Goodnight, Harper Lee

Truman Capote and Harper Lee signing copies of In Cold Blood. 

     I've been sitting at my computer for two hours trying to think of something to write about. I've been writing a story simultaneously on Word, and scrolling through tumblr too. Nothing is coming to me. I guess I could talk about Harper Lee. She died today. I can't really say she was one of my favorite authors. I mean I read To Kill a Mockingbird, and I enjoyed it and see the great merit in it. But I'm not someone who has read all of her books and loves her writing style and rereads To Kill a Mockingbird every summer or anything. So while I see this as a significant loss to the general public, I don't really consider it a significant loss to me personally. One thing about Harper Lee that I do think about sometimes is the theory that she didn't actually write To Kill A Mockingbird. Fans of Lee get outraged by this rumor, but I've always kind of liked it: The theory is that Truman Capote, a close friend of Harper Lee's and an author himself (I'm a bigger fan of his stuff than Lee's) actually wrote the book, and published it under her name so she would get the royalties from it. I learned about this conspiracy theory when I was a freshman, and at the time, I thought that Harper Lee was this old decrepit woman at the time she published her most famous book. So in my mind, I had this little image of Truman Capote slaving over this book, getting it published, and heading over to Harper's house to hand her a copy of it, pointing to the part that says "By Harper Lee" and explaining to her that she didn't need to worry any more, that all her troubles were now taken care of and she could live out her last days in peace. Then Harper looks up at him with tears in her eyes, smiling, and thanking him, and they sit by the fire in her little house chatting for a while before Truman eventually leaves to go back to his house.
     Now that I'm older, I know that Harper Lee was in her thirties when To Kill A Mockingbird was published, and I realize the conspiracy theory has been, for the most part, debunked. Somehow, though, I still like my version better. The thought of a kind person sacrificing their own hard work, their own slaved over words, in order to put a dying old woman at ease: There's something wonderful about that, that would, in itself, make a beautiful story.
     So Harper Lee, you're not who I imagine you to be in my head, but you did mean a lot to the world, so I thank you for that.

-VaughnDL