Chapter 14 Chapter Twelve

One of the reasons Tom diverted his attention from worrying about his secret was that he was now interested in something more important: Becky Thatcher was not coming to school.After several days of inner struggle, Tom tried in vain to put an end to the affair, and he found himself wandering sadly round the house at night, alone.She turned out to be sick, but what if she died!Thinking of this, he was going crazy.What wars, being pirates, he has no interest at all.The good life is gone forever, and all that is left is some troubles.He put away the hoop and put the racket aside, they were useless, they no longer brought joy.It was his aunt who worried him most.She immediately tried to cure him with various medicines.Auntie Di is like some people. When it comes to proprietary medicines, or health-care medicines such as strengthening the body and fitness, she has to try first, indiscriminately.As long as there is a new one, she will never miss it, and try it as soon as she brings it, but she herself never gets sick, so whoever catches it is the one.She subscribed to all the medical journals and phrenology and stuff.The serious nonsense in it has become her lifeblood.What to ventilate, how to go to bed and get up, what to eat, what to drink, how much exercise is best, what kind of mood to maintain, and what kind of clothes to wear, etc., all these nonsense are regarded as wise words by her.What's interesting is that even though the two issues of the health magazine said that the donkey's lip was wrong, and it was left and right, but she never noticed it.She is a simple-minded person with a simple heart, so she is extremely easy to be deceived.So she took her nonsense publications and deceitful medicines, and, to use a metaphor, death, and set off on a gray horse, with the devil behind her.But she thought that what she brought was a panacea, and that she was the reincarnation of Hua Tuo, and now the suffering neighbors would be saved.

Hydrotherapy was a new thing these days, and it happened that Tom was not in good spirits, so she was encouraged.As soon as it was light in the morning, she called Tom outside, made him stand up in the shed, and poured cold water on him shamelessly.She also rasped Tom with a towel to slow him down.Then she wrapped Tom in a wet sheet and covered him with a blanket until he was sweating profusely, washing his soul. In Tom's words, it is "to let the muddy water flow out of every capillary". After all this "good intentions" tossing, the child became more melancholy, paler, and listless.Ever since, she used hot water baths, sitz baths, showers, and even full-body water baths, but to no avail.The child still looked like a coffin, lifeless.She specially added a little oatmeal and ointment for blisters to the water. She also calculated Tom's medicine dosage like estimating the capacity of a jar, and poured some so-called panacea for him every day.

At this moment, Tom has become insensitive to this kind of "persecution" treatment, and the old lady is terrified by it.She would do anything to cure his insensitivity.It was the first time she had heard the term painkiller, and now it came in handy.She bought some right away, and after tasting it, she felt that it was helpful.Using this medicine is like burning people with fire.She left hydrotherapy and everything else behind and pinned her hopes on the painkiller.She gave Tom a tablespoon of the medicine, and waited with great anxiety for the result.It worked. Tom was no longer insensitive, and she felt at once calm and carefree.Look at the child again, he suddenly woke up full of interest, even if the old lady really set him on fire, it couldn't compare to his current energy.

Tom thought it was time for him to wake up. Although his aunt's tossing made him feel very romantic, it was irrational and had a dazzling variety of tricks.He racked his brains and finally came up with a plan to escape: pretending to like painkillers.So he went to his aunt now and then for medicines, which annoyed her, and finally she let Tom take as much as he liked, without bothering her any more.If it was Sid, she would be completely at ease, but this is Tom, so she secretly paid attention to the situation of the medicine bottle.She noticed that the pill bottle was running low, but it never occurred to her that Tom was using it in the living room to patch a crack in the floor.

One day, Tom was "feeding" the crack, when Peter, the yellow cat fed by his aunt, came up meowing, eyes hungrily on the spoon, as if he wanted to take a bite.Tom says: "Peter, if you don't really want it, don't take it." But Peter said that it really wanted it. "You better not be mistaken." Peter made up his mind. "You asked for this, so I'll give it to you. I'm not stingy. If you feel something is wrong after eating it, don't blame others, you can only blame yourself." Peter had no objection.So Tom pried open its mouth and downed the painkiller.Peter leapt two or three yards away, screaming wildly, and whirling about the room.It banged against the furniture, knocked over vases, and made a mess.Then it raised its head, landed on its hind legs, jumped up and down happily, and couldn't help making a happy sound.Then it ran wildly around the house, knocking over this or destroying that wherever it went.Aunt Polly came in just in time to see him somersaulting.With a final whoosh, it floated through the open window, taking the rest of the vase with it.The old lady stood stunned, staring out of the frame of her picture; while Tom lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Tom, what's wrong with the cat?" "I don't know, Aunt," he gasped. "I haven't seen anything like it. Why is it that way?" "I really don't know, Auntie. Cats are always like that when they're happy." "Is that what it looks like?" The tone was a little intimidating to Tom. "Yes, aunt. I think so." "You think so?" "Yes, Aunt." The old lady stooped, and Tom watched anxiously.When he saw the old lady's intentions, it was too late, because the spoon that explained the problem had been exposed under the bed curtain.Aunt Polly picked up the spoon, and Tom dropped his eyes in fright.Aunt Polly pulled him up by the ears, and struck him on the head with a thimble, so loudly that it banged loudly.

"My little ancestor, why do you treat that poor fellow like this, who can't speak?" "I gave it medicine because I felt sorry for it. You see, it doesn't have any aunt." "What do you say, it doesn't have an aunt! Fool! What does that have to do with it?" "It has a lot to do with it. If it has Auntie, you will definitely not consider its feelings, and feed it medicine to burn its internal organs!" Hearing this, Aunt Polly felt suddenly uncomfortable and regretful.What Tom said opened her mind.The cat can't stand it, so the child can't stand it either?She softened, feeling guilty.Her eyes were a little moist, and she put her hand on Tom's head, and said kindly:

"Tom, I meant well. Besides, Tom, I did you good." Tom looked up gravely into his aunt's face, and blinking at her, said, "My dear aunt, you mean well, I know that. I mean well to Peter, too. The medicine is good for him too. Ego After feeding it with medicine, I never saw its shadow again." "Oh, fuck you, Tom. Don't be mad at me anymore. Can't you be a good boy? Just once, and then you won't need any more medicine." Tom came to school early, and it was found strange that he had been like this every day lately.As usual, instead of playing with his friends, he wandered around the school gate alone.

He said he was sick, and he looked like he was.He pretended to be nonchalant and looked around.In fact, what he really cared about was the road over there.Then Jeff Thatcher came into view, and Tom beamed with joy. He stared at it for a moment, then turned away in disappointment.When Jeff approached, Tom took the initiative to strike up a conversation with him, hoping to find out about Becky, but the conversation was in vain.Tom had to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait.Whenever a girl appeared on the other side of the road, he was full of joy, and when he got a closer look, he found that it was not the person he was waiting for, and he immediately gritted his teeth with hatred.Later, there was no sign of him on the road, and his hopes were dashed, so he walked sullenly into the empty classroom and sat there sad.At this time, Tom saw the girl's clothes floating in through the gate, and Tom's heart was pounding. He ran out of the classroom at once, and began to perform on the stage like an Indian.He yelled, laughed, chased each other, even risked his life by jumping fences, flipping back and forth or taking a big top, even though he broke his limbs.In short, he did everything he could think of.As he did so, he stole a peek to see if Becky Thatcher had seen it all.But she didn't seem to see anything, didn't even glance at it.It's probably because she didn't notice he was there.So Tom moved closer, shouting "Come on! Kill!"He ran and grabbed a boy's hat and threw it on the roof of the classroom, and then rushed at another group of children, sending them staggering away, throwing himself in front of Becky and nearly tripping her. fall.Becky turned away, head held high.

Tom heard her say: "Hmph! Some people are so self-righteous and pompous—all showing off!" Tom's face was burning hot when he was told.He got up and sneaked away, looking dejected and defeated.