These Dreams of You

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Viv says, “I’m not so sure.”

“I have news,” he says. “In a way it’s bad news and in another way. . ”

“What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is that the woman we have been trying to find is dead.” He takes from his back pocket the photograph and hands it to her. “But the other news is that she almost certainly is not your daughter’s mother. So it means that your daughter’s mother may still be alive. It also means that there is no answer to your question at the moment, and that now it is a harder question than ever to answer.”

Viv looks at the photo as well as she can make it out in the dark of the room and the light of the small candle. “How did she die?” Viv says. The woman is young though hardly a girl; in the dark of the cavern she doesn’t look like Sheba, nor will she on the hotel balcony the next morning when Viv looks at the photo again in the light of day.

“That’s not certain but it’s not important,” the journalist answers, “she is not the woman you look for.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s better that I don’t answer this,” the journalist explains sympathetically, “it may even be better for your daughter, if she were to return to Ethiopia someday.”

“I’m sure someday she’ll want to come back.”