3 The Beetle
It was Sunday morning. It was half past ten. Everybody in St Petersburg was in the church.
The church was a small, wooden building. Inside the church, there were rows of seats. There were rows of seats on the left-hand side of the church. There were rows of seats on the right-hand side. There was a space-the aisle-in the middle of the church. People walked along the aisle and sat in their seats.
The minister stood in front of the rows of seats. He was a very serious man. Every Sunday, the minister said very serious prayers. Every Sunday, the people sang hymns. Then every Sunday, the minister talked to the people. The minister’s talk-his sermon-was always long and very serious.
The minister enjoyed his sermons. But many people did not enjoy them. Tom did not enjoy the sermons!
Today, Tom was sitting next to Aunt Polly. They were listening to the sermon. Tom was bored. He wanted to go swimming or fishing. He wanted to play with his friends. He was not enjoy the sermon.
Suddenly, Tom remembered his beetle. He had a small box in his pocket. In the box, there was a very large black beetle. Tom took the box out of his pocket and opened it. Then he took the beetle one of the box. The beetle was very strong. It opened its mouth and it bit one of Tom’s fingers. Tom threw the beetle into the aisle.
The beetle lay on the floor. It was on its back and its legs were moving. The beetle was interesting. The minister’s sermon was not interesting. So, many people looked at the beetle.
It was a very hot morning. But it was cool inside the church. A dog had come into the church. The dog wanted to be cool. It was lying at the back of the church.
The dog saw the beetle too. It walked along the aisle and looked closely at the beetle. The beetle bit the dog’s nose.
YELP! The dog howled loudly. It ran round and round the church with the beetle on its nose. Somebody started to laugh. Another person started to laugh. Soon, everybody in the church was laughing. But the minister did not laugh. He talked seriously, but nobody was listening. He finished his sermon quickly.
Tom walked home from church happily. Church was interesting sometimes! He smiled. ‘I’ will get another big beetle,’ he said to himself.
Tom passed Jeff Thatcher’s house. Jeff was the same age as Tom. But he was not Tom’s friend. Jeff’s father was a lawyer in St Petersburg.
Tom saw a girl in the garden of Jeff’s house. He did not know her. She had yellow hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful!
Suddenly, Tom was in love! Last week, Tom had loved Amy Lawrence. Now, Tom forgot about Amy Lawrence. He loved the girl yellow hair and blue eyes.
Tom looked at the girl. She looked at him.
Tom did some clever tricks
The girl did not speak but she smiled at Tom. Then she went into the house.
Tom was very happy. He ran home and he thought about the girl with yellow hair all day
That night, Tom went back to Jeff Thatcher’s house. He looked at the house for an hour but he did not see the girl.
Then Tom had an idea. He climbed over the fence and stood near a window. Tom wanted to shout to the girl but he did not know her name. So he made the noise of a cat. MI-AOW! MI-AOW!
Suddenly, somebody opened a window and threw some water over Tom’s head. Then they the window again.
Tom quickly climbed back over the fence. He picked up a stone. Then he turned round and threw it at the window. CRASH! The glass broke. He ran home