CHAPTER EIGHT

Tom Makes a Decision

Tom walked far into the forest. He was even further than Mrs Douglas' house on Cardiff Hill. He decided to rest under a tree and think for a bit. He again wished that he could die. But this idea was soon replaced with the desire to live. There were so many places he could travel to in the world, so many things he could do. He could be a soldier, he could join the Indians, or even better, he could become a pirate and steal money and treasure from people traveling on the sea. He'd be good at that. He'd probably become famous for it too. Then how would Becky feel about him? She would wish that she had been nicer to him when she had the chance.

He decided that he would leave the next morning to begin his life as Tom Sawyer the pirate!

Suddenly he heard someone calling out in the forest. He quickly ran to his secret hiding place where he kept a lot of toys hidden. He found his wooden knife and put it between his pants and his belt. He was now the famous Robin Hood, friend of the poor and enemy of the rich, who had lived over one hundred years ago with his army of robbers.

Moving quietly and carefully from tree to tree, he told his "men" to stay where they were. And then his friend Joe Harper came from behind another tree. Tom shouted to him: "Stop there, stranger! Why have you entered my forest without permission?"

"I am Guy of Guisborne," replied Joe. "I go wherever I want to go. Who do you think you are?"

"I am the famous, Robin Hood, who shall kill you if you don't start behaving friendlier."

"If you really are Robin Hood, I'll gladly fight you, so that I may become famous for killing you."

They started to pretend to fight. But after a while, Tom became tired and shouted to Joe: "Let me kill you! You have to!"

"I don't want to die! And I'm stronger than you. Let me kill you!"

"But that's not in the story. Robin Hood never dies in the story."

"OK, fine." Joe turned around and let Tom kill him.

"Now you can be Robin Hood for a while, Joe. Then you can kill me."

Joe liked this idea and happily started to fight Tom again. Soon Tom was on the ground, pretending to bleed terribly. Joe told him he'd done a good job at dying and that he should be an actor when he grew up. Tom said: "No, I'm not a good actor, I just believe in dying honorably. And you should always do a good job of dying under the knife of great men such as Robin Hood."

(end of section)