A boy of about eighteen mans the bar here at Backpackers during the afternoon. His name is Gosiame, which means "alright" in Setswana. It's a chill name, which makes sense because Gosiame is a laid back kid. His body is tall as if he'd been stretched from his head and his feat when he was younger. He's interested in the world but says he never wants to leave Maun. I wonder how that mixes in his head. Maybe he does want to see the rest of the world but lack of opportunity and prospects have convinced him that he is only interested in learning about it. This has lead him to reading, though. Avidly, apparently- he finished the Eragon series in a month. Well, almost finished. A German girl left him the first four books and now he wants to get his hands on the fifth. The fantasy aspect of those books appealed to him. A painter by trade, imagination will be useful to him.
He wants to start his own business. Aspirations. He reaches high. That's evident in the literary challenge he is submitting to his broken English at the moment- Anna Karenina. Heavy. He says he's enjoying it, though.
Gosiame isn't the only Maun native who enjoys reading. Old Bridge Backpacker's Lodge is named after the decades old timber and mud bridge that, fifty years ago, was the only entrance to Maun. Under the bridge, there is a small plate of debris from the crumbling of the structure where a young boy has sat for the past five days, from the middle morning to the late afternoon, devouring book after book. I would be hard pressed to keep pace with his voracious literary appetite. Though, I am attempting to quickly relieve myself of the heavy Sherlock Holmes volume which I brought with me. Gosiame says that he will take it off of my hands when I'm done.
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