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Outside , he looked at the two needles in his jacket . One had white thread , and the other had black . “ She’d never notice if it wasn’t for Sid , ” he said to himself . “ Sometimes she uses white and sometimes black . I wish she’d choose one colour . I can never remember which one it is . ” That evening he got into a fight with a new boy in fine clothes , and he came home very late . He climbed in through his bedroom window , but his aunt was waiting for him . When she saw his dirty , torn clothes , she made up her mind about Saturday . II . The Fence Saturday morning came , and the whole summer world was bright and fresh . There was a song in every heart . But Tom was not singing . He came out into the street with a bucket of whitewash and a long brush . Whitewash is a kind of cheap white paint for walls and fences . In front of him stood the fence . It was thirty yards long and nine feet high . Tom looked at it , and all the joy went out of his life . He painted one board , looked at the long grey fence and sat down sadly . Soon the other boys were going to come along on their way to all kinds of wonderful games . They were going to laugh at him because he had to work . The thought burned him like fire . At this dark moment he had an idea . It was a great , wonderful idea . He picked up his brush and went quietly back to work . Soon Ben Rogers came along the street . He was the boy whose laughter Tom feared most . Ben was eating an apple , and he was pretending to be a big steamboat on the Mississippi . He moved slowly , rang his bell and gave orders to himself . “ Stop her , sir ! Ting - a - ling - ling ! ” He stopped next to Tom . “ Chow ! Ch - chow - wow ! ” Tom went on painting . He did not look at the steamboat . “ Hi , Tom ! ” said Ben . “ You’re in trouble , aren’t you ? You’ve got to work . ” Tom looked at his work like an artist . His mouth was watering for that apple , but he did not stop . “ Why , it’s you , Ben ! I didn’t notice you . ” “ I’m going swimming . Don’t you wish you could come ? But of course you’d rather work , wouldn’t you ? ” “ What do you call work ? ” “ Why , isn’t that work ? ” Tom went on painting . “ Well , maybe it is , and maybe it isn’t . All I know is , it suits Tom Sawyer . ” “ Oh , come on . You don’t mean that you like it ? ” The brush went on moving . “ Like it ? Well , why not ? Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day ? ” That put the thing in a new light . Ben stopped eating his apple . Tom moved his brush carefully , stepped back to look at the result and added a touch here and there . Ben watched every movement with more and more interest . “ Say , Tom , let me paint a little . ”
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