Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Max

Godzilla – Max’s assistant 

Rose

*

“Oh! You’re still here?” Max said. “Is Mr Go okay?”

Fred nodded. “Yeah, he’s feeling better now, thanks to you and your friend. He’s off to the countryside to see his parents.”

“If I had known I would have said goodbye to him,” Max lamented.

“Unfortunately, maybe he has negative feeling toward me because of his recent business difficulties but my feeling is not bad. I like him very much.”

“Max, I should thank you again for keeping me posted on Thomas – you know, even before I came to Korea.”

“And of course you gave Thomas all kinds of help.”

“Ah yeah no problem.” Max breathed in through his teeth and reflected. “I think it is very difficult for foreigners in this country.”

“It is good for a foreigner to have many Korean friends.”

“Thomas was a customer at my pool hall as well as my best friend. Someday I will visit him in Canada. How is he now?”

“Great as far as I know but the last time I saw him was about a month ago at Coffee Lady’s café and we only talked for a few minutes.”

Max leaned a bit closer to Fred and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Fred, if you ever get lonely, talk to me okay? I have many lovely ladies to keep you company.

“Maybe their Englishy is not good but they are very friendly and polite. And don’t worry; it is – how you say – on the house!”

Max laughed wholeheartedly and turned to his chunky chum who was submersed up to the nipples beside him in the super hot tub.

“Oh, Mr Fred! Did you meet my assistant? His nickname – Godzilla.”

Fred and Godzilla exchanged nods. Fred seemed to recall seeing him in Max’s pool hall. 

“After this sauna,” Max said, “if you want to eat rice with us – I will introduce you to one of my other female employees. She is a very nice lady.”

Fred chuckled. “It’s okay Max. I am not interested. But thanks anyway.”

“No no!” Max said with a huge, slightly embarrassed smile and vigorously waving him off.

“Not as a client! Just an ordinary introduction. Maybe she knows you anyway.”

* Do Fred and this lady already know each other? *

Fred agreed and was glad now to have something to do for the evening.

He was slow changing again and when he arrived in the lobby, Max’s female employee was standing with them.

Fred had usually found Korean women shy and uncomfortable at introductions but in this case the woman seemed more at ease.

“She says she met you before,” Max said.

* Who is it? *

“Oh,” Fred said. Her hairstyle had changed but … “Rose! Cleaning Lady’s Daughter!”

She nodded to Fred but quickly broke eye contact and bowed her head.

The four of them walked down the street to a small restaurant run by Max’s friend.

On the way, while Max and Godzilla resumed their intense discussion, Fred kept stealing glances at Rose, more out of curiosity than anything because he really didn’t know anything about her.

She was chronically shy and never spoke.

He wanted to make up for that recent disastrous evening when he’d encountered her and that drunk male quarreling outside the Hollywood Inn.

And deeper down, still bugging Fred was that first-night faux pas at Mrs Won’s when he’d clumsily rejected Rose’s offering of freshly sliced apple.

Since then, every time he saw an apple he thought of that little uncomfortable encounter.

After a few swigs of soju and a dozen attempts to make eye contact with her, Fred finally blurted out: “Hello Rose! Hello Rose!”

Either she didn’t hear him or ignored him.

* Which do you think it is? *

Fred waved his hands in front of her eyes. “Earth to Rose…”

Max nudged her and said something; she mumbled something back and Max relayed it:

“She says you rescued her some weeks ago from a belligerent man who was intimidating her at the Chinju Rotary. She will never forget that.”

“At the time, she might have seemed ungrateful but she is very thankful. She hopes you were not injured by that man.”

*

Tomorrow: Fred converses with Rose before making his way home for the night.