Tom is glum on what seems to be a particularly cheerful Saturday morning for everyone else. Aunt Polly is making him whitewash the front fence.
Jim is heading for the water pump. Though Tom never liked this chore, at least he would meet other children there. Tom offers to trade chores. Jim says Aunt Polly already anticipated this and told him to refuse. Tom offers a white marble and to show his sore toe. Aunt Polly catches them and whips Jim's bottom. Jim scurries to the pump, and Tom white washes with much motivation.
Tom mourns the fun he was planning and is now going to miss out on. He worries about the other boys making fun of him when they see him painting the fence. He doesn't have enough to barter a trade for them to do the work. Suddenly, he gets an idea.
Ben Rogers is a boy Tom
