i have a theory there is a little mayella in her, too. nayella, the girl who wants love, the girl who doesn't have a steady? i think she is an outsider as much as boo. boo is a recluse but mel is trying to participate. and she was a different cat than most people. she and truman were two different kinds of kids in that little town. someone who knew them well said truman was too soft for the boys and mel was too soft for the girls. they were each other's only friends. >> host: and boo radly, i am pulling the name out of my hat is a real character who really did live down the street which is a gas station now. it was the backyard where he would be is backed up to a school. she describes it exactly the same way in the book. >> guest: that, too, speaks to the universality of the book. there is that person down the block in every neighborhood who will not come out or tells you to get off their lawn or something like that in every town that is an american frankenstein. it is only by extending ourselves we have to learn to live with them and not