To Be or Not to Be

NOTE: This article has been translated from Farsi using llama3-70b-8192 and groq

Sadeq: This is also my good luck! I have to search for two crazy people on this mountain on the First of Farvardin.

Saeed: The weather is also spring-like up here! Do you see the blossoms? The smell of spring reaches you wherever you are.

Sadeq: We were supposed to celebrate the New Year with the kids at my mom’s house. Now the kids won’t go there without me.

Saeed: How did these naive climbers report to the base?

Sadeq: How should I know? Maybe they got signal on their god-forsaken mobile phones!

Saeed: Look, the fire hasn’t got cold yet; they can’t be far from here.

Sadeq: This “not too far” could be a two–three hour walk. Don’t be too optimistic.

After about an hour and a half of walking, near sunset, the shadows of two people appeared, lying weakly on the ground.

Saeed: We finally found them.

Sadeq: Let’s hurry up and get this trouble over with; maybe I’ll make it home for the New Year’s Eve celebration.

As they approached, they saw that both were wearing black hats that covered their faces and were holding handguns, waiting. They heard the sound of two gunshots, and then – Fade out. After a while – which they couldn’t determine was days or hours – they opened their eyes in the hospital.

Sadeq: Damn it! This belief and profession of mine has only brought me trouble. If I had given up on these beliefs 15 years ago, I would have packed my bags and now I would be spending my winters in Florida and my summers in Venice. …

Saeed: Thank God. I’m still alive. I thought I had lost watching my dear Parsa grow. My heart aches for Maryam. Nurse! Nurse! …