These Dreams of You

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The day after she visits Sheba’s family, the driver takes Viv deeper into the city than she’s been. The Entoto Hills loom to the north. Taxis blue and white like the umbrellas around the hotel pool fill the roads, and a plume of smoke rises from the Meskel Square where Viv sees a burning pyramid. They’ve been driving half an hour when they park the car in a neighborhood at the city’s center. The driver leads Viv by foot down a series of winding, narrow stone steps into a labyrinth of tunnels and bridges, lined by high walls covered with moss, to the deepest root of the eucalyptopolis.