The broken clock says "4 TUE" and its hands point to 6:07, the time it stopped working on Aug. 4, 2020. Photo taken in 2023. (Credit: Yara Malke/L'Orient Today)
August 2023: Broken clockIt was August 2023, and the scorching late-summer sun had finally set on my friends’ Mar Mikhael apartment. We sat on the worn-out, fuzzy couch as the classic fluorescent light above us, a staple of the scant power we had nominally adjusted to, twitched and flickered.There was a knock on the door. We had not been expecting anyone. There was another knock, this time more poignant. One of us got up from the couch with a puzzled look and went to answer it.He opened the door to a young woman with a solemn expression. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. His perplexed expression suddenly gave way to a sympathetic, unguarded nod. He let her in. She said hello and walked into the apartment, slowly entering every room. She then stopped in one of the rooms, gazed out the window, and then closed the door behind her.I...
August 2023: Broken clockIt was August 2023, and the scorching late-summer sun had finally set on my friends’ Mar Mikhael apartment. We sat on the worn-out, fuzzy couch as the classic fluorescent light above us, a staple of the scant power we had nominally adjusted to, twitched and flickered.There was a knock on the door. We had not been expecting anyone. There was another knock, this time more poignant. One of us got up from the couch with a puzzled look and went to answer it.He opened the door to a young woman with a solemn expression. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. His perplexed expression suddenly gave way to a sympathetic, unguarded nod. He let her in. She said hello and walked into the apartment, slowly entering every room. She then stopped in one of the rooms, gazed out the window, and then closed the door behind...
