 |
| Wheee! Kaza on a Magnolia petal |
 | |
| One for Shiela Ghodawalla who gave his child a ride, clippity clop |
 |
| One for the engine driver, choo chukha choo! |
 |
| One for Lachami, wending her way home to her cows. "Lacchaamiii!" he called out to her. |
 |
| One for the raven, over the hill! |
 |
| One for Hari, the dhaba walla, who gave him a glass of hot cardamom tea. |
 | |
| Beneath the shade of the old Magnolia tree, Gulab toiled all day, happy and content. |
 |
| One for Coonah, still there after more than a hundred years. |
 |
| One for the Queen of Cherry Hill as she went to play cards with her friends. |
 |
| He planted the shiny red seed. |
 |
| One for the little school boy who showered Gulab with rose petals. "Petals for you!" he cried. |
 |
| One for Aunty Santosh, who had found him lost and alone many years ago when he was little. |
 |
| He remembered what his wife, Kusum had said to him that morning. "Gulab, bring me one of those flowers that look like the moon." He set off at sunset with an enormous bunch of Magnolias. |
 |
| One for the little girl with ribbons in her hair. |
 |
| And it rained, and it snowed and the sun shone and the little red seed sent forth shiny leaves in licking flames of green. "When you grow up," Kusum said to her child, "you will have a magnolia in your window sill." |
 |
| One for Tsering and baby Norbu, who had come from Tibet not so long ago. |
 |
| One for Uncle Ben, as he waited and waited for his beloved. |
 | |
| And for Kusum? A seed from the Magnolia tree, high on the hill, bathed in moonlight. |
 |
| A very long sunset with Magnolias |
 |
| Gulab the gardener rose with the dawn and climbed up the high hill to the big house with gardens all around. |
 |
| And it was so! |
 |
| One for the little girl who loved to paint. |
