¹     Oh, how I love Papa's apple tree. I remember the day that Papa planted the tree. He and grandma live next door, and I was having milk and cookies with him after school.
 
²     "A plump, juicy apple would taste great right about now," Papa said.
 
³     "Too bad you don't have an apple tree in the backyard, Papa!" I answered.
 
⁴     "That's a great idea, Sammy. Why don't we plant one?"
 
⁵     I had only been kidding but was excited about the idea.
 
⁶     We got into Papa's car. It was a large, great boat of a car that he had owned for many years. (I often wondered why he didn't get a new car, but he said, "Why? It's paid for, and it runs fine!") We headed over to Matilda's Flower Pot, the store where Papa always got his plants.
 
⁷     "Hey, Matilda. What's growing?"
 
⁸     Matilda smiled. I think she liked my papa. "Lots of things!" she said. "What did you have in mind?"

Paragraphs 9 to 16:
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