WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.009 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.009 --> 00:00:05.310 align:middle line:90% Chen has to go down-- 00:00:05.310 --> 00:00:08.700 align:middle line:84% he's being summoned to the underworld 00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:14.370 align:middle line:84% to answer for some war crimes that he aided and abetted 00:00:14.370 --> 00:00:15.870 align:middle line:90% in in a previous life. 00:00:15.870 --> 00:00:18.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:18.930 --> 00:00:23.040 align:middle line:84% And he pops up again, you'll see. 00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:23.540 align:middle line:90% 12. 00:00:23.540 --> 00:00:27.020 align:middle line:90% 00:00:27.020 --> 00:00:31.220 align:middle line:84% "Our nanny called in sick today, and I stayed home with the baby 00:00:31.220 --> 00:00:34.970 align:middle line:84% watching a tree squirrel tuck, tuck twigs and trash 00:00:34.970 --> 00:00:38.450 align:middle line:84% into her wreck of a nest outside the kitchen window 00:00:38.450 --> 00:00:42.870 align:middle line:84% instead of working on my translation. 00:00:42.870 --> 00:00:47.670 align:middle line:84% 'I love eyebrows,' announced Mira, crumpling her bib. 00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:50.040 align:middle line:90% 'I love napkins. 00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:53.850 align:middle line:90% I love upstairs.' 00:00:53.850 --> 00:00:57.090 align:middle line:84% On the radio, a woman with a Northern Irish accent 00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:00.690 align:middle line:84% described efforts to restore various archaeological sites 00:01:00.690 --> 00:01:04.200 align:middle line:84% in and around the provincial capital of Al Hillah, 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:09.760 align:middle line:84% where the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon once stood. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.870 align:middle line:84% Speaking through an interpreter, a government official described 00:01:13.870 --> 00:01:18.010 align:middle line:84% how the 2,600-year-old paving stones of the ancient 00:01:18.010 --> 00:01:22.930 align:middle line:84% city's processional way had been crushed under the treads of M1 00:01:22.930 --> 00:01:25.840 align:middle line:90% Abrams tanks. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:29.830 align:middle line:84% A heliport had been constructed in the ruins. 00:01:29.830 --> 00:01:33.280 align:middle line:84% The remains of a ziggurat which some scholars believe 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.790 align:middle line:84% may be the original site of the Tower of Babel, 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:41.380 align:middle line:84% however, appeared to be largely intact, for the time being. 00:01:41.380 --> 00:01:43.960 align:middle line:90% 00:01:43.960 --> 00:01:46.040 align:middle line:90% 'I love flowers. 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:49.210 align:middle line:90% I love fire,' Mira continued. 00:01:49.210 --> 00:01:50.440 align:middle line:90% 'I love foreheads, too.' 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:53.230 align:middle line:90% 00:01:53.230 --> 00:01:58.540 align:middle line:84% At some point in the day, Doctor Song left me a message. 00:01:58.540 --> 00:02:01.750 align:middle line:84% Later that evening, I looked in the bathroom mirror 00:02:01.750 --> 00:02:04.270 align:middle line:84% to see if I could detect any trace of infractions 00:02:04.270 --> 00:02:07.090 align:middle line:90% from a previous life. 00:02:07.090 --> 00:02:10.090 align:middle line:84% All I could make out was the chipped and tarnished surface 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:16.520 align:middle line:84% of the mirror itself flickering almost imperceptibly. 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:19.140 align:middle line:90% I looked again. 00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:23.550 align:middle line:84% This time, to my relief, I saw a man dressed like a scholar 00:02:23.550 --> 00:02:27.060 align:middle line:84% from the recent past; vintage cardigan, 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:33.540 align:middle line:84% thinning hair, an untenured affect of worry beyond repair. 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:35.760 align:middle line:90% 'I love forks. 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:37.980 align:middle line:90% I love flags. 00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:41.150 align:middle line:90% I love shoelaces, too.'"