Akram cursed the day when he had compressed his age from seventy down to twenty, because the impotence of childhood became mixed up with the impotence of old age. Painful memories intermingled with happy ones, success united with failure, and marriage united with divorce. Laughter mixed with tears, and friends and enemies were fused in the same melting pot. The borders between positives and negatives disappeared. The magical influence of time that heals pains and calamities vanished into nothingness. And so, deciding to enjoy his true age, Akram undid the compression of time.
Translated by C.J. Collins and Osama Alomar
