The Estory of Family Finn

David Pereira

After a long time without worrying about anything that does not Smoking, fishing,
eating, and sleeping, Jim and I were in peace; Restless Great adventures, or at least
not as great as before; despite That Jim was stung by another snake while we were
hunting. I had to carry him home and it reminded us of Jackson Island.
One day I lay on the edge of the lake and Jim came screaming.
- A letter come to you!
- A letter? Whose is it?
At that moment, Jim paled and began to wonder if he had done right to tell me about
the letter.
- Is Judge Thatchers. Came with this book. The strange man who came
delivering said it is to do with your father.
Then I said:
- But you said my father was dead. That you saw his dead body.
- Yeah, I saw him. But the man said that you father left dis before he died.
Jim says.
At that moment I opened the package; It was a letter and an old book, of those books
that people use to go to church. In the letter he had written, in a large, crooked letter,
as if it had been written to someone who dont see very well:

Dear Mr. Finn,

Here follows a diary that was left by his father. It was the
only
Thing we found out of it. It seems like it was the only thing
Which he had kept in the bank. I'm sorry to inform you that
There is no value thing or even money in kind.
With my condolences,

Judge Thatcher.
I was kind of confused. All I could think was that I should not have heard Jim and
sent that letter to Widow Douglas to warn him that was alive and well. Otherwise
Judge Thatcher would never have found me and sent that damn diary.
- I'm going to burn this.
That's what I said next.
Then Jim says:
"Aint you a little curis bout what he say in thah book?" Cause
It been over 8 years since you father died.
I reckon that Jim was right. So I accept to read. Jim sits next to me and lie on the
floor with my arms on my head. I look and he is smiling.
I begin to read the diary. The letters are not as large as those of the letter, and the
paper is yellowish and old.
When I was about to start reading, Jim interrupted me:
"I thot you father did not know how to read."
In that instant I opened my eyes.
- It is true!
- I dog my cats ef dhis old book was written by you father.
So I look and see written in shuddering letters, letters that looked like it was written
by a child still learning to write: The Story of Mama Finn.
Jim, this is my mother's book!
Jim then widens his eyes and stutters:
- Come on, read it soon.
As I shivered, Jim became more and more surprised. There was so much thing that
Mom wrote about. But the worst part of all was this:

My dear son,
If one day you're reading this, I hope you're fine. Do not
A long time to live. I just want to tell you that I could not
live
Enough to take care of you. Your father is a good
man. We
We met when we were kids. He and I
We played together; I saw his father beating him from the
first
 The day we met. He got a lot, cried a lot and suffered
much. The only times I saw him smile was with me. Be
patient with him. He will not know how to create you
without me.
I hope someday you can forgive me.
With love,
Miss. Finn.

Seeing the tears falling from my face, Jim put his arm around me and
said:
- You had a good mother."
As I closed the book I saw a small piece of paper fall. It was written:
Hiding place. And just below it was a map. Jim looked up and said,
- Maybe you mother left sumfn value! Maybe it a
treasure. Or money.
I said no; Which may have been no more than sad letters. Jim excited for
Knowing what I had hidden persuaded me to search. The instructions on the map
looked very complicated, maybe it was better call Tom Sawyer, I thought; But I soon
decided we'd figure it out. We keep food, tobacco, snuff and other things. The diary
said that the hiding place was in the town of Davenport. The peace we have had in
recent years seemed to have made us more eager for adventure. We took a boat
and drove down the Mississippi to St. Louis. Then we went on foot to a small
north. We stayed there for a few days. When we arrived at Davenport, a man of very
elegant appearance, like the Judge Thatcher;
- Hey you! Where are you from?
Jim stood still; He apparently had not yet become accustomed to the
freedom. I looked at the man and saw that it was not all bad; His face felt quite
normal.
- We came from afar. We're going to visit a friend.
- What is your friend's name?
He asked.
- Tom, Tom Saywer.
I said looking at Jim who realized the lie. The man then said:
- I do not know any Tom Saywer. Where does he live? He is James's relative.
Saywer?
So I confirm and say:
- Come on Jim. We have lots to do!
At that moment the man changes his face completely. I've never seen one person
change so much. His face was bad; I could see this from Jim's reaction seeing the
man's face.
- There's no James Saywer here, boys. After all, why do you lied?
Then I scream for Jim to run and together we go down the ravine at the river's edge.
We heard the man scream that he would get us and that we would pay to have him
made foolish. After running a lot, Jim bumps into a cabin. At the door, there is a Mr.
he seemed very nice; I was a little worried. I wondered if all the people in this city like
to fool outsiders. But this time I was not mistaken. The Mr. was old Jenkings; He
introduced himself and said:
- You boys should be careful. They say there's a madman walking around
there. He has already attacked the widow Weylin's son. They found only the poor
man's body.
We then tell the story to him; How did we get there and how did mysterious man
attacked us. Against Jim's will, I told him where we needed to go. I said we needed to
find a cave. Old Jenkings said,
- Do you know the cave?"
Jim then responds,
- Deys many caves round here?
- Yes, at least a dozen in the region.
Answered the old man.
So we decided to follow the map. I left the cabin. Jim thanks Old Jenkings. He warns
us to be careful. So let's go in the middle of forest. We begin to follow the map. In the
middle of the path, we see a trail. But as the map tells us to follow the same path as
the trail, we decided to go slow. Along the way, we hear a scream and a person
comes in our direction with an old shotgun. Then he says:
- I got you! And there are two? There's even a nigger. I told Sal that
He must have been a fugitive nigger. I say then:
- No, Sir. We dont bind anyone. We've come here to visit the old man.
Jenkings. He's an old friend of ours. Me and my slave Jim, we came to hunt. So
We hear you approaching. You can ask old Jenkings himself.
At that moment the man lowers his weapon.
- Oh, you're friends of old Jenkings? Why did not they say so? I
I was about to send you some lead. Said the man. He then says that there is a
madman loose around, and that we should be careful. We sat and smoked a
little. The man's name was Rufus Weylin. He was the brother of the widow Weylin
whom old Jenkings was talking about. He was tempted to catch the madman who
killed his nephew. He then explains how he almost took the unfortunate man a
couple of times. In the first was a pig and in the second he hit a person, but he
managed to escape. After the conversation, we returned to look for the cave. It was
difficult to explain to Weylin why we were going opposite the old Jenkins' cabin. I
explained that we had not hunted anything. It was even harder to convince him that
we did not need help to hunt. Following the path of the map, we finally reached the
cave. Jim gets brings. When I asked what was wrong, he said:
- I's not gwyne in dah. You dont know what's in dah.
So Ill go alone. At the bottom of the cave I follow with a burning torch. According to
the map I followed to the left side of the cave. There I dug. The torch went out while I
dug. I did not call and I continued. I found a chest. A box. Immediately I took it
outside. At the exit Jim was scared. When I looked around, I saw the madman. The
look was even more frightening.
- I said I was going to get you, did not I?
The man pointed a large knife at Jim. I said no. Then I said I had a treasure in my
hands and I would give it to him if he let us pass.
- I do not want it. I want you guys that made me a fool.
Said the man.
At that moment I thought Jim was going to attack him. But he just moved away to the
entrance of the cave, where I was. At that moment I said:
- I know they made you a fool; We saw a man now little to speak of
There's a fool loosed around town attacking people.
The man's eyes widened and anger seemed to leak.
- Who?
Shouted the man.
- Who called me a fool? Say it!
And at that moment he jumped up on Jim. He pushed me and walked away.
On a leap; and when he raised his arm to attack, we heard a
stampede and he fell to the ground. When I looked he was bleeding. Behind him
Was Mr. Weylin who said:
- I swore I'd catch your bastard.
Jim, who had fallen, got up and came toward me. He helped me to get up and pick
up the trunk.
- We'll have to call the authorities.
Said Mr. Weylin, when he checked that the madman was really dead. We went in the
direction of old Jenkings' cabin. Mr. Weylin stopped us:
- What are you taking?
- It's an old whiskey chest that old Jenkings asked us to take. He kept it
here. When we came to fetch, this madman appeared.
Then Mr. Weyling said:
- Ah, well, I'll go with you then. I really needed to visit old Jenkings.
Then Jim said:
- But you do not have go get someone to help with the body?"
Remembering the deceased, Mr. Weylin decides to stay. But he insists on going to
Old Jenkings after settling everything. When Jim and I are on our way, we decide to
stop to see what's inside the chest. At that moment, my heart races.
- Come on, open it!
Jim said.
Then we opened an old padlock. We used the shovel to break the lock.
- Whas in dah?
Question Jim.
When opening the chest, we see several cards. Some of my father to my mother and
others from my mother to my father. In the bottom of the chest, a letter still closed.

My dear Huck,
If you find this chest one day, know that everything I
I had in the life of value is in here. Know that I love you.
master.
Love,
Mom.
I sigh deeply. I thought of everything I lived and how life it could have been easier
with my mother. But I have Jim on my side. And I'm Tom's friend. I have nothing to
complain about. We then proceeded to old Jenkgins's cabin. There, sitting talking
about everything that happened to Mr. Weylin, I decide to leave the few coins which
my mother left on an old table. Jim, seeing the scene, did not speak anything. We
said goodbye and went back home. On the way back, Jim asked me why I left the
money to Old Jenkigns. I say we do not need it. With money comes things to do,
where to keep it, banks and problems. I do not need this. So we follow back home. In
Peace.