My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push into them and be registered. - Yann Martel

I turned around, stepped over the Zebra and threw myself overboard.

Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they've known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? ... The answer is the same the world over: people move in the hope of a better life.

Books lined the shelves of bookstores like kids standing in a row to play baseball or soccer, and mine was the gangly, unathletic kid that no one wanted on their team.