"Tom!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"Where is that boy?" Aunt Polly asked herself. "Tom, come here!"
No answer.
Aunt Polly looked around the room. She pulled her spectacles (glasses for reading) down to her nose. She looked over them. Then Aunt Polly put the glasses up and looked under them. Aunt Polly did not usually look through her glasses to find a boy. They were her best glasses. She wore them for style, not to see things.
Aunt Polly was confused. She spoke loudly to the furniture. "If I catch you, I will—"
Aunt Polly did not finish her sentence. She bent down. She hit under the bed with a broom. Aunt Polly only found the cat.
"I never saw a boy like him!" Aunt Polly said.
Aunt Polly went to the open door. She stood there and looked at the garden. She looked at the tomato vines (plants that grow tomatoes) and the weeds. Tom was not there. Aunt Polly shouted "TOM!" again.
Then Aunt Polly heard a small noise behind her. She turned around quickly. She grabbed a small boy by his jacket. She stopped him before he ran away.
"I forgot about the closet!" Aunt Polly said. "What were you doing in there?"
"Nothing," Tom said.
"Nothing? Look at your hands. Look at your mouth. What is that?" Aunt Polly asked.
"I do not know, Aunt Polly," Tom said.
"I know. It is jam," Aunt Polly said. "I told you forty times. Do not touch that jam! Give me that switch (a thin, flexible piece of wood)."
The switch was high in the air. Tom was in danger.
"Look behind you, Aunt Polly!" Tom cried.
Aunt Polly turned around quickly. She moved her dress to stay safe. Tom ran away immediately. Tom climbed the high fence and disappeared over it.
Aunt Polly stood still for a moment. Then she laughed quietly. "I am an old fool," Aunt Polly said. "Tom plays many tricks on me. I never know what he will do next."
Aunt Polly felt sad. She knew her duty. She knew she must punish Tom.
"He is my dead sister's son," Aunt Polly thought. "I love him. But if I do not punish him, he will become a bad man. He will play hookey (stay away from school without permission) today. So I must make him work tomorrow."
It was hard to make a boy work on Saturday. All the other boys had a holiday on Saturdays. But Aunt Polly decided to do it.
Tom did play hookey. He had a very good time. Tom went home late. He helped Jim saw wood for the fire. Jim was a young boy who worked for the family.
Tom told Jim about his adventures. Jim did most of the work. Tom’s brother, Sid, was already finished. Sid was a quiet boy. Sid did not like trouble.
Tom ate his supper. He tried to steal some sugar. Aunt Polly asked Tom many questions. She wanted to trap Tom. She wanted Tom to say he did not go to school.
Aunt Polly thought she was very clever. She loved to play these games. "Tom, it was warm in school today, right?" Aunt Polly asked.
"Yes," Tom said.
"Very warm?" Aunt Polly asked.
"Yes," Tom said.
"Did you want to go swimming, Tom?" Aunt Polly asked.
Tom felt worried. He looked at Aunt Polly’s face. But her face did not show anything. "No," Tom said. "Well, not very much."
Aunt Polly reached out. She felt Tom's shirt. It was dry. Aunt Polly was happy. She thought she was very smart.
But Tom knew her plan. "Some of us put water on our heads," Tom said. "My hair is still damp. See?"
Aunt Polly was angry. She forgot about the water. Then Aunt Polly had a new idea.
"Tom, did you unbutton your collar to put water on your head?" Aunt Polly asked. "Show me your jacket!"
Tom opened his jacket. His shirt collar was sewn with thread. Aunt Polly was surprised.
"I thought you played hookey to go swimming," Aunt Polly said. "But I was wrong. I forgive you, Tom."
Aunt Polly was a little sad because her plan failed. But she was also glad that Tom was good.
Suddenly, Sid spoke. "Aunt Polly, you sewed his collar with white thread," Sid said. "But that thread is black."
"I did use white thread! Tom!" Aunt Polly cried.
Tom did not wait. He ran out the door. "I will hit you for that, Sid!" Tom shouted.
Tom went to a safe place. He looked at two needles in his jacket. One needle had white thread. The other needle had black thread.
"Aunt Polly sews with white sometimes and black sometimes," Tom thought. "I cannot remember which color she uses. It is Sid's fault!"
Tom was not a "good boy" in the village. He knew the "good boy" and he hated him.
Tom forgot his troubles quickly. He started to whistle in a new way. He learned this from a friend. It sounded like a bird. Tom walked down the street. He felt very happy. He felt like a man who found a new planet.
The summer evening was long. It was not dark yet. Tom stopped whistling. He saw a stranger in front of him.
The stranger was a boy. He was a little larger than Tom. A new person was very interesting in the small village. This boy wore very nice clothes.
The boy wore a cap and a blue jacket. He even wore shoes and a necktie (a decorative piece of cloth worn around the neck). Tom did not like the boy's fine clothes. Tom felt his own clothes were dirty and old.
The two boys did not speak. They moved in a circle. They looked at each other’s eyes.
Finally, Tom spoke. "I can beat you in a fight!"
"I want to see you try," the new boy said.
"I can do it," Tom said.
"No, you can't," the boy said.
"Yes, I can."
"No, you can't."
They stopped talking for a moment. "What is your name?" Tom asked.
"That is not your business," the new boy said.
"I will make it my business!" Tom said.
"Why don't you do it then?" the boy asked.
"You think you are smart," Tom said. "I can beat you with one hand."
"Then do it!" the boy shouted.
They argued more. "You are a liar!" Tom said.
"You are a liar, too!" the boy said.
They stood shoulder to shoulder. They pushed each other hard. But neither boy moved. They were both hot and angry.
"I will tell my big brother," Tom said. "He can hit you with one finger."
"I don't care about your brother," the boy said. "My brother is bigger. He can throw your brother over the fence." (Neither boy actually had a big brother).
Tom drew a line in the dirt with his toe. "Step over this line," Tom said. "If you do, I will hit you."
The new boy stepped over the line immediately. "Now do it," he said.
"Don't push me," Tom said.
"You said you would do it!" the boy laughed.
Tom was very angry. Suddenly, both boys were on the ground. They rolled in the dirt. They hit and scratched each other. They pulled each other’s hair.
Soon, the fight ended. Tom was sitting on top of the new boy. Tom hit him with his fists. "Say you stop!" Tom shouted.
The new boy struggled. He began to cry because he was angry.
"Say you stop!" Tom hit him again.
Finally, the boy whispered, "I stop!"
Tom let him up. "That will teach you," Tom said. "Do not play with me again."
The new boy cleaned his clothes. He was crying. He looked back and shouted at Tom. Tom laughed at him.
Then the new boy picked up a stone. He threw it at Tom. The stone hit Tom between the shoulders. The new boy ran away very fast.
Tom followed the boy to his house. Now Tom knew where the boy lived. Tom stood at the gate. He wanted the boy to come out and fight again.
The boy only made faces at Tom through the window. Then the boy's mother came out. She called Tom a bad child. She told Tom to go away.
Tom went home very late that night. He climbed through his window quietly. But Aunt Polly was there.
Aunt Polly saw Tom's dirty and broken clothes. She was very firm now. Tom must work on Saturday. His holiday was gone. He must do hard work.