It's a black Karoo night and a young woman, covered in blood, is running along a deserted dirt track. In her hand is a broken beer bottle. When she stops it is to vomit and then to look for water. A terrible thing has happened and the woman, Siena, has to reach Seekoegat Primary School at the end of the track, the only place she knows that is safe. It s a long way to run, a three-day ride on a donkey cart. Boetie is a boy running wild. Deprived and neglected, he is always up to mischief but his friendship with Siena gives him self -worth. When Ou Ana, his mother-figure, hits a farmer over the head with a spade he is left to survive on his own. Kriekie is a basket case. As the child of a prostitute working the truck-stops along the N1 he has no home and, like Boetie, no structure. When his mother doesn t come back, a small act of kindness by a woman running a shop at the truck-stop sees him end up at Seekoegat Primary. Carol Campbell s crisp, moving story of Siena, Boetie, and Kriekie, tells of lives intersecting, events forcing choices, and how the people we meet change our destinies.