Al Capone Does My Shirts

Tuesday, April 2, 1935

Scout and Moose get put together for a class project “and just like that [they’re] friends again” (135). Scout plans a baseball game at lunch. Later, he asks Moose for one of those convict baseballs and admits to Moose that he thinks Piper is cute. Moose will try to get a convict baseball before Piper can get Scout one instead. Moose disagrees about Piper’s cuteness; he thinks about Piper and Scout all afternoon and it troubles him greatly.

Moose takes Natalie outside with him to go look for baseballs. He notices that he is enjoying talking with her and is amazed when Natalie makes eye contact with him. Moose wonders whether this is because Mrs. Kelly is really helping. He tries to get Natalie to trudge through the bushes but she decides to play with rocks instead. His desire to find a baseball becomes an obsession: “I don’t want Piper to find a ball for Scout. I don’t know why, but I don’t” (139). Moose finds a gap in the fence, possibly caused by rain eroding the soil, but if he steps inside, Natalie will be out of his sight.