Chapter 54 First Kiss

• It was months until he saw her again. He was alone in the room thinking about the other boys, wondering how they were all faring. He thought about Tshepo. It was how many months now? Three? Four? The year was almost over, he would be 16 before the turn of the new year.
• He wondered when he would ever get to work. He suspected the other boys were getting paid by now for their services. Maybe Fredrick had forgotten about him? The blind girl had said he never brought in foreigners so what if Fredrick had forgotten he was there? He wanted to work in order to save as much as he could to leave Gabore. Yet all he did all day was check the rooms, he had found the library during one of his explorations. It had floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with leather-bound books. He excitedly flipped through pages as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Then the year ended. He ended the new year with as much knowledge about the countries of the world outside Gabore as anyone who had visited them.
• But his thirst for knowledge began to dry when the loneliness of his room kept him awake one night. He thought about his mother. Did she miss him? He knew she did. His father, however… could go to hell for all Nate cared.