They gaze a second in amazement, then collapse in laughter and a chatter of Dinka. One backs up a step, just to watch the doors obey this invisible command. One way or another, the Lost Boys have spent their lives adapting. Dinka are tall men with skin the color of Lake Champlain slate. Men name each cow, sing songs to them, use them for barter.
Boys dig clay and make their own toy cows.
War destroyed this world. Sudan's government is controlled by Muslim northerners who have waged relentless war on the Christian and animist tribes of the south, slaughtering their cattle, burning their homes. Women and children pay the price. Deng was 8, a little boy caring for his family's herd of goats, when government soldiers attacked. He ran into the forest and lost his mother in the confusion.