SAMPLE EXCERPTS FROM BLOSSOMS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
He was very helpful and he agreed to accompany them to the village where the girl was, and help them rescue her. They were about to give up the rescue mission after several attempts to distract the guards had failed. But the man from Nasila was able to lure the whole team of guards to a beer party at a nearby village, leaving the girl unguarded.

It was then that the rescue team stuck! Amidst screams of terrified women, the barking of fierce dogs, braying donkeys and mowing of cattle, they entered the hut where the weak and sickly girl lay. They carried her and scampered away fast, like men fleeing from a burning village for three kilometres, to the spot where they had left the vehicle. And they were lucky to have escaped, for immediately they put her onto the vehicle and they themselves had jumped into it, the fierce-looking guards arrived, breathless, but fuming furiously and brandishing all sorts of deadly weapons.
On seeing that they had been outsmarted, they resorted to throwing stones at them, but by then the four-wheel drive vehicle had shot past the range of their missiles.
Regrettably, they learnt later that the man who assisted them so much and enabled them to rescue the girl, was speared to death by those thugs who accused him of tricking them so the girl could be stolen. The girl had, however, arrived safely and she was in fair condition although she was shocked, traumatised and terribly emaciated. She said the girl still found it difficult to walk, for the injuries inflicted to her by the enkamuratani’s olmurunya had not yet healed.
Minik was thinking of how best to broach the matter in her mind. For a moment she wondered if it was the right time to bring out in the open the matter which she knew would be very painful to the girl who was just recovering from her own trauma. But she knew she could not hide the truth for long. It had to be revealed sooner so that counselling sessions could be put into place soon. Bracing herself appropriately, she quietly and coolly dropped the bombshell.
Questions
