What sadness

Well, my advancement in reading has picked up. The sadness of What is the What was still felt in today's reading. I did not expect for everything to recover, but I also expected for just a little break. Instead, there are still tales of more boys dying. On top of this, add vultures and carrion. As boys are dying, their bodies are becoming one with the earth again, as Achak would say. Countless victims of heat, famine and thirst finally give up and sit down under trees to rest. Unfortunately, those resting have other plans. They are going to die and realize it is time for them to go and they do. One victim of death was William K, Achak's lifelong friend; he had to bury William K himself.

The boys take refugee in a burnt out town with a group of SPLA. The soldiers are a little bittersweet to the boys but let them stay. They use the area as higher ground from the torrential rainfall. When they get there, their leader says they must leave. Dut strikes a deal and says they are fit to be there. They do indeed stay. The leader warns them that they must not stray far (many boys wanted to inquire about fishing in swamps and food) because land mines abound. The boys do not understand the concept of landmines and soon find out. Dut tries to explain, but it actually takes several boys going out and getting killed to get the idea across.

As the boys are regaining strength, another group of at least a thousand approach. It is filled with healthy SPLA, men, women, children and babies. Many have supplies and provisions with them. A water tank is brought to the area. These are Dinka people making their way toward Pinyudo. When they arrive, they say they must take the town and EVERYONE must leave. They chased them off and beat them.

As the book progresses, the boys come across another river in which they must cross. To make things a little tougher, crocodiles slink into the water as the boys move closer. Now, the good news is no one dies crossing. The bad news: plenty die. When crossing the river, the boys find out they are in Ethiopia. Achak is shocked because he did not expect it to look so similar to the land in which he was born. He does not believe Dut at first.

Now to the devastation of Atlanta. Achor Achor comes home and discovers Achak (Valentino) on the floor. They call the police and have them arrive.

This is where I got! Today was quiet day at the bookstore. We are getting a long time friend of Madeleine L'Engle to speak at the Educator Fair. So cool. Customers were pretty cool today. I did Storytime at 10 this morning for pre-schoolers. The nannies were really happy I was back...and happy I was taking the kids away for a moment. When I left, it looked as though a hurricane had hit. Good thing to know for anyone at a bookstore: Nannies do not clean up their mess. Apparently doing there jobs at home makes them exempt from doing jobs at the bookstore. They left a damn mountain of People, US Weekly, OK, Glamour, Elle, Cosmo and more sitting on the floor. UGH. At least they were nice. To top it off, they were barking with the kids in a book I did at Storytime today. The kids made dog noises with me...well lo and behold, the nannies participated!

A rather unfortunate beastly woman walked in today with her unfortunate daughter. She let the little girl trash the section. The woman was a pig...

Have a wonderful night.