Aunt Polly had Tom paint the fence on Sunday．Soon after Tom started to paint, an idea 1 to him．He smiled and began singing 2 his work．
Just then his friend Ben came 3 ．He laughed when he saw Tom painting．“What’s the matter, Tom? Does your aunt want you to work on such a nice day?”
Tom did not 3 painting．“Work? Oh, no, Ben．You see, painting is an 5 ．First you must choose the right day, then you must get the best paint and brush．But most important of all, you must have the right 6 ．Aunt Polly says that there isn’t a boy in town who can paint this fence like me!”
Ben’s eyes opened 7 ．“Really, Tom? Let me try a bit．”
“Oh that isn’t possible,” Said Tom．“My Aunt Polly is very sure of the 8 she wants her fence painted．Remember, she chose me．”
“Come on, Tom．I’ll give you half my apple if you let me paint,” Ben 9 ．“Your aunt will never know the 10 !”
“Oh, you’re wrong about that, Ben,” answered Tom．“She has very sharp 11 ．And think how I would feel． 12 , she asked ME to paint her fence．”
“You may have my whole apple,” Ben said．“Give me the paint brush now．”
“Well, if you really think you can do it－here, 13 the brush but be very careful the way you paint．” Tom 14 a bite into the red apple．
Half an hour later, when his friend had painted four 15 of the fence, Tom said, “You’re doing it quite well, Ben, but of course you need to do much more 16 you can really call yourself a painter．”
As each hour passed, Tom’s painting became more 17 ．Each friend who happened to walk past took his 18 at painting a few boards－all for a price, of course．“You have to make them think it’s 19 wonderful,” thought Tom．“They’d never want to do it without 20 for it．”
