It is a scary place though, ain’t it?” I said. “Boo doesn’t mean anybody any harm, but I’m right glad you’re along.”
…”Ain’t you scared of haints?”
We laughed. Haints, Hot Steams, incantations, secret signs, had vanished with our years as mist with sunrise.
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 28. The playful discussion by Scout and Jem about childhood fears foreshadows some not-so-childish, real-life, scary things about to happen. The children are about to be attacked and Bob Ewell’s body is about to be found. Also foreshadowed is Boo Radley’s transformation from the fearful ghostly figure of the children’s imagination to a real person that they respect.
