An old woman is calling out to a boy named Tom, who is not responding and seems to be hidden. She grabs him when he emerges from the closet, where he has been eating jam. Threatened with the switch, Tom acts like there is some danger behind her. When she is distracted, he runs away. Aunt Polly is amused. She always falls for his clever tricks, and he knows he can escape punishment if he makes her laugh. She fears she is failing in her duty to her dead sister's son by not punishing him, but punishing him hurts her. She decides she'll punish him by making him work on Saturday.
Tom plays hooky, as his aunt expects him to do. He lets Jim do most of his wood cutting chore but amuses him with the tales of his adventures.
Aunt Polly tries to trick Tom into revealing that he played hooky. She ma
