Martoons

Cast of characters

Thomas

*

Upon rising the next morning bright and early, all Thomas could smell was garlic.

His hands, forearms, and any other part of his body that he could extend up to his nose reeked of it.

He sat with his legs crossed in a lotus position and strained his neck down as low as he could to get a whiff of his feet.

Garlic.

His stomach was grumbling like a grouchy old grandmother as he got up and peered out his apartment window. Mass chaos.

Must be some kind of market going on. Old ladies running every which way.

Thomas had to get out there and get something to eat though. He was starving.

And he didn’t have much time.

He instinctively sensed that the moment Mr Go arrived, he wouldn’t get to eat for a while.

As low on energy as he was, if he didn’t get something down the hatch he’d be dysfunctional. His bloodshot eyes scanned desperately.

Convenience store.

Right across the street! With his stomach issuing orders, he scooted over and inside the store discovered an entire wall of Korean instant bowl noodles, and they were dirt cheap.

All that was needed was boiling water and five minutes’ worth of patience.

He whipped up his first ever bowl right in the store. After this dose of the tasty snack, he used body language to indicate to the convenience store owner,

“Me buy case, okay? Big case – noodles. Whole case I want. Okay?”

The owner was glad to oblige and hurried into the back, bringing out a 12-pack of the noodles and selling them to the vulnerable foreigner for retail price.

“Only cost that much?” Thomas asked, unfamiliar with Korean price levels.

“Yeah, yeah,” the owner said, shoeing him away after the sale.

“In that case give me a second 12-pack!”

The owner cheerily obliged. After bringing out the second big box and thumping it down on the counter, Thomas was basically on his knees thanking him.

“No nessissally (necessary),” the owner said. “Eat many many. Enjoy. Welcome Kolea (Korea). Bye bye.”

He shoed him away again and retreated to the back of his store.

Thomas’ stomach wouldn’t let him leave yet, though.

He cooked up a second bowl of noodles and finished slurping it down just as Go’s car pulled up across the road to pick him up for work.

Thomas quickly rushed out of the store with his noodle cases slung over his shoulder.

Go was amused at the noodle purchase, but allocated for storage a cupboard high up in the little kitchenette-type vestibule at the institute.

After every class Thomas would race into the vestibule to cook a bowl.

He made a big dent in the first carton over the first few days. It was day three when the train went off the rails.

* What happened on day three? *

Around mid-day he’d polished off the first case and was all ready to take the box out, break it down and make a trip out back to the dumpster.

That would take about five minutes so that when he got back his fresh steaming bowl of noodles would be sufficiently swelled and ready for inhaling.

He removed the first bowl from the second carton but was struck that it was … too light? Actually, not too light. Empty.

* How could it be empty? *

He then noticed that someone had adeptly used an exacto-knife to cut the foil lid off the bowl, remove the contents, and re-attach the lid!

And they’d done it to about half the bowls in the carton.

After a bit of checking, Thomas figured out that Go was the noodle nabber and this was the first inkling of the boss’s financial troubles.

*

Tomorrow: Sleep begins a scandal.