“He’s a big guy,” Roy said to the server, “Give him two plates.”
The server did as instructed but Roy grabbed the second plate for
himself. The two men sat down at a table and began tearing into their
meals like scavenging hyenas.
“So what are you doing here?” the man asked Roy, “Visiting
family? On vacation?”
“I’m looking for the Garden of Eden,” Roy said. “Or at least the
fruit from the tree of life.”
“Oh. Of course,” the man said, unfazed, “The beginning of the
Nile.” He shoved injera in his mouth. “Genesis and all that. It’s a nice
place to put a paradise, I must say. Are you a missionary?”
“No. I’m a Falasha. An Ethiopian Jew. And you? What are you
doing here?”
“My name’s Crash. Crash Winfield. I’m an explorer. An
adventurer. I find things. I figure things out.” He flashed a grin Roy
had seen on the faces of prostitutes, door to door salesmen and other
people not completely convinced about their own product. “I’m a
writer. Or I’m trying to be. Haven’t had much success yet. But the
book I’m working on now is showing real promise.”
“A book? What’s it about? Is it a tourist guide?”
“Not exactly. Though it does boast a great admiration for the
country. I suppose you, as an Ethiopian, must realize how special
Ethiopia is.”
“I’ve been discovering it.”
“It’s the only African country that was never colonized by
Europeans—one of only five other countries in the world along with
Siam, Japan, Persia and Afghanistan. And it’s also the oldest
Christian country in the world. Throughout the ages the rest of Africa
was torn apart and put back together again repeatedly, but Ethiopia
maintained its integrity. The only indigenous African alphabet?
Ethiopic. The first African member of an international league?
Ethiopia. The only African country that ever a European one in a
battle? Ethiopia.”
“Yet the world knows it only for its poverty and famine.”
“Let them think what they like. It is the world’s ignorance of
Ethiopia that has helped preserve its culture. It has protected the
Ethiopians from the truths of things.”
“I’m sorry?” Roy said, “Protected them from what truth?”
“Well, the Solomon and Sheba myth was one. That was a story
made up by a guy named Yekuno Amlak in the thirteenth century as
ABYSSINIA
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