graculus

Gakked from

lexin:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Demons of the air seemed set loose in that garden; and with the increasing frequency of the lightning, Tom could watch the foliage of the trees ferociously tossed and torn at by the wind, and, at the corner of the lawn, the tall, tapering fir-tree swinging to and fro, its ivy-wreathed leaves struggling wildly in the tempest like the arms of a swaddling-child.

To Tom it seemed that the fir-tree swung more widely each time. 'It can't be blown over,' though Tom. 'Strong trees are not often blown over.'

As if in answer to this, and while the winds still tore, there came the loudest thunder, with a flash of lightning that was not to one side or even above, but seemed to come down into the garden itself, to the tree. The glare was blinding, and Tom's eyes closed against it, although only for part of a second. When he opened them again, he saw the tree like one flame, and falling.