the teacher he forgot to do summer reading.
Tommy walked in exactly one minute after the second bell rang. He came in and sat in the back, the teacher didn’t even notice. But Brady did.
Tommy’s eyes were covered by his long thick brown curls. He carried one book with him, his own copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. That was it, one single book. As he felt Brady’s eyes on him, he glanced up. He had circles under his eyes, the whites of his eyes were a tint of red. His lips were chapped and he had on a plain gray t-shirt.
The teacher started asking the students about their summer reading. She explained they would be writing an essay about the book and on the conflict of good or evil. She asked the class if they understood, she only received grunts and nods as responses.
She then asked the class, “So, there lies my next question..Do you think all people are essentially good or essentially evil?” The class went silent, after the ticking of clock passed 20 seconds, a chuckle let out from the back of the room, the class turned toward the boy in the back corner in a gray t-shirt. He looked up and caught eye with the green eyed boy who had him watching him earlier.
“Mr. Clifton, is there something you want to share with the class?” the teacher questioned.
Tommy’s eyes traveled over the boy’s team jersey, moving from his blonde hair styled perfectly, toward his blue jeans that hung loosely-even though he wore a belt that day-all the way down to his brand new pair of white sneakers. Tommy finally looked away from the dazzling boy three rows in front of him and locked eyes with the teacher.
“Ms.Willington, I read this book front to back three times this summer, and I do believe I have the perfect answer to your previous question.”
“And what would that be Thomas?” she pressed. Tommy sat there for a couple seconds, Brady watched intensely, waiting for him to answer. The teacher stood there with her arms crossed, unimpressed.
“The truth about this book is that there is no person that is all good, or all evil. There just so happens to be many people that have more evil in them than good. No one is born evil, I think we are all born good, but the world, a world like this one in this book, is what turns us evil.”
Ms.Willington stood there looking at Tommy, wondering why such a brain like his chose to sit in the back of her class.
“So someone like Atticus Finch isn't all good? You’re saying a hero like him has evil in him? I find it hard to believe Mr. Clifton.” she pushed
“He is only a hero because he is white, and we both know that Ms.Willington, don’t pretend to think this story is moral. The African-American is accused of something he didn’t do, so he must wait for the strong white man to save him, right? Well I don’t believe it. Atticus Finch did have evil in him, he had flaws just like the rest of the town, he was just better at hiding it then others.”
“And what would those flaws be Mr.Clifton?” the teacher pressed, she knew he knew the right answer.
“Atticus Finch’s biggest flaw was that he was hopeful, he was hopeful in a world where hope got you nowhere. He believed that “good morals and optimism” would win this case. He was wrong Ms.Willington, he lost the case.”
He kept his eyes on his teacher, she had no words, in all her nine years of teaching, no student had ever said something so profound, so intense, so real. She couldn't believe it.
As Brady listened to this debate between Tommy and the teacher, he was stunned, he disagreed completely with Tommy, he thought Atticus Finch was a hero. But he never thought about it the way Tommy explained it, he liked that there was someone with a different opinion as him, it interested Brady. He was amazed at the curly headed boy three rows behind him. Brady decided on that day and Tommy Clifton was the bravest boy he would ever know.
