Read the excerpt from the play Apple Picking: Characters:
- Mischa
- Luke
- Mom
- Dad

Scene One

On an overcast autumn afternoon in the middle of a field with many apple trees. A brother and a sister have a ladder up against an apple tree. One is picking apples and placing them in a sack tied around her waist. The other is holding the ladder steady.

Mischa: (standing on the ladder and looking at an apple) I'm not so sure about these. They have a ton of spots and are not quite ripe.

Luke: That's alright, we're just making a pie for Sunday dinner anyway. No one will see the spots, and we can add sugar to sweeten them up.

Mischa: (Nodding in approval) Yeah, I guess you're right. Mom always likes her pie apples to be a little firm anyways.

Suddenly, the wind begins to blow strongly making the ladder tip back and forth slightly.

Mischa: (With an alarmed look on her face.) What's going on? There isn't supposed to be a storm today! We'll never make it back to our house before it hits!

Luke: (Holding onto the ladder as hard as he can) You need to come down! I can't hold the ladder much longer!

Mischa carefully but swiftly climbs down the ladder while the wind is still blowing. Luke holds on to the ladder as it sways back and forth. Mischa makes it to the bottom. They both look toward dark clouds rolling in quickly with thunder and lightning.

Luke: (Yelling over the storm) We'd better find some shelter! (Pointing toward a rundown old farmhouse.) I think there's an old farm house that way!

Mischa: (Also yelling) You lead the way. I'm too scared!

Luke: (Grabbing her by the hand) It's going to be okay! Run with me!

Both children run to the old farmhouse holding each other's hand. When they make it there, they enter through an open window.

Scene Two

In the kitchen of the old farmhouse. There is an old dusty table and chairs, but everything else including the stove is gone. The windows are broken, the curtains tattered, and the wallpaper peeling. The wind is picking up and blowing through. The children are calming down. Mischa looks out the broken window where a large dead tree sits close to the house, while Luke sits at the old table. The sack of apples sits on the table.

Mischa: It's almost here Luke. The branches on the trees are swaying all over the place.

Luke: (Looking at the old tree through the window) Come away from the window Mischa. It's a really bad storm, that's for sure.

Mischa: (sitting down in the chair opposite Luke.) I think it's a tornado.

Luke: It's not a tornado, but those are some heavy winds.

The wind picks up and the curtains sway violently. Something smacks up against the side of the house.

Luke: What was that? It's picking up.

Mischa: Where are Mom and Dad? Why aren't they here to help us?

Luke: Never mind that. We need to worry about ourselves right now. I think we should go down to the …

Suddenly, a tree branch hits the window smashing it even more than it was. Luke and Mischa scream.

Mischa: (Yelling) To the basement!

The children run toward the basement when Mischa stops and turns back.

Luke: (Still yelling) What are you doing? Come back!

Mischa: (Still yelling) The apples! I need to grab the apples!

Luke: Mischa no!

Mischa runs to grab the apples. She gets a hold of the sack and turns around toward the basement again. As she gets to the basement door, the old large tree snaps, cracks, and falls through the kitchen wall. She is okay, but shaken.

How does the structure in scene one complement the events in scene two?

a
Scene one describes only two of the characters that will appear in the next scene. Nothing tells the reader about their relationship in scene one.

b
Scene one describes the setting, introduces the characters, and introduces a storm that calms down in in the scene.

c
The first scene describes the setting, introduces the characters, and introduces the storm that the characters will face in scene two.

d
Scene one introduces the characters, and introduces the outdoor setting that the characters interact in throughout the play.