wanted to look for a really unusual coffee you’d have to go there. But
that doesn’t mean it would be better.”
“Why not? People all over the world love coffee. But it’s all the
same genetically, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Almost all of it comes from a single plant smuggled across
the Atlantic from Louis XIV’s nursery.”
“Exactly. It’s like some big totalitarian nightmare. Babylon, and
on.”
“So what are you suggesting? I go to Ethiopia and look for the
tree of knowledge?”
“Not the tree of knowledge,” Niles said, “We’ve already got that
one. I’m talking about the fruit from the tree of life. There were two
trees in the garden.”
“Two trees?”
“Yes. One gave you the knowledge of good and evil, the other
gave you eternal life.”
“Come on,” Roy said dismissively, “You’re being ridiculous.”
“All I mean is, you find the best coffee in the world, Roy, and
you’ll have your legacy. It will make you immortal.”
Roy sat quietly and played with the thread Niles spun before him.
Was it only a disjointed stream-of-ganjaness? He began to feel strung
up like a fly in a deceptively strong and silken strand. The original
coffee, Roy wondered. The ur-bean. Could he believe in such a thing?
He had once been an incorrigible idealist and an undisciplined
disciple of the muse.
“Hold on a second,” Roy said, suddenly, “You’re not trying to get
me out of the picture so you can have Sprout all to yourself?” Roy
said, flakes of chocolate donut falling from his scrunched-up
forehead.
Niles gave him the same weary look he normally reserved for
Partment. “She went home with Colin last night. Nobody can have
that girl all to themselves. Her cup runneth over.”
Yes, thought Roy. But could there ever be a vessel worthy to
contain her?
“I’m sorry,” Niles said.
“It’s okay,” he replied, “Thanks for the suggestion. But my
traveling days are over.”
The two men entered Undergrounds through the back passage. A
sight they’d never seen before made them stop and say, “Holy shit.”
ABYSSINIA
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