Tree Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

cousin of Burl’s.”
    Eagle made an annoyed squawk.
    She started to walk closer to the glade, when
thunk!
came another cone. This one smacked the middle of her back.
    Her eyes narrowed. “That’s not very nice of you, tree.” A slow grin spread across her face. “Unless, of course, you mean to play toss.”
    Taking the first pinecone, she heaved it as hard as she could up into the branches. It vanished, with a
swoosh
, into the mesh of needles. Then, a few seconds later, it came back down, gently enough that she caught it with ease. Again she hurled it up into the tree. She waited, but this time the cone didn’t come back.
    Her grin broadened. “Good catch! Mayhaps we’ll play again sometime.”
    She turned again to the great beech and the glade beyond. Even as she started to walk nearer, another object dropped from above, just missing her nose. It slapped the ground at her feet, spraying fallen needles into the air.
    Anna stared, aghast. It wasn’t a cone. It was one of her missing sandals!
    Before she could think what to do, the other sandal sailed out of the branches and landed right beside the first. She jumped back, craning her headupward. And then, from the canopy of branches, came a laugh that she’d heard before, rippling like a splashing stream.
    “It’s you!” she exclaimed.
    In response, the sand-colored bear scampered down from the boughs. With a shower of needles, he flung himself onto a branch above her head, hooked his legs over the limb, and swung upside down. He hung there, his ears dangling down and his black nose very close to her own. Close as a clam to its shell!
    The bear sniffed at her face. But Anna held still. She looked straight into his eyes. How they sparkled! With wildness. And with something close to magic.
    For a breathless moment, they gazed at each other. Then Anna burst into words—not really expecting the bear to understand.
    “Um…hello. My name is Rowanna.”
    The bear kept peering at her, though he wrinkled his furry brow. He grunted. Then, all at once, he made a new kind of sound.
“Hashalasha nat sasharash,”
he said in a voice like swishing branches.
    Anna blinked in surprise. She’d never heardwords like that before. And yet somehow, in a way she could not explain, she almost understood them.
    “Sasharash,” she repeated. “Your name is Sasharash.”
    The bear pawed at her playfully. Then he swished another phrase, pointing at the rumpled bird on her shoulder.
    “Oh, that’s my Eagle. One day he’s going to fly, but for now he keeps me company.”
    At this, the bear released another rippling laugh.
“Romalasha loo!”
    Eagle threw back a scornful whistle and glared at the upside-down cub.
    Sasharash grasped the branch with his forepaws and swung himself upright. He shifted his four legs and stepped along the limb. Then he stopped, eyeing the beech tree across the way. His shoulders hunched. Suddenly, he leaped out of the pine and into the open air.
    Anna winced, expecting him to crash to the ground. But no—he landed safely in the great beech, his paws clasping its silver branches. Leaves showered the ground as he bounced up and down. Now it was Anna’s turn to laugh!
    She ran to join him. “Let’s climb together!”
    Just as she neared the beech, though, her foot caught on a stone. She tumbled down, slamming hard into the tree trunk. Eagle shrieked and fell into a tuft of moss beside her.
    Anna sat up, dazed. The bear crouched next to her. He swatted at the air and growled,
“Masha, mashamala sho?”
    “I’m all r-right,” she answered weakly. “Just my leg…”
    She halted, seeing the deep gash in her thigh. Sliced by the jagged point of a broken branch! Blood flowed, dripping down her skin and onto the moss. She’d never been cut so badly before. Never! And all that blood…Suddenly dizzy, she leaned back against the trunk.
    Sasharash turned and bounded over to a black alder sapling at the far side of the clearing. He bit off a twig and clamped