Oliver Benjamin
“That’s the idea,” she laughed, soft giggles resounding with the
plash of the water. But that was not what he meant.
2. Gold Cup
Thin rivulets of rumor began to branch out radially. More and more
people stopped by to inquire about the amazing new coffee. “Come
back on Friday,” Roy told them. He hoped there would be enough for
everyone.
He had settled in well at the new location. Losing his father’s
property had been a major blow, but he knew it would only be
temporary. Once the new coffee caught on he would buy it back at
any price. But from then on it would only be his home. The business
would remain here. It was only here, on the main thoroughfare, in
plain view of the mass of humanity, that his business could survive.
The fringe may have been more idyllic, sure, but after his experience
on Deq he knew that the fringe was a superficial place to dwell. From
the rivers out of Eden grew the earliest civilizations: Mesopotamia,
Egypt, India. Likewise, the river out of Undergrounds would
engender a new territory of mind.
To help reinforce those riverbanks, Roy hardened his heart. It
was all he could do to weather the loss of both his home and of
Sprout. He too assumed the military aspect of Heck and the
Martians. He adopted the white workout-gear uniform. He engaged
in frenetic workouts. And he sent missives to Leona and Bidden,
trying to stem an insane war before serious measures were
undertaken. Neither of them could be reached.
In the 1896 battle of Adowa the Ethiopian army overthrew the
much more powerful Italians with mostly spears and shields. It was
the only time in history that an African army comprehensively beat a
European one. To this day, no one is sure how they managed.
According to the Ethiopian faithful it was the holy power of the Ark
of the Covenant that saved them. Though supremely unlikely, Roy
liked to think it was this coffee. This time it would surely be that.
Roy had no idea allies of a sort were headquartered only a few
blocks away, that in his former ancestral home the selfsame psychos
who had taken over his property were also working towards the
overthrow of Biddenbrooks, or that Partment was leading the charge.
And Partment didn’t know that his friend had found a peaceful
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