 Penguin Random House audio presents Between everything and nothing The journey of Sadu Muhammad and Razak Yal and the quest for asylum by Joe Minow Read for you by Dionne Graham for family friends and the others we pass along the way Obinim a brim pond I hear say Nobody knows the beginning of a great man a Khan proverb The legal reporter came out of his cubicle shouting that two bodies of unidentified girls were in the city morgue Frightened I asked him what age young he said They may be refugees from the interior chased here by the regime's thugs. I sighed with relief The situation encroaches on us in silence like a bloodstain. I said The legal reporter at some distance now shouted not blood Maestro shit Gabriel Garcia Marquez Begin with sound begin with light Sadu Muhammad stands on the side of the road Unsure whether he is alive or dead beside him the frigid highway points back toward North Dakota Unbroken unchanging An abiding darkness has settled over everything There are no other cars. No trucks. No traffic the wind swallows every noise He wonders if it is better to cross at night It is less likely they will be seen. Yes, but it is so much colder Say to 24 dressed in a sweatshirt and several jackets turns and faces an empty field Covered in deep snow Intense and its whiteness leading north toward the border Somewhere on the other side of this frozen landscape is the town of Emerson, Canada beyond that freedom or other kinds of tragedy Rizaki all stands beside him staring at the barren stretch of field taking in the inconceivable distance Unsure if they should go forward or turn back The 34 year old adjusts his hat both men murmur to each other their voices captured by the biting wind Before finally descending into the field of snow In a moment it covers their feet a moment after that it is up to their knees Walk toward the light. They have been told Stay on the left side of the highway if a vehicle approaches on the right It will be the immigration patrol hide lie on the ground All you need to do is get across the border then ask for help the journey will only be one half hour Both of them keep walking searching for the lights of the border the land glistens before them But the border is nowhere in sight They glance at each other knowing they are lost, but all they Sample complete ready to continue