Tom Sawyer's Fence ADAPTED FROM A STORY BY MARK TWAIN

 Tom Sawyer's Fence
ADAPTED FROM A STORY BY MARK TWAIN

Tom looked at the fence and all gladness left him. Whitewashing it would take his whole day. He sighed and brushed paint along the first board. Soon, Ben stopped to tease. "I'm going fishing, but you'd rather work." Tom burned like fire, but he didn't show it. Instead, he said, "What do you call work?" Ben couldn't believe what he heard! Tom's Brush swept back and forth and Ben grew very interested. He said, "Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little." Tom kept working and told him no. Ben pleaded, "Let me try! I'll give you this apple." Tom made his face look sad, but excitement filled his heart. Slowly, he handed over the brush. So Ben sweated in the sun and Tom munched his apple in the shade. Other boys stopped by and when Ben tired, Tom traded the next chance to Billy for a kite--and so on. By afternoon, Tom had ten marbles, a bit of chalk, a piece of blue grass, a doorknob, and a couple of tadpoles. If he hadn't run out of whitewash, he'd have charged every boy in the village for a chance to paint his fence!