The Aunts and Uncles are Coming
- Mrs. Tulliver is running around, anxiously preparing for an upcoming visit by her sisters and her brothers-in-law.
- The narrator tells us that Mrs. Tulliver used to be Miss Dodson. The Dodsons are an impressive family with lots of strict rules about how to behave. Basically, the Dodsons think they are the best family ever, and everyone else can just stuff it.
- Tom may look like the Dodsons, but he isn’t their biggest fan. He usually runs away when his aunts and uncles come to visit, leaving Maggie to deal with them by herself.
- The day before the invasion, or visit, Tom and Maggie are sitting outside with a pastry they stole from the kitchen. Nice work kids.
- Tom divides the pastry in half and tells Maggie to closer her eyes and pick a half. Maggie ends up with the better half and Tom is mad. Maggie feels guilty.
- Tom runs off with his dog and meets up with Bob Jakin. Maggie doesn’t like Bob since his mom scared her one time and since Tom ignores Maggie when Bob is around.
- Maggie goes off to sulk and Tom and Bob go off to look at some rats.
- The boys try to get Yap the dog to catch a rat, but he fails miserably. Tom kicks his dog. These Tulliver kids really aren’t very nice to animals.
- The boys start discussing the river Floss and floods. They talk about building an arc if it floods.
- Now they play a coin toss game, but Tom insists that Bob cheated. They get into a fight.
- Tom says that he won’t hang out with Bob anymore since Bob is a cheater.
- Bob is upset and throws his pocket knife after Tom. But Bob really loves his knife, so he goes back to pick it up, rather ruining his dramatic gesture.
- The narrator tells us that Tom never regrets his past actions, while Maggie obsesses over her past actions.