Page 15 - New Medley 5 Semester 1

quickly, out of the corner of his
out of the corner of his eye without looking at
something directly, looking sideways eye. And, after a week or two,

plodded walked slowly due to difficult or boring when he allowed himself to look
work at it properly, he found that it
ferns green plants with no flowers and a lot of had grown—at least an inch!
long, thin leaves

mist a cloud made of very small drops of water That year the monsoon rains
in the air, just above the ground, which makes came early, and Rakesh plodded
it difficult to see to and from school in a rain
upset unhappy coat and gum boots. Ferns
tough strong, not easily made weak sprang from the trunks of trees,
intention something that one wants and plans
to do strange-looking lilies came up in
the long grass, and even when
it wasn't raining the trees dripped and mist came curling up the valley.

The cherry tree grew quickly in this season.

It was about two feet high when a goat entered the garden and ate all

the leaves. Only the main stem and two thin branches remained.

“Never mind,” said Grandfather, seeing that Rakesh was upset. “It will
grow again; cherry trees are tough.”

Towards the end of the rainy season, new leaves appeared on the tree.
Then a woman cutting the grass cut the cherry tree in two.

When Grandfather saw
what had happened, he

went after the woman
and scolded her; but the

damage could not be
repaired.

“Maybe it will die now,”
said Rakesh.

“Maybe,” said Grandfather.

But the cherry tree had no

intention of dying.

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