Black foam

Author: Haji Jaber Publication date: 2023 Book classification: Short stories and novels Publisher: Hayat Publications Number of pages: 253 Format: Paperback Synopsis: That Saturday could have seemed very ordinary in Addis Ababa. Just like any day in December; its sky is clear, and its weather tends to be cold, and its bars prepare early to receive crowds who do not miss the weekend without pouring all their fatigue on the benches of Estela, Heineken, Guinness, Corona, Hara... and the workers' bench: Saint George, which as soon as its name was carried by a football team, its popularity doubled before achieving anything. It could have been so, if not for what is happening at the same moment on another side of the city, giving this time of year a certain uniqueness. Five consecutive buses surrounded by police vans, moving along amidst light rain showers, from the gathering point in Meskel Square in central Addis towards the Bole suburb where the airport is located. On both sides of the muddy asphalt road, for six kilometers, curious onlookers, angry and proud, and mourners. Only the last group was waving, so all you saw were their broken reflections on the dark bus windows.