horrible pay and treatment of laborers whose nimble fingers picked
the tea, chocolate, spices and coffee for the wealthy of the world.
“You see, every cup you sell keeps this system in place,” Martin
said. “No offense. I don’t mean that it’s your fault. It’s the system.”
“No, actually,” Roy grunted at the weight, “It is my fault.”
Martin tried to console him, “You’re just one man. What can you
do? People want coffee, and someone’s got to give it to them.”
Roy huffed as he hefted. “No. You don’t understand, Martin. This
isn’t about my little coffeeshop. I’m talking about Biddenbrooks. It’s
a monster. And I helped make it that way.” He strained, but could
summon no more strength and let go. The iron plates fell with a loud
clank against the others below it. Everyone in the room immediately
looked over at him. There was something in their eyes that suggested
he get back to work immediately. Children needed saving. What was
his pain compared to theirs?
3. Teeth
Roy and Ellie laid together one afternoon on his father’s old bed,
examining each other’s limbs. They were both hairless and so lean
that had they been stranded in the desert together, neither would
have survived long to go look for help.
Ellie was telling Roy about an evolutionary theory which
postulated that the reason humans had a layer of fat and no body hair
was because there had been a long period in their development when
they lived in water. In water, a slick body moves more efficiently and
the fat keeps it warm. That was why water mammals were slippery
and chubby like humans.
“So what about us, then?” Roy said, sliding his long fingers along
the exposed ridge of Ellie’s hipbone. She was smooth but not
insulated. There was just enough softness there to protect against the
tender collisions of his own lank body, not enough to keep out the
cold.
“Maybe some of us evolved in lakes of warm coffee,” he joked,
“That would be ourparadise.”
She laughed. “Well, our aquatic stage was supposed to have
happened at Danakil lake in your homeland. That’s pretty close to
where coffee originated.”
“Lake? Danakil is a desert. The people who live there chop off
ABYSSINIA
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