Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Donna

A Korean man on the bus

*

Fred Meets Mr Kang            

“So Miss No, from what I overheard, is going to deport Thomas,” Donna said. “She’s going to try to do it today but Thomas’ only saving grace is the holiday.”

“Immigration might be hard to get a hold of today. She might have to wait until next week.”

* Will Miss No succeed in getting Thomas deported? *

“I’ll go and see Thomas in person.” Fred replied over the phone. “I will warn him about all this. At least he won’t be blindsided.”

“When are you going?”

“Now. I’ll head to the bus terminal right after this call.”

“I know Mr Kang is at his institute today and so is Thomas. Miss No was arguing with him over the phone. But who knows how long he’ll be there.”

“That’s why I’m going to make it quick.”

“Actually, if you go down and come back today, you’ll beat the mad rush tomorrow when the whole country will start filing back from the holiday.”

*

Out on the road, traffic was indeed bumper-to-bumper but moving along nicely. Fred mused, As long as nobody in this whole chain slams on their breaks!

His visit with Thomas would be short and sweet but it felt good to be going somewhere on his own. Koreans do almost everything in groups.

Fred found it fun to a point but would get claustrophobic.

He needed a solo venture once and a while – that was the Canadian in him yearning to get out.

He sat up straight in his seat and stretched while his bus sped up and embedded itself deeper into the thick traffic.

Then he sat back, adjusted the seat’s incline, and nestled the nape of his neck into the contour of the head rest.

*

He felt a nudge and came-to.

“Ulsan city,” a similarly-aged Korean man sitting beside him said.

Fred realized he’d dozed off for several hours and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. The guy beside nudged him again and Fred shifted his gaze over.

The guy was pointing out the window to a giant yet plain, whitewashed concrete statue.

“Industrial Monument,” he declared, “Ulsan’s most well-known landmark.”

It stood tall in the centre of a large traffic rotary, which the bus was presently entering. Fred felt the flash of child-like excitement that comes with being on an excursion.

As the bus zoomed around the big circle, he saw that the rotary was like a hydra with five tentacle-like busy feeder roads.

“These rotaries are a great idea,” he said. “Faster than traffic lights.”

The guy waved him off. “Usually – no. Today nobody here. Korean full moon holiday – you know? Usually this rotary jammed solid and traffic slithers along like giant slug.”

Fred nodded with a raised eyebrow. “You live here?”

“Before – born and raised here but left town chasing jobs. A long time ago my grandparents and parents were rice farmers at the outskirts of this city, close to the sea.”

He chuckled. “It was only a town back then. We’re talking the 1950s and 60s. They lived where Hyundai Motors is now.

“They and thousands of others were forced off their land into apartments in town here. So these days I visit them on holidays.”

He shook his head. “Funny to think that this city used to be a rice field. Can’t even imagine it now. Was it all a dream?”

Fred eyed-up the Industrial Monument again. It seemed to symbolize glory, balance, strength and permanence, but did so in a very humble way.

A spark of optimism struck him and he was already glad to have made this trip. The weather was cool and sunny.

This city had a completely different, hardened and almost indifferent feel from the small, cozy Chinju.

The buildings here were bigger, newer and cleaner; the streets were wider and the blocks were very long.

And the whole place seemed to be built out of concrete. Fred instantly nicknamed it the City of Grey.

*

Tomorrow: Fred takes note of his surroundings and finds his way to Thomas’ Englishy school.