Mrs. Phelps had taken the long, peaceful walk back home from Mildred's house hundreds of times but none had been like this. The trees screamed Shakespeare's greatest works at her and the bushes: lines from the Bible. The sidewalk and the sky closed in on her, gradually increasing the volume in which they recited Faulkner's most famous novels. Her whole world was spinning. The passage that Mr. Montag had read brought about beliefs she didn't know she believed. The past 30 years suddenly caught up with her. Their world was once bright and knowledgeable, but now, their intelligence was running from them. It never seemed to matter until she realized her education had gone to waste. The TV had drained a piece of her that she had once prided herself on. First in her class then and now she couldn't remember the atomic number of lithium.
Mrs. Bowles' panting brought her back to the cemented alley she was currently trudging down.
"Are you alright?! What a horrible man that Montag freak is. He is so stupid the way he made you cry like that. They need to lock him up in a crazy house or burn his house for having books or something to get back at him for being such a disgusting man..." she ranted as she caught her breath.
Mrs. Phelps wanted to say that Montag wasn't stupid, he was actually far smarter than their brain washed society. She tried to butt in and defend Montag but Mrs. Bowles never took a pause long enough to let her squeak out a word. Finally, Mrs. Bowles concluded and Mrs. Phelps jumped in.
"I need to go home and lie down for a while." Finally she could get away.
She arrived home and tore every book she owned out of the box in her attic containing the things from her scholarly past. She reread her 10 favorite books then shoved them away, hidden. The only person who knew she had them was her current husband who was away at war and didn't truly love her anyways. She called in the alarm and waited for the mechanical hound to come; to finish off what was left of society's monster that they had created out of an innocent, young girl, to end the life of a woman who had nothing left here for her, as well as to end the life of someone who truly wanted to die.
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