Martoons

Today: Dame gets generous and gives a gift – but something smells !

Cast of characters

Damion

Some Korean university seniors

Scene: Soju tent at Chinju Rotary

*

As Damion stood outside his soju tent here amongst the village of other orange-tarped makeshift drinking shelters – the din of laughing, chatting and clinking soju glasses coming from inside – he fished his pack of smokes out.

“Shit! Only one left…” he muttered.

The annoyance put him on edge.

He unconsciously liked the security blanket of being stocked with cancer sticks.

So now was a time for a little will power.

He’d need this last coffin nail later, so he bravely slid the crumpled package back in his jacket.

He stepped into the nearby blue rocket and drained his bladder.

Back in the soju tent, the seniors had ordered up another bottle of soju but Damion surprised them – and himself – by declining.

It was a rare situation: He was a bundle of nerves.

“You boys have your nightcap,” he said standing by the table, “I actually have to get going. I want to surprise someone with a little gift.”

* What is this ‘gift’? *

He pointed over to where he’d been sitting and a senior handed him the shoebox-sized package wrapped in brown paper.

It had been there all evening and he’d fended off inquiries about it by saying it was a “gift for a loved one.”

“Maybe …gift for … Copy Lady?” one senior suggested.

Dame reflected and bought into the story.

“Yeah, sure. I like that.”

He high-fived the senior as the latter downed his soju shot.

“Sure, it’s a gift for my Caffeine Wench – indirectly.”

*What is Dame’s gift really intended to achieve?*

He flicked his eyebrows up and down to indicate he was up to something.

The seniors knew it was a situation where they shouldn’t ask.

They trusted their boss.

Whatever devilish deed he was up to was okay with them.

Damion tucked the wrapped box under his arm and headed for the tent exit.

“Don’t get up guys,” he said as the seniors in Korean style elevated themselves to see him off.

“Sit, sit. Unnecessary to see me out. Relax, boys. You’re worth it.”

They planted themselves back down humbly after a polite, respectful bow.

Out of the corner of their eyes – making sure Damion didn’t see them! – they carefully observed the boss as he made his way to the exit where the Soju Ajumma had her cash bowl.

Alas!

Damion paid for the whole shot again.

Don’t get them wrong – they didn’t take it for granted.

In fact, once when they tried to pay, Damion was so indignant there was almost a fist fight.

So they just backed down and let him pay – every single night.

It wasn’t about money.

It was about his love for young Korean men.

He sometimes wondered what he would have turned out like if he’d never been adopted by Canadians.

Likely a gangster or criminal; and given his moody personality, he likely would have been long dead by now.

But if – and it was a big if – if things had turned out differently and he had grown up here, the university seniors were what he would have wanted to be like.

So his kindness and generosity toward them knew no bounds.

Dame was, in their mind, a model teacher, wise man, community leader – someone who truly took their education to heart, even if his methods were unconventional.

They’d told him he should open his own Englishy school.

He’d told them he already had institutes all over the area – just pick any orange soju tent on any given night!

Class was in session between midnight and 6 a.m.

Dame weaved his way through the tent flap and out into the dawn again.

The day was a little lighter now but still dim enough to preserve the shadowy aura of what was about to happen.

* What is about to happen? *

He hailed a cab and instructed the driver to proceed quickly to Central Institute, the back alley entrance.

Moments later, as the silver economy car speedily turned onto the last back alley, Damion had sudden reservations.

It was natural for one’s conscience to question oneself, he felt, but he refused to give in to this natural sentimentality and guilt.

“What’s going to happen is going to hurt me more than it is you Thomas. But we just can’t go on like this. I can’t. You can’t.

“And it’s tearing Coffee Lady apart. One of us has to go. So long my friend.”

*

Tomorrow: Damion executes his devious plan.