Vagabond Tomato reading

I'm a juicy red tomato
and I've tumbled off the shelf
and I'm rolling out the co-op door
to the street, all by myself.
I've left the other fruit behind            5
but I feel no remorse.
There's more to life than waiting
to be blended into sauce
or chopped up for a pizza
or sliced to serve with ham                 10
or just sitting, going mouldy
fifty cents a kilogram.

No, no! Heigh ho for the open road
and the footpath, wild and free!
Where feet pass by                              15
'neath an open sky
and there are no other vegies but me!
You won't catch me in your casserole
or your pyrex baking dish.
I'm the vagabond tomato and I'm...    20

gurgle
gurgle
squish

by Fiona Farrell


Source: School Journal, Part 2, No. 4,
Learning Media Limited, 1993.

Song of the Vagabond Tomato

This task is about making inferences from a poem.

Read the poem and look at its illustration to answer the questions below.

a)   What is the meaning of the word "vagabond" from the title of the poem and line 20?

     (A)   A brand of tomatoes
     (B)   A careless character
     (C)   A wandering rascal
     (D)   A scruffy character


b)   What does the tomato mean when he says, "I feel no remorse"? [line 6]
     He doesn't feel bad


c)   Why do the tomatoes talked about in this poem end up costing "fifty cents a kilogram"? [line 12]
     They are so awful

d)   When the tomato says, "No, no!" what is he talking about? [line 13]
   He doesn't want to get sold so he is running away

e)   What word is "'neath" short for? [line 16]
Beneath

f)   What do the dots at the end of line 20 show?
  Dead