The Bound Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Part 2 - Tom's Revenge
This story is a work of fiction, all characters and plot lines are fictional. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
The Bound Adventures of Tom Sawyer remains the property of the author. The story or characters may not be reproduced or republished elsewhere without the expressed written consent of the author.
Soon the infallible clock in Tom's stomach politely informed him that it was lunchtime and he called a halt to proceedings in the vegetable patch. He was in a sunny mood as he made his way back to the house. He could tell Aunt Polly that the task was well done and she would praise him and pet and fuss him and more importantly treat him to extra slices of bread with jam.
"Well Tom has you finished that weeding job that I done set you?"
"Oh yes aunt, that’s all done! It dang went so smooth and quick that I also done the onion patch whils't I was about it." Out of the corner of his eye Tom spied a little smirk around the jam that was already plastered on Sidney's mouth and his insides gave a little jolt of apprehension.
"Don't you lie to me Tom Sawyer! You know how it vexes me so when you lie! Sidney, is that the truth, is the weeding all done?"
Sidney made a great show of carefully considering his reply "Well yes Aunt" he eventually replied "its true there aint a weed left in them patches." Tom began to heave an inward sigh of relief which was quickly shut off when Sidney continued "But he did'n xactly do it all by hisself"
"Well, spit it out boy, tell us what happened" said Aunt Polly who was trying to decide between grasping Tom by the ear or going for the switch behind the door. Tom had begun making shrewd calculations about the gap between Aunt Polly and door.
"Well he kinda got it done by selling hisself into bondage!" Before Aunt Polly's jaw had hit the floor Tom was already out of the door and scaling the yard fence.
Tom knew that come supper time his Aunt's fiery temper would have cooled and maybe he could escape a switching and just get sent up to bed with no supper. That was no problem because he would sneak out after dark and steal an apple or two or perhaps a melon or maybe cadge a doughball down at the bakery. In the meantime he had a more pressing problem – His soul cried out for vengeance and he knew that he could not be at rest until suitable penance had been exacted from the hateful Sidney.
Tom sought out his loyal friend and sometime rival, Joe Harper. Together they made their way round the town tugging along Joe's little handcart and calling at a number of establishments at which, sometimes pursued by irate tradesmen, they obtained the meagre ingredients with which to wreak their terrible vengeance. Prominent among their ports of call were the town barbers' shop and the livery stable.
A little later in the day the casual observer would have seen Sidney skipping gaily along the street propelling his hoop with a flattened stick. The same observer may have been puzzled when his hoop suddenly vanished without warning into a side alley. Sidney was also puzzled and when he cautiously peered into the alley he saw his hoop lying in the middle of the track. The same observer, had he tarried long enough, might have remarked that whereas one boy entered the alley, two boys emerged pushing a rickety handcart on which was balanced a blanket covered bundle which jerked and mumbled in a most peculiar fashion.
"Aha Black Tom" said Joe dropping into the pirate vernacular which was a la mode that week. "We broadsided this landlubber for sure. Fair blew him outa the water we did! Mind you, the scurvy knave fair bit me to the bone when I silenced his mangy gob wi' me hook." Suitably embroidering his role in the ambush.
"Aye, it be so, Cap'n Redbeard, he fought like a demon 'till I slit his gizzard, and now we'll feed his liver to the fishes! Ahaaa! Ahaaa!" Tom fed an imaginary titbit to the imaginary parrot on his shoulder.
And so in a short while the two pirates, along with their prisoner, hove to and dropped anchor in the tool shed at the bottom of Joe's garden. Preparations had been made, a stout rope had been slung over the rafters and dangled menacingly, the other materials stood in readiness. The bundle in the barrow was unveiled and Sidney was revealed. Cloths were tied tightly around his eyes and his mouth was sealed with another cloth. His knees were drawn up to his chest with a rope wrapping and his wrists were bound to his ankles. The effect was of a compact ball of impotent fury.
Working together the two boys soon had Sidney strung up to the rafters on tip toe with his feet barely touching the floor. When the clothes around his head were removed his eyes showed real panic and he swiftly began to beg forgiveness of his captors.
"Oh Tom, dear Tom, I was wrong to tell on you. If you see your way to letting me go I swear that I'll never tell again! Oh Tom I'll swear a blood oath never to do you ill again! I'll be your slave for all time Tom, Oh Tom for mercies sake let me go."
For his part, Tom was so disgusted by this display of craven cowardice that he swiftly replaced the gag and and was all the more resolved to see the thing through as he had planned it. Together they first stripped Sidney naked. This was not such a great matter as you might imagine, since after all they were regularly bathed in the same tin bath and skinny dipped together in the river on an almost daily schedule. In truth they had little to hide from each other. In any case Tom swiftly restored his modesty by replacing the confiscated clothes with a substantial loincloth constructed from a discarded petticoat and a length of rawhide.
The unfortunate Sidney was then transferred again to Joe's handcart. He slumped back in the cart with his hands securely bound behind his back and arms pinioned to his side by many turns of rope. His feet hung outside the cart and were tightly bound to the handles of the cart. When they were finished poor Sidney could scarcely move at all.
Now they embarked upon the artistic phase of the transformation. Joe liberally coated the victim with glue which had been liberated from its more usual duty of attaching gold stars to prayer books in the Sunday school. Tom followed along, carefully and artistically arranging clumps and tufts of hair in assorted shades that they had retrieved from the sweepings behind the barber shop. When he ran short of human hair he completed his masterpiece with horse hair gleaned from the livery stable. They quite ignored Sidney' s incoherent but fervent grunts of displeasure until they were quite satisfied that the effect they required was achieved. Finally a flour sack was placed over Sidney's head, mercifully concealing his visage from the common gaze.
Covering their burden with a blanket, the pirates hoisted sail and sallied forth once more on the last short leg of their voyage. On the edge of town was an abandoned shack which was a popular haunt , guaranteed to attract a good crowd of boys, simply because they were forbidden to play there. Tom wheeled the cart with its mysterious bundle just inside the door and out of sight of the common herd gathering outside. Joe cleared his throat and embarked on his carefully rehearsed spiel.
"Roll up! Roll up! One and all. Roll up and see the only --- the one and onleee ---- gen'wine, bony-fidy, one hunert p'cent" And here he paused for dramatic effect. "The only WOLFBOY in capti…. , cappiv… , that's been catched!"
A gasp rose from the spellbound audience. Much gratified, Joe pressed on.
"Left in the woods as a baby. He was brung up by wolves. The only mama he knew was a big old she wolf. He's big, he's something awful fierce, he's wild and we brung him here for your pleasure and edif… so's you could see him!"
"How much?" shouted some Philistine who obviously was not versed in the finer points of oratory.
"One dime, or if you aint got a dime we can do swopsies" said Joe with a commendable eye to the main chance.
And so a pushing, jostling queue formed by the door and as they entered Tom and Joe relieved them of multifarious treasures reluctantly produced from pockets and other places. When they were all gathered inside Tom executed an elaborate theatrical flourish and whipped aside the blanket to reveal the newly transformed Sidney in all his lupine majesty. The audience Oohed and Ahhed and then silence fell. One small boy at the front timidly raised his hand.
"What for has he got a bag on his head ? I want to see his teeth" There was a murmur of assent and Tom thought fast.
"Well now, I don' think as like that would be a real g'd idea. Being brung up by wolves an all he is fearsome ugly, and if we was to show you his face you would like as not faint right away" He produced a dramatic shudder to emphasize the postulated ugliness of the beast.
Another hand shot up. "Why is he making those stupid mumbling noises? He sure don' sound like no wolf I ever done heered." Tom was ready for this one.
"Well being brung up by wolves I guess he never learned to speak proper English. He trying to speak Wolf, but having a human mouth an' all I guess it don' come out right." The audience nodded wisely at this profundity.
"He aint movin hardly much at all. I don' reckon he's fierce at all. I bet he's just like a big pussy cat an all."
"Well now" said Tom "We dares'nt untie him less'n he jump up and tear us all to bits, but I tell you what, you can poke him with this bit of stick. That should rile him up some and then you'll see how fierce he is."
The sceptic took the stick and gingerly approached the cart. Extending his hand he delivered a sharp poke in the ribs to the captive wolfboy. The effect was electric – the beast lunged about in his bonds so violently and suddenly that he near upset the cart. At the same time he emitted such a loud and angry muffled gurgle that it made the blood run cold to hear it. The audience stepped smartly back three paces and some fell over in their haste to retreat. The intrepid stick poker fainted clear away and had to be revived. After that everyone wanted to poke the wolf boy with a stick and Tom felt morally obliged to charge some half a dozen of the wealthier clients extra for this privilege.
With the wolf boy clearly showing signs of stress, Tom called a halt to the proceedings and he and Joe wheeled their charge back to the tool shed where he was released and re-united with his clothing. Poor Sidney ran off home still sporting his fine pelt.
Tom knew there would be a terrible reckoning when he returned home, not least because of the dreadful shock his Aunt would get when she witnessed how much hair her favourite nephew had grown since lunch time. However he didn't care, vengeance was his and Sidney would think very carefully before sneaking on Tom again. In the meantime he was as rich as Croesus with all the treasure that the curious public had yielded up, and his spirits were high as he cheerfully squabbled with Joe over the equitable sharing of the loot.
© Copyright Cinched 2009
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