"Tom!" yelled Aunt Polly. There was no answer. "Tom!" she shouted again.
"Where is that boy?" she muttered.
Aunt Polly looked everywhere for her young nephew, but he was nowhere to be found.
He wasn't in his bedroom.
He wasn't in the yard, and he wasn't in the kitchen.
Aunt Polly knew that if she couldn't see Tom, he was probably getting into trouble.
Tom was an orphan, and he loved mischief and adventure.
But sometimes he was too mischievous.
"When I find you, I'll give you a spanking." Aunt Polly shouted.
Then she grabbed the broom.
"Where on earth has that boy gone?" Aunt Polly said to herself.
"T-o-m-m!" she screamed.
Her glasses fell to the tip of her long, narrow nose.
As she pushed the glasses back up, she spied something moving under the bed.
"I've got you now, boy!"
Aunt Polly took the broom handle and quickly pushed it under the bed.
She wasn't surprised when she struck something, but it wasn't Tom.
Instead her cat sprang out from under the bed with an angry howl.
Just then Aunt Polly heard footsteps behind her, and she turned to see Tom sneaking out of the closet.
Aunt Polly grabbed the boy by his shirt and gave him a quick shake and a long look.
His hands were filthy, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
"What were you doing in the closet?" asked Aunt Polly.
"Nothing," said Tom sheepishly.
"Nothing!" shouted Aunt Polly.
"Look at your hands. Look at your mouth. Why are you so filthy?"
"I don't know," said Tom innocently.
"Well, I know," said his aunt.
"It's jam, and I've told you a hundred times to leave that jam alone.
Go back into the closet and get me my stick."
Tom gave Aunt Polly the willow stick reluctantly.
"I'm really in trouble now," thought Tom.
As Aunt Polly raised the stick, Tom shouted, "Look behind you! What's that?"
Aunt Polly turned to look, and in a flash, Tom ran out the door and jumped over the fence.
"Oh, darn that boy!" Aunt Polly sighed, and then she began to laugh.
"When will I learn? He's played that trick on me a thousand times.
People say 'an old fool is the biggest fool,' and they're right.
I should know all his tricks by now."
Aunt Polly worried about Tom.
She wanted him to become a good man, but he got into too much trouble and skipped a lot of school.
"If I find out that boy has skipped school again, I'll have to punish him," she said to herself.
"'Spare the rod and spoil the child,' as the Bible says.
I know the Bible is right because that boy is a very sinful creature.
It's all my fault because I don't like to beat him."
While Aunt Polly was blaming herself for Tom's faults, Tom was preparing to celebrate his mischief.
"I deserve a vacation," thought Tom.
"After all, I made Aunt Polly believe that something was actually behind her for the thousandth time.
And they just don't teach you useful tricks like that at school."
So Tom skipped school, and he had a very good time.
Tom got home just in time to help Jim with his chores.
Jim was the young slave who helped Aunt Polly with the housework.
Tom entertained Jim with the tales of his adventures.
Tom's half brother, Sid, listened too because he had already finished his chores.
Sid was the opposite of Tom in almost every way.
At dinner Aunt Polly wanted to punish Tom for eating the jam and fooling her with his old trick.
So she asked Tom many questions, hoping to catch him in a lie.
"Tom, it was quite warm at school today, wasn't it?"
"Oh yes, ma'am. It was very warm," answered Tom.
"Didn't you want to swim in the river?" asked Aunt Polly.
Tom nervously looked at Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing.
He said, "I did want to go swimming, but I had to go to school."
Aunt Polly felt Tom's shirt collar.
It was dry, and for a minute she just stared at Tom.
"The dry collar is a trick I've used a million times, but she's never figured it out," thought Tom.
He tried to hide his smile as he watched his aunt's face carefully.
Was Aunt Polly about to punish him, or had he fooled her once again?