Holden, Nick and Tom (conversation 6)

Some things are hard to remember:
The Petoskey road runs straight uphill
and Monday mornings find Tom Sawyer miserable.
I don't just fool around,
disappear into the woods,
go into captivity.
The corridor is all lino
with berry bushes and beech saplings
that make me sick, so I can stay home from school.
I didn't even bother to answer him
I pack in the buckets
He detects colicky symptoms.
He hangs it up on a hanger
outside the cottage by the lake
One of his upper teeth is loose
He is always stroking his stomache
around the house -
It hurts.