Rafael lashed out with a vicious backhand slash of the machete catching the main central vein of the tree frond. The blade was sharp, never having been used, and made a clean slice severing the frond. It fell to the ground at his feet. A viscous clear liquid dripped in thick stringy gobs down from the wounded end that remained attached to the tree, splatting on the ground. Rafael took four steps to the right and slashed a second frond. It fell the same way.
The ground beyond the fronds, was a tangled thicket of underbrush in the area neat the forest edge extending in about 20 feet. Plants with broad feather-like leaves all faced the edge where sunlight filtered in through the incomplete curtain formed by the hanging unsupported fronds. As the slashed ends had fallen away the smaller leaves of the plants behind them had all moved. Angling themselves directly toward the new opening, gathering as much light as they could from what was now the brightest and most direct source.
