Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads, where in every episode I handpick

a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

And today we are bringing you part two of the merchant and the alchemist's gate.

This from Exhalation by Ted Chang published by Penguin Random House Audio, an imprint of

Penguin Publishing Group.

If you've just arrived on this episode, please make sure you go back and listen to the

previous one because otherwise I'm afraid this one won't make a whole lot of sense.

For those of you who did listen to part one, welcome back.

And let's just take a moment to remember what happened last episode, shall we?

After the story takes place in an ancient Baghdad, our narrator, Fawad, is recounting stories

for the Khalif, the ruler.

He has told of a shopkeeper named Bashrat who practices alchemy and this shopkeeper has

created a portal for time travel, quickly demonstrating it for Fawad and then telling him

several stories of how his customers have gone through this gate.

We heard of Hassan, the rope maker, who spoke with and acted on the instructions of

his future self, digging up a treasure that would make him a wealthy man.

And we heard about Ajib, the weaver, who stole his future self's savings and thus closed

the loop that was predestined for him.

We return to the story here.

Fawad says that the older version of Hassan, the rope maker, never came to visit the shopkeeper

again but that another visitor came and told him another story about Hassan, one that he

...