Black foam

Book title: Black Foam Publisher: Al-Hayat Publications Author: Haji Jaber Number of pages: 254 Haji Jaber, an Eritrean novelist, born in the coastal city of Massawa, has published five novels, and has won the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity and the Katara Prize for Arab Novel. His works have been translated into English, Italian, Persian, and Hebrew. This Saturday could have seemed very ordinary in Addis Ababa. Just like any day in December; its sky gloomy, its weather tending to cold, and its bars early preparing to welcome crowds who do not waste the weekend without pouring all their fatigue on the benches of comfort: Stella, Heineken, Guinness, Corona, Hara... and the workers’ bench: Saint George, whose popularity doubled as soon as a football team carried its name before achieving anything. That could have been the case, had it not been for what was happening at the same moment on one side of the city, giving this time of year a certain uniqueness. Five successive buses surrounded by police vans, moving along amidst light rain, from the gathering point in Masqal Square in central Addis towards the Bole suburb where the airport is located. They lined up on both muddy asphalt sides, along six kilometers, with curious, proud, and mournful farewell people. Only the last group was waving, seeing nothing but the reflection of their shattered images on the dark bus windows.