Ch. 19-20

HG
by Heather Graffam61 views·Updated May 12, 2020
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  1. Hello. We're going to read chapters 19 and 20 of
  2. Wish Tree today, and there are two things that I'd
  3. like you to pay attention to.
  4. I want you to pay attention to how the author
  5. shows you that some are is a very special kind
  6. of person.
  7. I also want you to think about the work Friendship.
  8. Read says something important about friendship, and I will show
  9. you that quote as I bring it up in the
  10. book. And I want you to think about how you
  11. would answer that important question.
  12. Chapter 19 Long after midnight, some are came to visit
  13. me. She wore a blue robe.
  14. Her dark curly hair was pulled back in a loose
  15. ponytail. Her eyes held moonlight in them.
  16. She sat at the base of my trunk on her
  17. blanket. She didn't look at the carved word or the
  18. splinter of moon or the green and blue houses.
  19. She just sat quietly and waited.
  20. It always took a while, but it always happened.
  21. One by one, the babys ventured out to see her.
  22. Harold was first flapping awkwardly down to the ground.
  23. The raccoon babies, you, you and you or next raccoon
  24. mothers are notoriously forgetful, so they don't bother with traditional
  25. names. The a possum's the skunks they all came.
  26. Some are sat perfectly still.
  27. The babys circled her together.
  28. They sat in the shimmer of moonlight and listened to
  29. my leaves.
  30. Rustle, Bongo settled on.
  31. Some are shoulder.
  32. Hello, she said in her crow version of Somare's Voice.
  33. Hello, some are said, echoing the echo Bongo squat, and
  34. some are jumped a little bit, even bongos.
  35. Quietus caw is a bit on the harsh side.
  36. Bongo flew up to my smallest hollow and poked her
  37. head inside, her tail feathers still visible with something shiny
  38. in her beak.
  39. She returned to the ground in front of some are
  40. gently. She placed a tiny silver key attached to a
  41. long faded red ribbon in Somare's open hand.
  42. It's beautiful.
  43. Some are whispered, thank you, bongo bent forward wings spread
  44. in sort of a bow.
  45. It waas in crow circles, a sign of great affection.
  46. I'd seen that key before Bongo had inherited it from
  47. her mother.
  48. Crows live in extended families, and they pass information across
  49. generations. It didn't surprise me that Bongo still had the
  50. key, or that she decided to give it to some
  51. are in the sweet calm, surrounded by everything I loved.
  52. Moonlight air, grass, animals, earth people.
  53. I wondered with a pang how much longer I would
  54. be able to savor such moments.
  55. I wondered, too, if I done enough for the world
  56. I loved.
  57. It was something I'd asked myself before.
  58. But impending death has a way of focusing your attention.
  59. Sure, I'd provided plenty of shade made oceans of oxygen
  60. for people to breathe.
  61. Been a home to an endless parade of animals and
  62. insects. I've done my job.
  63. A tree, after all, is just a tree.
  64. Like I told Bongo, we grow as we must grow
  65. as our seeds decided long ago.
  66. And yet 216 rings, 864 seasons and still something was
  67. missing. My life had been so safe upstairs, Ah, curtain
  68. in the greenhouse moved behind it.
  69. Stephen was just visible.
  70. Watching us.
  71. I knew what he was thinking.
  72. One of the advantages of being a good listener is
  73. that you learn a great deal about how the world
  74. works. In Steven's eyes, in the way he looked at,
  75. some are that afternoon I saw something I had seen
  76. many times before.
  77. Ah, wish Chapter 20 after some are left, I felt
  78. restless. Restless is restlessness is not a useful quality in
  79. a tree.
  80. We move in tiny bits, cell by cell roots, engine
  81. inching farther buds nudged into the sunlight.
  82. Or we move because someone transplants us to a new
  83. location. When you're a red oak, there's no point in
  84. feeling fidgety.
  85. Trees, as I said, are met to listen, to, observe,
  86. to endure.
  87. And yet, just once before I said goodbye to the
  88. world, what would it be like to be something other
  89. than passive to be an actor in the stories unfolding
  90. around me, maybe even to make things a little bit
  91. better? Bongo, I said softly.
  92. Are you awake?
  93. I am now, she grumbled.
  94. I have a question.
  95. I'll get back to you first thing in the morning.
  96. How does friendship happen?
  97. Bongo responded by snoring.
  98. I could tell it was a fake snore.
  99. Her real snores air so loud they scared the baby
  100. apostles. I'm serious, I said.
  101. Banco groaned.
  102. I don't know.
  103. It just happens.
  104. But how does that happen?
  105. Friends have things in common.
  106. Bongo set and there you go.
  107. Your answer in five words.
  108. See it in the A M pal?
  109. I thought about her reply.
  110. But what do you and I really have in common
  111. when you get right down to it with a loud
  112. exhale? Bongo flew to the ground.
  113. Okay, I'm thoroughly awake now.
  114. Thank you very much.
  115. What's this all about?
  116. Justin Idea.
  117. Here's an idea for you.
  118. Ideas are a bad idea, said Bongo.
  119. Especially if somebody is in busy body mode.
  120. I'm looking at you.
  121. Read back to my question.
  122. Why are we friends?
  123. Okay, fine.
  124. Let me think on it for a minute.
  125. Bongo walked in a slow circle around my trunk.
  126. Considerate. I love the way birds move.
  127. So unlike trees, we bend with the wind were graceful
  128. and unhurried birds on the other hand, moving foots and
  129. twitches, their heads whipped from side to side as if
  130. they just heard astonishing news.
  131. Bongo paused Well, to begin with, you're my home and
  132. I'm your tenant.
  133. But that's not really a reason for us to be
  134. friends. I've had residence.
  135. I wasn't particularly Fonda off that squirrel.
  136. What was his name?
  137. Switch the one with the bad breath.
  138. It's not important.
  139. I knew it was switch Bongo.
  140. I said, Please focus.
  141. Bongo gazed up at me.
  142. We're friends because we're friends.
  143. Isn't that enough?
  144. Fred? Her voice was small and sweet.
  145. Not her usual.
  146. Get to the point, crow tone.
  147. You're right, I said.
  148. But I suppose to people needed to be friends.
  149. How would you make that happen?
  150. Maybe get them to gather doing something They yak share
  151. a laugh Walla friendship.
  152. Am I right?
  153. Um I don't like when you ming leads to ideas.
  154. You can go back to sleep, Bongo.
  155. Thanks for talking.
  156. You're a good friend.
  157. Likewise, Bongo flew back up to her nest.
  158. Hey, be sure to let me sleep in Bongo now
  159. what? One more thing.
  160. Why do you think people can be so cruel to
  161. each other?
  162. It's not like the rest of us are.
  163. Exactly angels.
  164. Last night I saw Agnes eat a whole lizard in
  165. one bite.
  166. Agnes, the barn owl who lived with her nestlings in
  167. my highest hollow flap Her wings and annoyance.
  168. Hey, a girl's gotta eat and you're a fine one
  169. to talk.
  170. Bongo, she said, Is there anything crows won't eat?
  171. My point, Bongo continued, is that the world a tough
  172. place doesn't matter if you're a bunny or a lizard
  173. or a kid with that.
  174. Bongo started snoring for real this time, but I was
  175. still wide awake.
  176. Ma. What's that horrible noise?
  177. Came the startled voice of a baby.
  178. A possum that's just bongos.
  179. Sleeping, her mother replied.
  180. Bongo had been right.
  181. I was hatching an idea.
  182. She always said I was a busy body, not to
  183. mention an optimist, an optimistic but in ski well.
  184. There were worse things.
  185. Trees are the strong, silent top type unless we're not.