Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Donna

Miss No

Mr E

*

Down in the street Donna had inserted her coins into the machine.

She was laughing at herself as her hand – shaking from caffeine withdrawal – robotically directed itself down to the receptacle where the small paper cup was filling.

That hand had a mind of its own and was eagerly – almost desperately – reaching for the little cup.

“Whoa girl,” she said to her hand jokingly, “take it easy. Wait until it’s fully filled. Remember – good to the last drop.”

Restraining her over-eager hand, she crouched down to watch the machine dispense its final stream of drops into the paper cup.

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

             Drip.            

                            Drip.

She’d done this so often and could count the final drops – eight exactly. As she took the cup out, her mind switched back to Fred’s note.

“He’s crazy writing something like that. Bring Mr Go back?” She scoffed skeptically.

“But I admire Fred – balls of a lion.” Now she was almost salivating to get back and finish the note.

* Will she get to? *

Miss No rushed up the back stairs and down the hall.

At the end she opened the staff room door. The room was vacant yet she spotted Donna’s bag sitting in her chair.

And in the middle of the floor was a fresh, clean, crisp sheet of eight-by-eleven paper.

“Oh, what…” She bent down and picked it up.

Naturally, she glanced at the note intending to read just enough to determine who the recipient was and place it on the appropriate desk.

As her eyes hit the page, she was instantly aghast and utterly in disbelief.

Her ‘healthy paranoia’ kicked-in and she read on, unable to believe that mild-mannered Fred was capable of thinking such seditious thoughts, let alone writing them down as some kind of manifesto for revolution or coup d’etat.

No was beside herself and almost in hysterics. She stuffed the document into her bag and rushed out.

* What is No going to do with it? *

*

Housewives Visit         

Almost an hour later, Fred still hadn’t arrived at Central – far from it.

After hurriedly dropping off his manifesto at Riverside, he’d mistakenly boarded the 24C bus instead of the 24D and ended up right back at Good Lucky Apartments.

Then the bus pulled into a little nearby roundabout and the driver shut the vehicle down and went on break.

Feeling like the Dumb Foreigner had struck again, Fred sheepishly disembarked and trotted embarrassingly out to the main street to hail a cab.

None in sight.

Lost in his thoughts with the wind whistling up and down the multi-lane street, a car pulled up and the horn tooted.

Then the passenger power window came down.

Somewhat skeptical, Fred crouched over and peered in.

“Mr E!”

“Get in, get in, get in,” E hand-gestured as a wave of traffic was roaring up behind.

“Lucky you came.” Fred smiled as he climbed in and the car sped off.

“I would have been late. Geez, I didn’t even know you lived here in the Lucky complex.”

“Maybe you live in tower 13? I live in 24.” He glanced over. “You look very tired today. You okay?”

Fred simply nodded.

The warm air inside the vehicle relaxed him and he’d already sunk into his own thoughts until he blurted out, “Mr E, I might be moving soon.”

“Really?”

Fred shrugged. “There are many rumours these days about me.”

E chuckled. “Koreans love rumours and gossip, don’t they? It’s part of our culture.”

He said nothing further, sensing Fred’s oppressed mood. They were already downtown anyway and he pulled over so Fred could get out.

As Fred reached to undo the seatbelt, E held out his hand for a handshake. “If you ever have any problem, please contact me.

Anytime. Just walk into the bank and come right to my office, it’s okay.”

Fred could feel his sincerity and nodded genuinely.

* Might Fred and Mr E become allies? *

*

Tomorrow: Fred drags himself towards Central.