««««
«:: ::«
=: :=
###&§%=«:¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ = = ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ =: := ¨:«=%§##
&%«:¨¨¨¨¨¨ «:: ::« ¨¨¨¨¨¨:«%&
&&%«:¨¨¨¨¨ «««« ¨¨¨¨¨:«%&&
#&%«¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨«%
###&§%=«:¨ The River That'S Our River Makes A ¨:«=%§##
&%==«::¨¨¨ Large Bend Like A Scooping Hand And A ¨¨¨::«==%&
&§%%%%=«:¨ Decent Days Travel North From That ¨:«=%%%%§&
&&%%««¨¨¨¨ Stands Our House In The Middle Of A ¨¨¨¨««%%&&
&%%%%%=«:¨ Forgotten Apple Orchard. Our House Is ¨:«=%%%%%&
##§=::¨¨¨¨ Built Of Dark Clay And Abandoned By A ¨¨¨¨::=§##
&§%%%%=«:¨ Stranger. The Window Has No Glass But ¨:«=%%%%§&
###&§%=«:¨ Instead Steel Bars To Keep The Animals ¨:«=%§##
#§%%«««¨¨¨ Out. ¨¨¨«««%%§#
&&§==::¨¨¨ ¨¨¨::==§&&
###&§%=«:¨ Around The House Is A Thick, Thick ¨:«=%§##
#&&&§%=«:¨ Brush Of Ferns And Bushes. There Live ¨:«=%§&&
&§§=«::¨¨¨ The Animals That We Fight To Keep Away, ¨¨¨::«=§§&
###&§%=«:¨ For They Speak To Us To Join Them In ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ The Luscious Caves Below Ground. They ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Mean No Harm But It Is Not In Our Best ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Interest To Do So. There Is Important ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Work That Needs To Be Done, And It Cant ¨:«=%§##
&&%==«¨¨¨¨ Be Done By Animals. (Father Says This.) ¨¨¨¨«==%&&
###&§%=«:¨ ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Every Morning Our Father Clears The ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Ferns And Uproots The Bushes Only For ¨:«=%§##
#&§%%==«:¨ Them To Grow Back Each Night. Their ¨:«==%%§
#&&§§%=«:¨ Leaves Are Teal, White And Yellow, Some ¨:«=%§§&
###&§%=«:¨ Even The Color Of Wine. They Have Lilac ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Flowers And In The Morning They Are Wet ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ With Dew. ¨:«=%§##
#&&&§%=«:¨ ¨:«=%§&&
#&%%=«:::¨ Father Is Away During The Day Doing ¨:::«=%%
#&§=«::¨¨¨ Important Things Elsewhere. He Is Weary ¨¨¨::«=§
##&§==:¨¨¨ When He Returns Home, Each Day More So ¨¨¨:==§#
###&§%=«:¨ Than The Next. We Learn To Cook For Him ¨:«=%§##
##§§§%=«:¨ So That He Does Not Have To. We Tend To ¨:«=%§§§##
###&§%=«:¨ His Clothes. ¨:«=%§##
&&§%««««:¨ ¨:««««%§&&
###&§%=«:¨ Suddenly The Dense Bushwork Is Mirrored ¨:«=%§##
#&%««««::¨ Inside. Stems And Leaves Appear Close ¨::««««%
&§=««:¨¨¨¨ To The Walls And Far From The Light. We ¨¨¨¨:««=§&
#&&&§%=«:¨ Are Glad, For The Flowers Are Beautiful ¨:«=%§&&
&§=::¨¨¨¨¨ And Smell Good, And There Is Little ¨¨¨¨¨::=§&
&&§%===«:¨ Decoration In Our House. But When ¨:«===%§&&
###&§%=«:¨ Father Comes Home He Is Angry And Cuts ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Them All Down In A Frenzy. We Are ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Scared Of Him Then. ¨:«=%§##
#&%«:¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨:«%
###&§%=«:¨ We Are Then Tasked With Removing Any ¨:«=%§##
####§%=«:¨ Indoor Plant We See. But They Are So ¨:«=%§####
###&§%=«:¨ Beautiful! We Wait Just Until Father ¨:«=%§##
&&%«¨¨¨¨¨¨ Comes Home And Until Then We Enjoy ¨¨¨¨¨¨«%&&
&&§%%«¨¨¨¨ Them. Sometimes An Animal Will Sneak In ¨¨¨¨«%%§&&
###&§%=«:¨ But We Always Shoo Them Out. With Fresh ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Cut Flowers Thrown Right Outside The ¨:«=%§##
&&§§===«:¨ House He Suspects And Resents Our ¨:«===§§&&
###&§%=«:¨ Inaction. But He Doesn'T Have The ¨:«=%§##
#&%«:¨¨¨¨¨ Energy To Scold Us. He Weakens Quickly. ¨¨¨¨¨:«%
&&%=«¨¨¨¨¨ It Is Not Long Before He Is Still Tired ¨¨¨¨¨«=%&&
###&§%=«:¨ Even In The Morning And Must ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Reluctantly Leave The Outdoor Weed ¨:«=%§##
&§%«¨¨¨¨¨¨ Cutting To Us As Well, Untrusting That ¨¨¨¨¨¨«%§&
&§§=:¨¨¨¨¨ We Will Carry It Out. ¨¨¨¨¨:=§§&
&%«¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨«%&
###&§%=«:¨ Now He Leaves As Soon As He'S Awake And ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Falls Asleep As Soon As He Returns. We ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ Are Left To Care For Us And The House ¨:«=%§##
&&%%«::¨¨¨ And The Orchard. But It Is Hard And We ¨¨¨::«%%&&
&%=:¨¨¨¨¨¨ Are Distracted. We Are Not As ¨¨¨¨¨¨:=%&
&§%%«««¨¨¨ Persistent As Father And Quickly Fall ¨¨¨«««%%§&
&%«¨¨¨¨¨¨¨ Behind In Our Duties. ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨«%&
###&§%=«:¨ ¨:«=%§##
###&§%=«:¨ ¨:«=%§##
#&%«¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨«%
#§=««::::¨ ¨::::««=§#
##§§§%=«:¨ ¨:«=%§§§##