she was of the Animist religion that worshiped nature spirits. Gutthier nodded agreement to Ayuel’s words. The two turned and ran.
As always, when the boys came across a new band of Dinkas, they asked about their relatives and friends. Everyone here seemed to come from the Dinka region of Jongli, but not from Duk. After Ayuel and Gutthier drank their fill from the village well, they sat down under a nearby tree and waited for anyone they knew to pass by. The seventeen had agreed to meet by the well at sunset, and the sun already hung low in the western sky.
Their friends, in twos and threes, gathered to stand or sit in the vicinity. Madau and Malual, chewing on boiled cassava roots someone had given them, strolled by, then turned in recognition.
“Hello,” Gutthier said. “Do you have any news? See anyone we know?”
“No, but we talked to an SPLA officer from Duk,” Malual said, taking another bite of the boiled root. “He didn’t know anyone we knew.”
Ayuel and Gutthier shook their heads in discouragement.
“But,” continued Malual, his voice lighter, “This officer asked if we had heard anything about Chief Leek Deng. Of course, anyone from Duk would know your father…”
Ayuel and Gutthier jumped to their feet, as the chief was father of both boys.
“Where is he?”
“Where did you talk to him?”
“I’ll show you,” Malual said. “But don’t have too much hope.”
The half-brothers left Madau at the well and followed Malual Kuer past pole fences, a dried-up vegetable patch and several dwelling compounds until they came to a large open-air market, a souk. Several men sat on benches out in front, engaged in conversation.
“There he is,” Malual said as he pointed to the uniformed SPLA officer, standing with one foot on the end of a bench, waving his arm as he talked.
“I can’t just walk up to him and interrupt their discussion,” Ayuel said timidly. “He’s an officer.”
The three boys stood in silence.
The officer turned his head, glanced at them and then resumed his conversation. The boys faced the setting sun and could not see the man distinctly.
Finally the officer took a second look and walked toward them. His face fell as he stopped in front of them. “Oh, sorry,” he said, “I thought for a moment I knew…” He looked at Ayuel, then Gutthier, but spoke to Malual, “You’re the one I talked to before.”
“Yes, sir. I am Malual Kuer.”
“But, you,” he said, pointing to Ayuel. “You look a lot like a nephew… but, no, he was bigger. And you with the big ears resemble another nephew… named Gutthier, but…” He turned and walked back toward the souk.
Ayuel recognized their uncle’s voice even though he couldn’t see his face clearly with the sun behind him. “I’m Ayuel Leek, Chief Leek Deng’s son,” he called out. “And this is really Gutthier.”
His uncle turned and ran to them. “Ayuel and Gutthier, you poor children!” He encircled them both with his arms and lifted them up. “You’re...alive,” he said in a choked voice. “Is anyone else in your family...?”
Ayuel hugged his arms around his uncle’s neck and whispered, “I don’t know.”
His uncle set them down and patted their heads. “Are you going to Ethiopia?”
“We are all trying to, Uncle. I’m not sure we will ever get there,” Gutthier said.
“We are not far from Ethiopia now. That’s where my group is headed also. Why don’t you—and your friend here, too—travel with me?”
The boys all looked at each other. Malual frowned at the offer.
“We’ll think about it, Uncle,” Ayuel said.
“I hear there’s a refugee camp set up there for us. They would probably let you stay in the officer’s shelter with me and my son.” Their uncle squatted down to look the boys in the eye. “To survive, you must be strong.”
“I know.” Ayuel looked up to him with hope. “So you don’t know if… if my father is alive?”
Tears streamed down his uncle’s face. “We’ve lost so many. I don’t know about my brother. I ask everyone.”
“But, your cousin, my son, is here with me. We are staying with a family who has been very good to us.” The uncle made no attempt to wipe the tears running freely down his face and dripping on his uniform. “Oh, God, you boys are so thin. You shall have milk to drink. Follow me.”
Since the wave of travelers with his uncle had arrived first, the villagers welcomed them, but now, even in the large settlement of Pibor, there was not room for thousands more. So the new arrivals were told to move out the evening of the second day. Ayuel and Gutthier spent that time with their uncle and cousin in a friendly compound. Since Malual Kuer had chosen to return to their group for the night, Ayuel asked him to tell the others to wait for them at the well before leaving.
The next afternoon Ayuel’s uncle walked back with them. He begged them one more time to stay and travel with him. “But, Ayuel and Gutthier, we are your close relatives,” he pleaded. “Your mothers and father would want me to watch over you. Besides, I’m an officer and you will be safer with me.”
Ayuel wrapped his arms around his uncle’s waist and leaned his head against him. That did make him feel good and safe. He loved his uncle, but he thought of his cousin Chuei who was becoming weaker by the day; his friend, Malual Kuer, who had stayed with him that awful day—the first time he drank his own urine, and Donayok, the good Samaritan, who had put him on his own back and carried him, probably saving his life. Their leader certainly would never abandon the group.
“I’ll find you again in Ethiopia,” Ayuel finally said and wiped his eyes on the tatters of his T-shirt sleeve.
Gutthier agreed with his half-brother and spoke convincingly. “The seventeen of us decided to stay together and not give up until we all got there. We must go with them. We have responsibilities, Uncle.”
“So that’s your decision—okay. I understand your loyalty. Loyalty is a good thing.”
They walked the rest of the way to the well in silence. Their entire group was waiting and stood up out of respect for the officer. Without tears Ayuel and Gutthier shook their uncle’s hand.
“See you at the camp in Ethiopia,” their uncle said. Ayuel looked up at him and smiled. Their uncle patted both heads, turned and walked back into the village.
“You could have stayed with him, couldn’t you?” Akon said. “I know I would’ve.”
“Could’ve,” Gutthier said.
“Yeah.”
After a few minutes, Donayok said, “We must prepare for the
