Entry One

The main character is Shorty, a 15 year old Haitian boy who was in a hospital for a gunshot he took.   Shorty is part of a gang named Route 9 Another character is Toussaint, a character that Shorty imagines while he is in a coma.  I did not know about this Haitian slave so I looked to the Internet to do some research on Toussaint.  He was the leader in the Haitian Revolution.  The story takes place in a slum in Haiti (hospital).  Haiti has just been hit by an earthquake and patients around Shorty are dead.  Shorty is trapped underneath the rubble and his lack of water is making him conscious and unconscious.  When he is unconscious, his mind goes back in time to when Toussaint was alive.  The conflict is that Shorty is trapped and needs water and food.  If he was not trapped, he may not be unconscious and have flashbacks.  I have a question for the author, Nick Lake.  Why does Shorty think of Toussaint when he is sleeping?  I predict that once Shorty is cared for, he will realize that people need freedom and he will try to save many people as he can from the rubble.  I think his inspiration will be Toussaint.  I cannot think of any connections to other pieces of work.