manners, bearing gifts from faraway places, like the magi who visited
the infant Jesus. According to some traditions, one of those magi had
in fact been Ethiopian, suggesting that Ethiopia enjoyed considerable
cultural and economic glory at the time. The other two wise men
were from India and Persia, the other great powers other than Rome.
But today Ethiopia and India were synonymous with poverty and
hunger, and modern Persia—Iran—had destroyed every remnant of
its former glory, choosing to go back in time rather than forward.
The bible prophecy had played itself out—the great empires had
been subsumed by the weak and youthful. The progeny of infant
Jesus crushed those of the great magi, and of course, Rome. The
Ethiopians on this plane, like the ones in his father’s shop, were
cultural descendants of that gold-bearing magus who never dreamed
his stock would fall so low. And yet, wasn’t it time for another
reversal? He considered that brown polyester flag. Could Africa come
together, the world would be a very different place. The Jews and
Muslims and Huns and Mongols had each been a collection of
warring factions until unified under the aegis of charismatic and
visionary leaders, men who conceived new orders under which they
could be united. But what worldview might unite the fractious,
superstitious Africans?
Roy shook his head violently as if trying to shake loose a tumor.
He could not believe he was sliding back into this line of thinking,
similar to the one that had driven him mad in Asia two years ago.
“Yes, the brew is very bitter,” the old man said, having witnessed
Roy’s spastic convulsion and imagining it brought on by the coffee in
his hand, “You must add plenty of cream and sugar.”
Roy looked at him in wonder, hearing echoes of a long-ago
mentor.
“It is like life, I suppose,” the man said, “This is why we strive.
For the cream and the sugar.”
Roy did not expect poetry from the flippant old man.
“And also,” he said, sketching out a female form with crooked
fingers, “for the milk and the honey!” He fell apart laughing once
more.
ABYSSINIA
214
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