Summary

The short story “The Cherry Tree” by Lisa Blower is focused on a woman named Thea who lives alone in her house. One day, a woman named Roxanne shows up at her door, along with her son Toby. Roxanne asks Thea to allow her to pick cherries from her garden. The cherry tree is rooted in Roxanne’s garden, but the branches are mostly in Thea’s garden. Thea does not want Roxanne to come into her house, so she refuses. Toby, Roxanne’s eight-year-old son gets very upset. Roxanne tries to calm him down.

Thea remembers Toby being similarly upset when she previously saw him in the corner shop. At that time, Roxanne tried to get him to put back the sweets he wanted to take from the shop. However, Toby still took the sweets, and Roxanne did not pay for them. Roxanne also did not pay for the wine and bread she took ...