Monday morning was a bad time for Tom Sawyer. He always felt miserable on Monday mornings. It was the start of a new week at school. Tom hated school. He felt like a prisoner there.
Tom lay in bed and thought. He wanted to be sick. If he was sick, he could stay home from school. He looked for a problem with his body. First, he thought about his stomach and hoped for a stomachache. He felt a little pain, but it soon went away.
Then Tom found a loose tooth. This was lucky. He started to groan. But then he stopped. He knew Aunt Polly would pull the tooth out. That would hurt very much. He decided to save the tooth for later.
Tom remembered a story about a sick man. This man almost lost a finger. Tom looked at his sore toe. He did not know the signs of that sickness, but he started to groan loudly anyway.
Sid was sleeping in the same bed. Sid did not wake up. Tom groaned louder. He imagined that his toe really hurt. Sid continued to sleep. Tom was angry. He shook Sid and said, "Sid! Sid!"
Tom started to groan again. Sid woke up and looked at Tom. Sid asked, "Tom! Tom! What is the matter?" Tom did not answer at first. He only moaned. Finally, Tom said, "Oh, do not move me, Sid!"
Sid was very worried. He wanted to call Aunt Polly. Tom said, "No, do not call anyone. I forgive you for everything, Sid. Tell everyone I forgive them." Tom was acting very well. Sid believed him.
Sid ran downstairs to find Aunt Polly. He cried, "Oh, Aunt Polly, come quick! Tom is dying!" Aunt Polly did not believe it. She said it was nonsense. But she ran upstairs anyway. Sid and Mary followed her.
Aunt Polly’s face was white. When she reached the bed, she asked, "Tom, what is the matter with you?" Tom answered, "Oh, Aunt Polly, my sore toe has gangrene!"
Aunt Polly sat down in a chair. She laughed a little, and then she cried a little. She knew Tom was lying. She said, "Tom, stop this nonsense. Get out of bed now."
The pain in the toe went away. Tom felt a little foolish. He said, "Aunt Polly, it felt dead! It hurt so much that I forgot about my tooth." Aunt Polly asked about the tooth. Tom said it was loose and hurt very much.
Aunt Polly looked in his mouth. She said the tooth was loose, but he was not going to die. She told Mary to get some silk thread. She also asked for a hot piece of wood from the kitchen fire.
Tom was afraid. He cried, "Please, Aunt Polly, do not pull it out! It does not hurt now. I do not want to stay home from school!" Aunt Polly laughed. She knew Tom had pretended to be dying so he could stay home and go fishing.
Aunt Polly tied one end of the thread to the tooth. She tied the other end to the bedpost. Then she pushed the hot wood toward Tom’s face. Tom jumped back. The tooth came out and hung from the thread.
Tom went to school after breakfast. He was now famous. He had a gap in his teeth. This gap allowed him to spit in a new and cool way. Many boys followed Tom to see him spit. He was the most important boy in town.
On the way to school, Tom met Huckleberry Finn. Huck was the son of the town drunk. All the mothers in the town hated Huck. He was a pariah.
Huck was dirty and wore old clothes. He did not go to school or church. He could go fishing or swimming any time he wanted. He was free. Every other boy in the town was jealous of Huck.
Tom said, "Hello, Huckleberry!" Huck had a dead cat. Tom asked what a dead cat was good for. Huck said it could cure warts.
Tom said that "spunk-water" was better for warts. Spunk-water was rain water inside an old tree. They talked about different ways to use magic to get rid of warts.
Huck said you must take the dead cat to a graveyard. You must go at midnight after a bad person has been buried. When a devil comes to take the bad person, you throw the cat at the devil.
A bad man had been buried a few days earlier, so they decided to go to the graveyard that night. Then Tom saw that Huck had caught a tick. Tom wanted the insect very much.
Tom offered to trade his tooth for the tick. Huck looked at the tooth. He said, "It is a trade." Tom put the insect in a box, and they went their separate ways.
Tom arrived at school late. The teacher was angry. He asked why Tom was late. Then Tom saw a new girl with yellow hair. Her name was Becky Thatcher, and the only empty seat on the girls' side was next to her. Tom knew the teacher sometimes punished boys by making them sit with the girls.
So Tom said, "I stopped to talk with Huck!" The teacher and the students were shocked. Talking to Huck was a very bad thing. The teacher was very angry at Tom.
The teacher hit Tom with a stick many times. Then the teacher told Tom to sit with the girls. The other students laughed. Tom pretended to be sad, but he was actually very happy.
Tom sat down next to Becky. At first, she moved away from him. Tom put a peach on her desk. She pushed it away. Tom put it back. Finally, Becky let the peach stay there.
Tom began to draw on his slate. Becky wanted to see. Tom drew a house and a man. Becky whispered, "That is a nice picture. Now draw me."
Tom drew a girl. Becky liked the drawing very much. She asked Tom to teach her how to draw. Tom said he would teach her at noon. Then Tom wrote "I love you" on the slate.
Becky hit his hand, but she looked pleased. Just then, the teacher grabbed Tom by the ear. The teacher took Tom back to the boys' side of the room. All the children laughed at him.
Tom tried to study, but he could not. He was too happy about Becky. He made many mistakes in his classes. He even lost his medal for being the best at spelling. But Tom did not care.