Escape Under the Forever Sky by Eve Yohalen Read Free Book Online

home.”
    Awkward silence.
    â€œI’m, um, sorry to hear that,” he said at last. “I can imagine it must be very frustrating to find yourself living in Africa and unable to experience it. Surely there must be times you get to go out and about?”
    â€œActually,” I admitted, choking down a long piece of bok choy, “I do go on game drives sometimes.”
    â€œReally?” he said, adjusting his glasses. “Tell me about that.”
    â€œWell, there’s this ranger. His name is Daniel Negash, but I call him Dahnie. He takes me into the parks, to the ones that aren’t too far from Addis. He’s amazing. He knows everything about all the animals, which is great for me because I’m going to be a conservation zoologist. I don’t get to go as often as I want to—maybe once every two weeks or so—but I go whenever I can.”
    I was just getting warmed up, but Dr. Clarke wasn’t listening anymore. He had turned his attention to theGerman businessman seated on his other side.
    Since my other dinner partner, Ambassador Li, was busy with my mother and the deputy ambassador, I was left, as usual at these things, sitting at the table with no one to talk to.
    The conversation was excruciating. Listening for more than three seconds was impossible.
    â€œIt’s got to be stopped before the problem gets any worse,” I heard my mother say. “The United States is taking a very aggressive position.”
    â€œAs you should, Madam Ambassador,” said Ambassador Li. “Ethiopia has enough problems without adding this new plague.”
    â€œI agree, Ming. Poverty, famine, disease . . . One of the beautiful things about this country is that despite its overwhelming difficulties, there has been very little crime—nothing like the kind you see in Kenya or South Africa. The Ethiopian government is deeply concerned. That’s why I’m cochairing the new Committee against Drug Trafficking in Ethiopia.”
Wahoo! Another committee
.
    I played silent games with myself to stave off boredom.
I packed my grandmother’s trunk, and in it I put
A
frica. Ipacked my grandmother’s trunk, and in it I put
A
frica and a
b
oring dinner. I packed my grandmother’s trunk, and in it I put
A
frica, a
b
oring dinner, and
C
hina spending millions of dollars on a stupid stadium no one wants when it could have spent that money saving people who are dying of AIDS and starvation
.
    Finally, Ambassador Li took pity on me. “Lucy, your mother says you are becoming quite a naturalist. Tell us, what is the most interesting thing you have learned so far about Ethiopian wildlife?”
    I thought for a moment. “Well, Ambassador Li, I’m sure you know there are many fascinating things to learn about African mammals. For example, did you know that when female lions are in heat, they will mate every twenty minutes for as long as five days? They hardly even stop to eat!”
    My mother choked on her water, and the rest of the table was stunned into silence, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Dr. Clarke grinning.
    After about fifteen endless seconds Ambassador Li leaned back in his chair and slapped the table. “Ha! No wonder the lion is king of the jungle!”
    The air rushed back into the room. I glanced at my mother. Her dimples were showing.

    Something about this memory bothered me, like a tiny unreachable itch in the center of my back. It wasn’t just the way I had felt about being forced to go to yet another boring dinner. It wasn’t remembering having to gag down food I hadn’t wanted to eat. It was something else. Something important . . .
    The committee
.
    The American ambassador agrees to chair an anti-drug-trafficking committee, and three months later her daughter gets kidnapped. By drug dealers?
    I packed my grandmother’s trunk, and in it I put a
d
ead girl
.

Chapter Eight
Night One

    M Y BRUISES ACHED , and a