Danoli didn’t realize it was a fence until he he tried to push through its mesh of green leaves.  Thorns pricked him, tearing his clothes, scratching his face and arms.  He tried again a few feet away where the undergrowth seemed a little less dense.  The result was the same, though.  Defeated, he backtracked, trudging the long way around.

At home, his mother chided him when she saw his ripped clothes.   “Don’t you go getting yourself in trouble here like you did in Seco, Danoli.  This is a fresh start for you…for us.  Don’t ruin things.”

“What is that place?” he asked at school the next day.

“Which place?” asked a boy called Johnnes.

“The place with all those tall trees and that thick bunch of bushes.

Eyes rolled.  “Don’t go there,” Johnnes said.  Then, “You don’t want to go there.”

That made Danoli all the more determined.

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