Found in the Bin: Two Jews on a Train

The opening of “The Ring,” one of 22 stories in Adam Biro, “Two Jews on a Train:"

At the Baghdad Market, a long time ago, right after the birth of duodecimal Shi’ism, in the time of the Abbassids, during the reign of Harun al-Rachid, before Saddam Hussein (“the People’s Benefactor”), before Hasan al Bakr (“the Good”), before Marshall Aref (“the Gentle”), before General Kassem {“the Lover of Peace”), before Abd Allah (“the Wise”), before Rashid’Ali (“the Beloved”), before Faysal II (‘the Friendly”), before Rhazi I (‘the Merciful”), before Ghazi (“the Friend of the Oppressed”), and before Aysal I (“the Shield of the Weak”), there were two shopkeepers …