Becky Thatcher

Tom Sawyer fell instantly for Becky Thatcher.  Becky was modelled on Twain’s own first infatuation, Laura Hawkins. Her home is across the brick street from Clemens’ home and is a museum of daily life in Hannibal.

And while it started very early, the friendship grew with the two. She was a looker.

If you peek in the keyhole upper right and spin the wheel, you see a boy turning cartwheels.

And the two remained friends into elder years.

Paula is convinced that Laura displays features reminiscent of my oldest brother Dick.  The Hawkins’s came from Missouri and settled in Texas during the Civil War, so perhaps there is a collateral relationship to be genealogically investigated.