Martoons

Cast of characters

Dame

Mr E

Max

*

As Dame exited the burger place his stomach immediately started doing flips from the grease attack.

Patting his gut as if it were an old dog, he headed toward the entrance stairs that led down to the underground market.

* Will Dame’s stomach settle alright? *

As he headed down, sitting down on the first landing was a blind 60-ish man with a little dish in front of him, and playing a harmonica.

Dame immediately fished through his pockets and gave the guy all the money he had – including bills.

Must have been about fifty dollars’ worth of Korean won. There was a nasty little breeze blowing through the stairwell so he didn’t place the bills in the guy’s dish.

Instead, he grasped the guy’s free hand and inserted the cash.

“Merry Christmas!”

The guy nodded. So as not to make it a pure handout, Dame requested a song by humming the timeless Korean classic ‘Arirang.’

The blind man picked up on it right away and pulled off an emotional version of the song.

Several other people going up and down the stairs stopped still in their tracks and were enthralled by the performance.

Dame quietly left them there gawking while he walked away with a tear in his eye.

Life is all about give and take. Damion had just parted with all his cash so now it was time for a little payback.

And, despite being concerned about Mr Go, his gut feeling was that the ex-owner was okay and he’d leave him be for a little while.

Instead, Dame felt it was one of those rare opportunities to have a little fun. Just him.

With no money, he knew a few students out at the university who owed him, and he could hit them up.

Always call in your favours was one of his mottos.

* What do you think Dame is going to ask of them? *

Or, better still, Max owed him some cash from some pool games they’d played. Yes.

Damion Lee rubbed his hands together at the thought of a full body massage on this enchanted and most holy of days.

That old ‘X’ is going right smack dab back in my Xmas! He nipped into a phone booth and called Max’s pager.

*

Crosses

Meanwhile, back at the waygooks’ beer swill…

“We don’t want to offend our foreign guests,” Max said, urging E to hurry up. “We can make a night of this if we get back in there.”

Max was lined up behind E at the beer bar’s public phone near the front counter. “Pali! Pali! Can you imagine? We’ll be the envy of others.”

“We spend an entire night out with foreigners! How many of my yard-ape associates can say that?”

* Spending a night out with foreigners is considered special then? *

E nodded.

The idea sounded appealing to him too – much more so than leaving the bar and driving Miss No to church, which was exactly what the voice on the other end of the phone line was demanding.

He was resisting – as diplomatically as possible.

For one, E believed that if you’re having a good time in one place with one set of folks, you must stay until that meeting runs its natural course.

Good times are hard to find! Stay until the sun comes up – or you pass out on the sidewalk in your own puke, whichever comes last!

Moreover, E was in no condition to drive anyway. His face was already beet red from the soju he’d rapidly consumed.

Not that he couldn’t drive inebriated – he could, had, and would again; but to do so now would necessitate dipsy-doodling his car down back alleys to avoid police check points.

Then, if he survived that, he’d have to face an interrogation from No and another lecture on the evils of alcohol.

* Will E end up staying? Or will he give in to Miss No? *

Into the phone: “Honey, I’m sorry. Yes I promised to shuttle you to church tonight. But I’m not feeling well.” Pause. “Yes honey, I’ll go to the hospital.”

Pause. “Where am I now? What’s all the noise in the background? Well …”

His mind was churning.

* What will he tell her? *

“Actually, honey, I’m already at the … hospital. I’m waiting in the emergency ward. It’s very crowded here.”

Another pause.

“Yes I know the background noise sounds like laughing and glasses clinking but … well, it’s Christmas and they’re passing around a bottle of good cheer here in the emergency ward.”

“Goodbye honey.”

He hung up quickly, and sponged the sweat off his brow with is handkerchief. “That was close,” he said to Max. “I am not a good liar.”

Do you think Miss No could tell that E was lying?

*

Tomorrow: Damion tries to haggle a deal.