Strange sounds were coming from the garage,
Tapping, banging and resounding booms.
Sounds like an artillery barrage
Reverberated in upstairs rooms.
Finally, Aunt Polly was woken,
And hollered out the window at Tom.”
“Consarn it, Tom, and I ain’t jokin’,
I’m a gonna make your bottom warm.”
Then from below a boy’s voice replied,
“I’m jes a workin’ on a new raft,
And tryin’ to get these barrels tied.”
Aunt Polly yelled, “The noise drives me daft.”
Tom tried to quiet things down a bit,
Using rope to tie barrels to logs.
Now it was pretty near time to quit,
Because he still had to feed the hogs.
The raft would have to wait for a while,
Until Huck came around the next day.
This time they’d float the river in style,
And make it to Saint Joe down the way.
They’d stop off to see Becky Thatcher,
Who had poor Tom’s heart on a tight string.
“I found nary a gal to match her,
Since she moved away from here last Spring.”
He wished he could drive the Model “A”
That Aunt Polly won in that contest.
On that subject she had lots to say,
And he’d wait until sixteen, he guessed.
Next day, he and Huck finished the job,
And dragged the raft to the riverbank.
Up and down the heavy craft did bob,
While they stood by to see if it sank.
At least the barrels and logs held tight,
So the two lads just climbed on aboard.
They’d make it to Saint Joe all right,
And visit the gal that Tom adored.
A steamboat passed and they rode the wake,
Plumb happy to again be afloat.
Aunt Polly warned, “Boys, for Heavens sake,
That thar’s a poor excuse for a boat.”
But both the boys could swim like fish,
So she didn’t forbid them the trip.
She tried to let Tom do as he’d wish,
For manhood now had him in its grip.
Anyhow, to make a long tale short,
Tom visited his Becky that night,
With another fellow she was caught,
And he had his arm around her tight.
Poor Tom was feeling mighty distraught -
This was the end of his childhood dream.
Then a steamboat ride back home they caught,
For they couldn’t float the raft upstream.
While on the steamboat, they met two gals,
And sort of loose and worldly they were.
They were right friendly to the two pals -
One took Tom in a cabin with her.
Well, Tom learned an awful lot that night,
Two-timing Thatcher gone from his mind.
He’d get his drivers license all right,
And set sights on the traveling kind.
© RickMack (jotoma@bellsouth.net)
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