"As a Korean, I didn't think the Thais measured up to me," she says, sitting down on her heels in a posture Rafferty has never been able to attain. "And now here I am, twelve years later, slowly turning Thai and delighted about it. And it makes me think about Caliban."
Rafferty says, "Ah," and Miaow says, "Why?"
"We don't like Caliban. We're not supposed to. Shakespeare doesn't like him. Caliban is the only non-European on the island, except for Ariel, who's clearly an upper-class spirit, almost English. But Caliban… well, Caliban is definitely not English, and Prospero treats him like a dog."
Miaow says, "And he's…" She falters and puts both hands on the table.
"He's what?" Mrs. Shin asks.
Miaow shakes her head. "I'm not smart like you."
"You're one of the smartest children I've ever known," Mrs. Shin says.
Miaow's mouth opens at the praise and stays open. She looks as if she's just been hit on the head.
"So what is it?" Mrs. Shin prompts. "What else is Caliban?"
Miaow grabs a breath and plunges in. "He's the only one who doesn't get off."
Rafferty says, "By 'get off,' you mean-"
"Nobody forgives him. Prospero forgives everybody, even after they tried to kill him and his daughter. He sets Ariel free. But nobody forgives Caliban."
Rafferty and Mrs. Shin sit there looking at Miaow. Then Mrs. Shin says, "Miaow, I am so happy you're in this play."
Miaow says, "Really?" She's blushing.
"Really, totally, completely, one hundred percent, absolutely. But why doesn't Prospero forgive Caliban?"
"He tried to fool around with Miranda," Miaow answers. "She says so herself."
"Actually," Mrs. Shin says, "I think we may take that speech away from Miranda."
Miaow starts to smile but whisks the expression out of sight. She's deeply envious of Siri Lindstrom, the Scandinavian-goddess-in-waiting who's playing the magician's daughter and who gets all the production's beautiful gowns. Behind the envy, Rafferty thinks, Miaow is half in love with Siri. If Miaow had her most secret wish, she'd be blond, blue-eyed, willowy, and named Siri Lindstrom.
"But Siri loves it," Miaow says piously. "It's the only time Miranda says anything interesting."
"She's got lots of scenes," Mrs. Shin says.
"Yeah, but they're all sappy." Miaow clasps her hands together in front of her chest. " 'Oh, Ferdinand, Ferdinand.' "
"Siri will be fine, Mia," Mrs. Shin says. "Every play needs a love story."
"I'd rather whoosh around doing magic," Miaow says.
"Well, you've got the right part. And look at you. You figured out, all by yourself, what the play is really about." Mrs. Shin sits back on her heels, looking pleased.
"What?" Miaow asks, as though she suspects a quiz. "What's it about?"
"Forgiveness. It's about the healing power of forgiveness. And do you know why I think Prospero doesn't forgive Caliban at the end of the play? Because Prospero doesn't understand Caliban."
Howard Horner's face flashes into Rafferty's mind. "That's a very liberal attitude."
"Well, I believe it. I believe it's impossible to hate anyone you understand. Don't you feel the same way?"
Rafferty's pause is all the cue Mrs. Shin needs. "Well, perhaps not. But I'm the director and you're the condenser, so you have to help me make this work."
Rafferty says, "At the end. We could do something at the end. After everybody's gone, maybe Caliban becomes more human."
Mrs. Shin has a habit of squinting at nothing when she's thinking about the stage. "Could be. Let's ponder it." She sticks out her lower lip, completely unaware she's doing it, and then she turns to Miaow. "I've got something for you."
"For me?"
"And it solves a problem. A problem with Ariel. Mia, think about the stage direction in the play just before you do the 'Full fathom five' speech. The one that says 'Enter Ariel, invisible.' Have you wondered how we're going to do that?"
"Well, sure," Miaow says. "I mean, how can the audience see me if I'm invisible? And if they can see me, how do they know I'm invisible?"
"That's the problem," Mrs. Shin says. "Let me show you how we're going to solve it." She pushes herself back on her haunches and rises effortlessly with a grace that Rafferty, whose legs have gone numb, can only envy. "Maybe I thought of this because you're so bright. I'll be right back."
She goes past the kitchen and into the hallway to the rear of the apartment, and Miaow leans over to Rafferty and says, "I know who you were thinking about. When she said about understanding the people you-"
"Well, let's keep it to ourselves, okay?"
"Jeez," Miaow says, pulling back, all the happiness gone. "I'm not stupid."
"Miaow, I didn't say you were-"
"Mia," Miaow says in a sharp whisper. "My name is Mia."
"How about giving me a little time with that? You've been Miaow the whole time I've known you, so just let me have a few weeks-"
"It's been a few weeks. It's been a few months."
"Well, I need a few more. I actually have some other stuff on my mind."
"Look at this," Mrs. Shin calls from the hallway, although they can't see her yet. "No, wait. Mia, go turn on the overhead lights. That's the switch right inside the door."
Miaow gets up and hits the switch, and the apartment brightens somewhat.
"Okay," Mrs. Shin says, "look here."
She comes into the room with something hanging over her open fingers, a glittering strip about ten inches long and six inches wide. It flashes when it catches the halogen lights recessed in the ceiling.
Still at the light switch, Miaow narrows her eyes and says, "What is it?"
"Look at yourself," Mrs. Shin says proudly. "Well, I know you can't actually look at yourself, but feel how you're squinting to see what it is? That's what everyone's going to do." She comes to the table and holds out the glittering hand, and Rafferty sees that the strip is made up of rectangles of mirrored plastic, each about two inches square. Small holes have been bored in each side and white thread passed through the holes so the squares could be sewn together.
"This is your cloak of invisibility," Mrs. Shin says. "Bigger, obviously. It'll hang from your shoulders to the floor, and we'll put a couple of white spotlights on you. You'll just be a dazzle, a sort of moving sparkle."
"Ohhhh," Miaow says, coming to the table. Rafferty hasn't seen her face this open and this rapt in months. "It's beautiful."
"Siri's going to want it," Mrs. Shin says, and then she laughs. "But it's all yours."
Miaow reaches out and passes her fingertips over the surface of the mirrors. She swallows before she speaks. "A sparkle. I'll be a sparkle."
"You're already a sparkle, Mia. That's why you're playing Ariel."
A deep flush darkens Miaow's face, and she quickly looks down at the table. Rafferty watches the reaction with a twinge of jealousy. It's been a while since anything he said or did made his daughter this happy.
"Oh, I hoped you'd be pleased." Mrs. Shin gives Miaow the strip of mirrors, and Miaow turns it over in her hand.
"You're good," Rafferty says.
"They deserve good," Mrs. Shin says. "They're wonderful kids. And it's a wonderful play. An enchanted island, spirits, a magical storm, a shipwreck, revenge turning into forgiveness. How could you not love it?"
"I'll work on Caliban."
"Please. You know, there's one clue that Shakespeare might have known that Caliban had a better side than the one we see, although you have to look at the play on the page to find it. He speaks in verse, Caliban does. The clowns speak in prose, but Caliban speaks verse, and he's got that beautiful speech about waking up from good dreams and wishing he could dream again."