Martoons

Cast of characters

Max

Fred

Damion

*

“We Koreans often joke about love triangles.” Max pointed to one apex. “This one – Thomas. He like Coffee Lady very much.”

“He had – how you say – crush on her? And she really, really like him too.”

The next apex: “This person – Foreigner Number Two.”

“As I just said, he had obsession with Coffee Lady but it was – we Koreans say – ‘one-sided love’.”

Max sipped his coffee.

“Foreigner Number Two was a very good customer so of course Coffee Lady was very polite to him but I think he wanted something more. Money can’t buy love.”

With a curious raised eyebrow and a sense of mild amusement, Fred asked if the foreigner in question was Damion.

“Oh!” Max exclaimed and then chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. You know him too?”

Max used his finger to smudge out the sugary triangle shape.

A strange silence engulfed the office. Fred sipped his coffee and suddenly remembered why he’d paid this visit to Max – to check out the rumour about Central Institute closing.

Before the question could roll off his tongue, however, Max got a call on his cell phone.

* Who do you think is calling? *

“Oh,” he said to Fred while putting his hand on the speaker, “You won’t believe who this – Meesta Thomassa!”

He went excitedly back to his call.

“Yeah? Maybe you visit Chinju next time?” While talking, Max was cut off by a second cell ringing in his other pocket. “Just a moment, Thomas.”

He flipped open the second cell.

Down the street and outside Coffee Lady’s café.

Dame’s mood had dampened and his notion of going to the university village just wasn’t doing anything for him.

He was low on cash, which meant he’d have to bus it out there and that thought repulsed him.

If I’m doing anything tonight, it’s got to be somewhere where I can walk.

Maybe there was something he could do right in this neighborhood.

From inside a phone booth, if he shifted angles, he could actually see the flashing sign atop Max’s pool hall.

He could always procure some ‘services’ on his tab, so cash wouldn’t be a problem.

He fished for a few coins in his pocket and dialed the Maxster.

* What are these ‘services’? *

 “Ho ho!” Max now juggled two portable phones. He looked at Fred and lowered his voice: “It’s Damion!”

“I never talk to three waygooks at one time – you, Thomas and him!”

He told Damion to wait and then wrapped up his call with Thomas. “Yeah, yeah, see you soon Thomas. I hope you can visit.”

* Will Thomas be able to come back and visit soon? *

Max was then more serious and businesslike with Damion, almost like a humble servant.

“Thank you for calling, Sir,” Max said respectfully.

“I just want to let you know that Coffee Lady is exclusively available for you right now. She is waiting for you.”

“Can you see her? She is really looking forward to a meeting. I give you special deal.”

A rapid-fire outburst blared out the phone’s receiver.

Perhaps a week ago Dame would have easily bit the bait, but since his falling-out with the Caffeine Queen he’d purposely kept himself away.

And that distance had given him perspective and restored his pride.

It was clear to him now that Coffee Lady wasn’t interested in him at all; she’d only been stringing him along and perhaps taking advantage of his generosity.

But inside he wasn’t completely innocent either.

He’d been trying to sneak in the back door with her, going beyond ‘just business’ and pouring on the schmooze thick and heavy hoping that she’d fall for him.

Yet reality has a way of sorting us all out and the whole thing had fallen completely flat.

Dame had pretty much gotten over it now, a week later, and the Kwangju visit had helped him move forward.

“No more Coffee Lady!” he announced into the phone to Max.

*

Tomorrow: Fred thinks about Coffee Lady.