Oliver Benjamin
“So talk, Anancy-boy.”
“Can I come in? It’s pretty awful out here.”
“I guess. Don’t touch anything.”
Niles came in and they sat at the breakfast table. Roy pulled out
a bottle of milk and a bag of little chocolate donuts. He offered some
to Niles but the Rastafarian begged off, citing lactose intolerance and
basic respect for his own body.
“Suit yourself,” Roy said, drinking from the bottle.
“Roy, I’ve got some bad news,” Niles said.
“You’ve come to the right place. This is the Bad News Network.”
“There’s no more coffee. Blue Mountain High Import Company
has been issued a cease and desist order. Some legal action is
pending against them. My guess is it’s foul play on Bidden’s part.
Regardless, your river’s good as dammed.”
Hoses of white liquid shot out of each of Roy’s nostrils. One hit
Niles squarely in the chest, the other, Roy’s cat Sheba. Sheba licked
herself, both annoyed and gleeful.
Roy dropped his head onto the plate of little chocolate donuts. All
told, it could have been worse. He could have been eating something
greasy. The donuts were cool and pillowy.
“But that’s why I came. I thought of something,” Niles said.
Roy looked up from his donuts. There was always something.
“Look, I know you think Blue Mountain is the best coffee in the
world. But I told you that the Rastafari who actually live there and
pick those beans disagree with you.”
“So what? You also told me you Rastafarians don’t drink coffee.
So how would they know quality from crap?”
“Because the way we see it, Ethiopia is the earthly paradise.
Because it’s the origin. Then things fall apart. Look at your bible.
Everything was perfect in the beginning of the world until evil slowly
crept in and ruined it. But if we could go back…”
“You can never go back,” Roy said. “I hate to break it to you,
Niles, but Ethiopia is no longer a paradise.”
“Maybe. Maybe most of it’s ruined. But there could still be small
bits of paradise left over. It just takes a little looking. Seek and you
shall find it.”
Roy shrugged. “Look Niles, I don’t believe the bible, and I don’t
believe your Rasta nonsense,” Roy leveled, “But there’s a little truth
in what you say. Ethiopia does have the widest diversity of wild coffee
strains in the world. And many of them have been untapped. If you
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