Burmese maze 1
Chapter One 1886 The sun blasts through the shuttered window casting strips of darkened shadow across the pale wall, pock-marked with mould , splashes ancient and new in various shades of black. A metal cross on one bare wall is caught in the rays of the sun sending shafts of golden light at diagonals to each corner of this quiet cell. Quiet, save for the never-ending tick, tick, ticking of the crickets outside, and in the distance, across the quadrangle, the soft hum of women’s voices in a holy chant. It was this ethereal sound that seems to ride in on the back of the hot sunshine that disturbs little William from his sleep. He lifts his head with its soft red curls gingerly from the pillow, on which he has spent a restless night. So many worries for one so young. Willie, as he is to become affectionately known by the nuns who will go on to care for him, feels the unnatural prickle of the stiff and starchy sheet against his soft skin. He blinks, several times...