TOOTHACHE [ The story of Tom Sawyer S toothache]

 TOOTHACHE

The story of Tom Sawyer S toothache

On Monday morning, Tom finds himself in bed and wanting to avoid school that morning. Eagerly, he attempts to avoid school by "playing" sick, groaning and moaning enough to wake Sid, who is sleeping by his side. Once Aunt Polly comes to check on Tom's ailments, he tells her: "Oh Auntie, my sore toe's mortified." After Aunt Polly tells Tom to "shut up that nonsense," Tom then proceeds to tell her about his sore, loose tooth, hoping that maybe it will provide him with an excuse to skip school. Aunt Polly simply pulls out his tooth and sends Tom off to school without another word.

On his way to school, Tom stops to talk to Huckelberry Finn the "juvenile pariah" of the town admired by all children for his aloofness and hated by all mothers for his bad manners. He comes and goes as he pleases, an orphan of-sorts who doesn't have the duty of going to school or completing chores. Huckleberry is dressed in cast-off clothes: a wide-brimmed hat, trousers with only one-suspender, baggy pants, and a worn coat. Tom, who was forbidden to play with Huck, begins to discuss the correct way to cure warts; Huck, who holds a dead cat in a burlap sack, is planning on entering a cemetery at midnight to perform a witch's ritual to cure warts. Both boys discuss the merits of various superstitions and strange chants before they agree to meet later that night to go to the cemetery together.

After trading his tooth for a tick and saying goodbye to Huck, Tom races to school. Knowing that his punishment for tardiness will be to sit on the girls' section of the schoolhouse, Tom explains his lateness by saying he stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn, for the only vacant girls seat was next to the blonde, pig-tailed girl that Tom has fallen in love with: Becky Thatcher. After a period of flirtatious exhibition, Tom writes "I love you" on his slate, which is returned with Becky's pleasure. The two agree to stay at school for dinner so that Tom can teach Becky how to draw. The remaining time spent in class is futile, for Tom has not studied and makes errors in every area of his studies: geography, spelling, and reading.

On Monday morningTom dreads going to school. He considers what might convince Aunty Polly to let him stay home. He decides to go with his sore toe.

Tom's moaning awakens Sid, who rushes find Aunt Polly. Tom complains: "O, auntie, my sore toe's mortified!" Aunt Polly sees through his act, and can't help but laugh.

Tom tells her that his toe really had been hurting—even more than his tooth. She declares that the tooth should be removed. Tom is terrified, protesting that the tooth doesn't hurt after all, and that he'll go to school. Aunt Polly proceeds to tie one end of a string to his bed-post and the other to his tooth. When she lunges at him with a flaming coal, he jumps away, and the string yanks out his tooth.

On the way to school Tom shows his schoolmates his newfound spitting abilities thanks to the gap from his missing tooth