Yellow and green leaves shimmering, scintillating in the rain like light racing across a puddle, the colossal tree radiated life, like it could pick up and walk. gigantic branches curved in every possible direction. deep roots circled the trunk like a moat. and the tree's massive trunk could have housed ten adobes. in this passage, asgedom

Helen tells her nephew, bernard, that she will pay him $100 if he will stop smoking for six months. helen was hopeful that if bernard stopped smoking for six months, he would stop altogether. bernard stops smoking for six months but then resumes his smoking. helen will not pay him. she says that the type of promise she made cannot constitute a binding contract and that, furthermore, it was at least implied that he would stop smoking for good. can bernard legally collect $100 from helen