Martoons

Cast of characters

Miss No

Miss No’s mom

*

Late afternoon.

Back in her office briefly, Miss No made her plan for the rest of the day:

She’d go home and eat dinner with family – mostly to pacify her doting mother; then head off to church briefly in early evening.

The day’s final act would be her descent on Go’s apartment …

* How will she confront him? *

At home, though, she sat slouched at the dinner table as her mother scurried around in a blur getting dinner ready. Ma called from the kitchen:

“Have you had rice? Have you had rice dear?”

For the umpteenth time her words fell on deaf ears. “You must eat something my dear daughter. Stop daydreaming and look at me.

I never see you anymore! Why don’t you hang out more with me, like a normal daughter?”

Daughter remained speechless.

Ma went on: “I’ve made some new kimchi – with the green leafy parts that you like. You must eat something. You’ll catch a cold. You must be strong.”

“I already had a big lunch with … a friend at Raw Fish,” daughter replied with complete indifference. “I’ve got other things on my mind.”

What is it with mothers? Can’t they ever understand anything truly important?

Nevertheless, to skip a meal is basically unheard of in Korea and it would be severely disrespectful to reject ma’s offer.

And now that daughter thought about it, she hadn’t eaten much at RAW FISH anyway; sampling nothing more than a slice or two of the marine morsels.

And with a busy night ahead of her, she’d better fuel the tanks.

“Okay Ma, rice please.” She strained to crack a smile. “Did you say there was a new batch of kimchi with the green leaves?”

With those magic words, a flood of motherly generosity poured forth.

Ma darted into the dining room with the traditional low table in her arms. It was all loaded up and she carefully set it down.

The multitude of bowls and saucers were a colourful sight to behold, but that’s about as far as it got.

The fresh, steaming rice and garlicky, tangy kimchi seemed to merely be images dancing in front of Miss No’s tired eyes.

Apprehension was eating away at her.

“Stop playing with your rice dear!” Ma beckoned. “Eat! Eat! What’s wrong? Have you been snacking at work? Ayeesh! You young people these days!”

Daughter waved her off coldly and washed down a mouthful of rice with barley tea.

“Gotta go Ma – things to do, places to go…” And a name stamp to coerce out of Mr Go!

* What is her plan to get him to do that this time? *

“Anyong!” She clanked her chopsticks down on the table beside her rice bowl and adeptly elevated herself.

She was outside in no time, walking briskly down the block of this gated street to the main road. She paged Mr E: Could he drive her to the church?

When he balked – some half-baked story about him feeling ill and going to the hospital – she hailed a cab.

Cruising along at rocket speed moments later, she felt an incredible sense of relief upon spotting her church’s neon red cross lighting up the night sky.

Within the hour, she was nestled in her usual pew listening to the soothing words of the pastor.

Yet her miserably failed mission at RAW FISH was bugging her again and dredging up wicked déjà vu.

* Déjà vu of what previous incident? *

*

Tomorrow: Miss No reflects on one of her early dates with Mr Go.