Chen has to go down--
he's being summoned to the underworld
to answer for some war crimes that he aided and abetted
in in a previous life.
And he pops up again, you'll see.
12.
"Our nanny called in sick today, and I stayed home with the baby
watching a tree squirrel tuck, tuck twigs and trash
into her wreck of a nest outside the kitchen window
instead of working on my translation.
'I love eyebrows,' announced Mira, crumpling her bib.
'I love napkins.
I love upstairs.'
On the radio, a woman with a Northern Irish accent
described efforts to restore various archaeological sites
in and around the provincial capital of Al Hillah,
where the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon once stood.
Speaking through an interpreter, a government official described
how the 2,600-year-old paving stones of the ancient
city's processional way had been crushed under the treads of M1
Abrams tanks.
A heliport had been constructed in the ruins.
The remains of a ziggurat which some scholars believe
may be the original site of the Tower of Babel,
however, appeared to be largely intact, for the time being.
'I love flowers.
I love fire,' Mira continued.
'I love foreheads, too.'
At some point in the day, Doctor Song left me a message.
Later that evening, I looked in the bathroom mirror
to see if I could detect any trace of infractions
from a previous life.
All I could make out was the chipped and tarnished surface
of the mirror itself flickering almost imperceptibly.
I looked again.
This time, to my relief, I saw a man dressed like a scholar
from the recent past; vintage cardigan,
thinning hair, an untenured affect of worry beyond repair.
'I love forks.
I love flags.
I love shoelaces, too.'"