Cherry trees are tough

It's come up! One spring morning, Rakesh bent to pick up what he thought was a small twig, and found it was well rooted. 'Dada, come and look, the cherry tree has come up!'

'What cherry tree?' asked Grandfather, who had completely forgotten. It was four inches high.

Rakesh ran for a bucket of water. 'Don't drown it!' said Grandfather. So he gave it a gentle sprinkle and put a circle of pebbles round it.

'What are the pebbles for?' 'For privacy.' Two words that show how much he cares: the tree is his friend, with a little fence of its own.

Watching it grow. He looked at it every morning, but it did not seem to grow. So he stopped looking, except quickly, out of the corner of his eye. After a week or two, when he let himself look properly, it had grown at least an inch.

The monsoon came early. Rakesh plodded (walked slowly and heavily) to school in raincoat and chappals. Ferns grew on tree trunks, mist curled up the valley, and the cherry tree grew quickly.

Disaster one: a goat. When the tree was about two feet high, a goat got into the garden and ate all the leaves, leaving only the main stem and two thin branches. Grandfather said: 'Never mind. It will grow again, cherry trees are tough.'

Disaster two: a scythe. As new leaves appeared, a woman cutting grass scrambled down the hill, her scythe (a long-handled cutting tool) swishing through the thick monsoon foliage (leaves). She did not try to avoid the tree: one sweep, and it was cut in two. It was an accident, not on purpose. Grandfather scolded her, but the damage was done.

'Maybe it will die now,' said Rakesh. 'Maybe,' said Grandfather.

Then comes the line that makes the tree a character: 'But the cherry tree had no intention of dying.' By summer it had sent out new shoots with tender green leaves.

And Rakesh, now eight, had grown too: a sturdy (strong) boy with blackberry eyes.