“In our first year in this country town there was a lot of snow, and at night a profound silence fell over our neighbourhood. One evening I slipped out of bed, tiptoed down the stairs and pushed the curtains at the big window aside a little to look at the yellow-lit houses opposite. Now and then a car would spray up blackened snow. The neighbourhood was built in a square, with a playground where no child played . . .”

                  — VAMBA SHERIF from, The Kingdom of Sebah