Tom Sawyer went to see Aunt Polly. She sat by an open window. The summer air was warm and quiet. The bees made a sleepy sound. Aunt Polly was nodding. She was almost asleep. Her cat was asleep on her lap. Her glasses were on top of her gray head. She thought Tom had run away hours earlier. She was surprised to see him.
"Can I go and play now, Aunt Polly?" Tom asked.
"Already? How much work did you do?" she asked.
"It is all finished, Aunt Polly," Tom said.
"Tom, do not lie to me," Aunt Polly said.
"I am not lying. It is all finished," Tom said.
Aunt Polly did not believe him. She went outside to see the fence. She expected to see only a little paint. But the whole fence was very white. It had many coats of paint. There was even paint on the ground. Aunt Polly was very surprised.
"Well! You can work well when you want to, Tom," she said. "But you do not want to work very often. Go and play now. But come home soon or I will punish you."
Aunt Polly was very happy with the work. She took Tom to the kitchen. She gave him a very good apple. She gave him a long talk about working hard. While she talked, Tom stole a doughnut.
Then Tom ran outside. He saw Sid. Sid was walking up the outside stairs. Tom found some clods on the ground. He threw many clods at Sid. The clods hit Sid like a storm. Aunt Polly came to help Sid, but Tom was already gone. He climbed over the fence. He was happy now because he had punished Sid for the trouble with the black thread.
Tom walked through a muddy alley. He went to the village square. Two groups of boys were there. They were playing at war. Tom was the General of one army. His friend Joe Harper was the General of the other army. The two Generals did not fight. They sat on a hill and gave orders. Tom’s army won the great battle. Then the boys went home.
Tom walked past the house of a boy named Jeff Thatcher. He saw a new girl in the garden. She was very beautiful. She had blue eyes and yellow hair. She wore a white summer dress. Suddenly, Tom forgot all about Amy Lawrence. He had loved Amy for many months. But now, she was gone from his heart. This new girl was his new angel.
Tom looked at her. When she saw him, Tom began to show off. He did funny and difficult jumps. He wanted the girl to like him. He did these things for a long time. Then the girl walked toward her house. Tom felt sad. The girl stopped on the steps. She looked at him. Then she tossed a pansy over the fence.
Tom ran to the flower. He stopped near it. He looked down the street as if he saw something interesting. Then he picked up a straw. He balanced the straw on his nose. He moved closer to the flower. Finally, he put his foot on the flower. He picked up the flower with his toes and hopped away. He hid the flower inside his jacket, near his heart.
Tom stayed near the fence until it was dark. He hoped the girl would come out again. But she did not. Finally, he went home. He thought about the new girl all the way.
At supper, Tom was very happy. Aunt Polly scolded him because he hit Sid with clods. Tom did not care. He tried to steal sugar. Aunt Polly hit his hand.
"Aunt Polly, you do not hit Sid when he takes sugar," Tom said.
"Sid is a good boy," Aunt Polly said. "You are always in trouble."
Aunt Polly went into the kitchen. Sid wanted to show off to Tom, so he reached for the sugar bowl. But the bowl slipped from his fingers. It fell and broke!
Tom was very happy. He stayed quiet. He wanted Aunt Polly to come back. He wanted her to see the broken bowl. He wanted her to punish Sid. Aunt Polly came back into the room. She saw the broken bowl and became very angry. Then she hit Tom! He fell to the floor.
"Why are you hitting me?" Tom cried. "Sid broke it!"
Aunt Polly stopped. She was confused. Tom waited for her to say she was sorry. But she did not.
"Well," Aunt Polly said. "I am sure you did something else wrong today. I do not feel bad about hitting you."
Aunt Polly felt a little bad in her heart, but she stayed silent. Tom sat in a corner. He felt very sad. He imagined he was very sick. He imagined he was dying. He thought, "How will Aunt Polly feel when I am dead?" He imagined people bringing his dead body home from the river. These thoughts made him cry. He felt a lot of pity for himself.
His cousin Mary came home. She was very happy. Tom did not want to be around happy people. He went outside into the dark. He walked to the river. He sat on a raft. He looked at the water. He pulled the flower out of his jacket. It was crushed and dry now. He wondered if the new girl would cry for him if he died.
Later that night, Tom went to the new girl’s house. The street was empty. He saw a light in a window on the second floor. He climbed the fence. He walked quietly through the plants. He stood under her window. He lay down on the ground. He put his hands on his chest. He held his dry flower. He wanted to die there, in the cold, under her window.
Suddenly, the window opened. A servant girl poured a bucket of water out of the window! Tom was completely wet.
Tom jumped up. He made a loud noise. He threw a stone at the window. Then he ran away quickly in the dark.
Tom went home and went to bed. His clothes were very wet. Sid woke up and saw the wet clothes. Sid saw that Tom was very angry. Sid did not say anything. Tom did not say his prayers that night. Sid remembered this.