Chapter 3
THE WAY TO TOWN seemed longer than any distance Javes had ever walked in his life.
Once he moved away from the scene of destruction, the layer of dust deposited on the ground grew thinner, and he was able to follow the road. But the sand radiated heat through the soles of his shoes and the donkey was so fidgety that he gave it most of the water, which it drank from his hand, licking his arm and his shirt and the bottle. Then he didn’t want to drink from a bottle covered in donkey slobber and grew very thirsty himself. Surely the town couldn’t be that far away? Or had he walked in the wrong direction?
With every breeze, he looked over his shoulder, checking that visibility wasn’t getting worse, and the dust devil wasn’t coming back. With every step, he felt more hesitant about
