Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Mrs Won

Cleaning Lady 

Miss No

Hot Sauce

Mr Go

*

“Fred, I am very sorry. Please sit down,” said Mrs Won

They convened at the kitchen table, while Cleaning Lady frantically transferred other bedding and clothing items from Hot Sauce’s study into Fred’s room.

“Fred,” Won said, “my sister in Ulsan will soon have a baby – their first.

Cleaning Lady lives close by my house here, and my sister has asked her to help with the baby.

“So, my sister will come here for a month or two. We are going to need your room. Fred, I’m sorry.”

Fred was being evicted.

* Where will he go? *

Invoking his own ‘healthy paranoia’, he quickly surmised that it had all started after he’d disagreed with Mrs Won about keeping Hot Sauce in the dark about her father’s (Mr Kim’s) health and other problems.

Fred had never intended any disrespect to Won yet it seemed to trigger tension between them, which had slowly but steadily escalated ever since.

It was at the point now where he found it almost unbearable to be in the apartment with her at all.

She basically completely ignored him. He felt like an outsider and an intruder.

As he sat at the kitchen table pondering and withdrawn, ajumma sensed his immediate discomfort.

“It is not necessary for you to move out right now. Why don’t you stay a little longer?”

“My sister is pregnant but not expecting for a few weeks – around Christmas.”

Pre-occupied and distracted with angst about his future, Fred forced a smile. “Wouldn’t that be exciting! A baby on Christmas!”

“She would not care,” Won said drably. “She does not celebrate Christmas. She is Buddhist.”

She got up from the kitchen table, as there was work to be done. “It’s up to you, Fred. You stay as long as you like.”

* Can he really though? *

Cleaning Lady was calling from the other room.

As Won turned to leave, she said through a pasted, ear-to-ear smile, “Take as much time as you need.”

(Translation: Fred, please move out as soon as possible. Yesterday would be nice.)

“Fred,” she added blankly while walking away, “did you eat rice?”

*

Next morning, Fred was washing his hands in the men’s room at work when he heard yelling out in the hallway.

He discretely peaked out. Miss No was standing over Hot Sauce, wielding an extra large teaching stick, metal tipped.

She instructed the youth to put out her hand.

The heavy-gauged pool cue-like pointer cracked down on Hot Sauce’s knuckles and her face twisted up as she did her best to avoid showing the pain.

Even Fred squinted.

He ducked back in the men’s unnoticed and waited a few minutes.

When the terror had subsided and the hallway had cleared, he slipped out to the water machine to get a drink.

Turning back, he made an unusual spotting of Mr Go out on his little smoking balcony and immediately headed down there.

As Fred approached, he saw that Go wasn’t wearing his usual suit, but more informal work clothes.

He looked tired and had sawdust in his hair and on his shoulders.

They greeted each other and Go took a drag off his cigarette.

“Long time no see Fred,” Go said. “I miss you. I am not allowed to come here anymore – only today to do special work for Miss No.

“I install new security system in her office. She has a fear that someone may break in.”

* Who does she think is going to break in? *

Fred mentioned his concern about the corporal punishment he’d just witnessed.

Go chuckled. “It is Korean style.” He took a long inhale on his cigarette, and an even longer, reflective exhale.

“Miss No beats students out of love not hate. So it is okay. Apparently Hot Sauce has been drinking a lot of soju and smoking after hours.”

“Don’t worry – she will be okay.”

* Sounds like Hot Sauce is under a lot of stress… *

He squeezed past Fred into the hallway and gestured for him to follow.

They went upstairs to the third floor and Fred flashbacked to Dame’s hearing yesterday in this very same office.

The door had now been re-fitted with a computerized lock.

Go entered a numbered code on the keypad, the device beeped and the solenoid clicked.

He opened the door and led Fred in. No’s desk now had a big TV on it, a VCR beside that and a pile of neatly stacked videotapes.

“Ayeesh!” Go muttered and then spoke in a low voice: “Miss No’s favorite TV show – ‘Tears of Dragon.’ It is about Korean royal family in days gone by.”

He peered over to the door to make sure no one was there. “I think in previous life she was born into royalty and been a real Korean queen.”

He motioned for Fred to follow him and they went down to the 2^ndfloor staff room.

Go proudly pointed to an entire wall of newly installed TV monitors: Twelve total – four by three.

“This was very difficult to install. So many coloured wires and connections. Ayeesh! I have headache.”

He chuckled but suddenly his gaze was diverted to several waist-high stacks of freshly printed material sitting in the corner of the staff room.

Fred made nothing of it but noticed that beads of sweat had popped out on Go’s temples and he looked apprehensive.

His eyes were locked on the piles of pamphlets.

* What is it about these pamphlets that is making Go react this way? *

*

Tomorrow: Fred realizes that he needs to look out for himself.