 Penguin Random House Audio presents Sully by John Grisham Read for you by Dion Graham To the memory of Michael Rudell, 1943 to 2021 Not only the finest lawyer I've ever known, but a perfect gentleman and a loyal friend. Part 1 Chapter 1 In April, when Samuel Suleyman was invited to try out for the national team, he was 17 years old, stood six feet two inches tall, and was considered to be a promising point guard, known for his quickness and vertical leap, but also for his erratic passing and mediocre shooting. In July, when the team left Juba, the capital of South Sudan, for the trip to America, he was six feet four inches tall, just as quick but even more erratic handling the ball and no more accurate from the arc. He was hardly aware of his growth, which was not unusual for a teenager, but he did realize that his well-worn basketball shoes were tighter and his only pair of pants now fell well above his ankles. But back in April, when the invitation arrived, his neighborhood erupted in celebration. He lived in Lota, a remote village on the outskirts of Rumback, a city of 30,000. He had spent his entire life in Lota, doing little more than playing basketball and soccer. His mother, Beatrice, was a homemaker with little education, like all the women in the village. His father, Ayak, taught school in a two-room open-air hut built by some missionaries decades earlier. When Samuel wasn't pounding the basketball in the dirt courts throughout the village, he tended to the family's garden with his younger siblings and sold vegetables beside the road. For the moment, life in the village was good and fairly stable. Another brutal civil war was in its second year with no end in sight, and though daily life was always precarious, the people managed to make it through the day and hope for better things tomorrow. The children lived in the streets, always bouncing or kicking a ball, and the games offered a welcome diversion. Since the age of 13, Samuel had been the best basketball player in the village. His dream, like every other kid, was to play college ball in America and, of course, make it to the NBA. There were several South Sudanese players in the NBA, and they were God-like figures back home. When the news of his invitation spread through the village, neighbors began gathering in front of the Suleyman's thatched roof hut. Everyone wanted to celebrate Samuel's breathtaking news. Ladies brought pictures of cinnamon tea spiced with ginger and jugs of tamarin juice. Others brought platters of sugar-coated cookies and peanut macaroon. Complete. Ready to continue?