Page 83 - English Expedition Class 4

4
Grandfather took one cherry and Rakesh promptly ate the other two. He kept the
last seed in his mouth for some time, rolling it round and round on his tongue until
5
all the tang had gone. Then he placed the seed on the palm of his hand and studied it.
‘Are cherry seeds lucky?’ asked Rakesh.

‘Of course.’
‘Then I’ll keep it.’
‘Nothing is lucky if you put it away. If you want luck, you must put it to some use.’
‘What can I do with a seed?’

‘Plant it.’
6
Rakesh went to a corner of the garden where the earth was soft and yielding . He did
not have to dig. He pressed the seed into the soil with his thumb and it went right in.
Then he had his lunch and ran off to play cricket with his friends, and forgot all

about the cherry seed.
When it was winter in the Himalayas, a cold wind blew down from the snows and
went whoo-whoo-whoo in the deodar trees, and the garden was dry and bare. In the
evenings Grandfather and Rakesh sat over a charcoal fire and Grandfather told Rakesh

stories. In return Rakesh would read to him from the newspaper.
One spring morning, Rakesh went to the garden and picked up what he thought
was a small twig and found, to his surprise, that it was well rooted. He stared at it for a
moment, then ran to fetch Grandfather, calling, ‘Dada, come and look, the cherry tree

has come up!’
‘What cherry tree?’ asked Grandfather, who had forgotten about it.
‘The seed we planted last year – look, it’s come up!’
7
Rakesh went down on his haunches , while Grandfather bent almost double and
peered down at the tiny tree. It was about four inches high.
‘Yes, it’s a cherry tree,’ said Grandfather. ‘You should water it now and then.’
Rakesh ran indoors and came back with a bucket of water.
‘Don’t drown it!’ said Grandfather.

Rakesh gave it a sprinkling and circled it with pebbles.
‘What are the pebbles for?’ asked Grandfather.
‘For privacy,’ said Rakesh.
He looked at the tree every morning but it did not seem to be growing very fast.

So he stopped looking at it and after a week or two, when he allowed himself to look
at it properly, he found that it had grown – at least an inch!
8
That year the monsoon rains came early and Rakesh plodded to and from school
in raincoat and gumboots. The cherry tree grew quickly in this season. It was about

4 promptly: immediately 6 yielding: not rigid
5 tang: strong taste 7 haunches: the upper part of the legs
8 plodded: walked with slow, heavy steps
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