Martoons

Cast of characters

Thomas

Coffee Lady

*

Strike two was a few minutes ago.

* What happened? *

The café was momentarily – and rarely – empty of patrons so Thomas told Coffee Lady to come sit with him in his favorite booth.

That would have been good for a little squeeze here and there, a whisper of sweet nothings in her ear, and maybe a peck on the cheeks.

But the moment she slid daringly into the booth, Thomas was overcome with tingles of anticipation and accidentally farted – a rancid beer fart.

He chuckled and joked about the ‘duck call’ but Coffee Lady deeply disdained flatulence (like most Koreans) and quickly fled the booth.

“Smell, no good!” she declared with a vigorous wave off. “Ayeesh! You – disgusting. Why you laugh? No funny.”

Honestly, Coffee Lady also wanted a “big deal” to unfold between her and Thomas.

She certainly liked what she saw but wondered about long term communication given their massive language gap.

Could he ever really understand her deepest feelings?

* Could he? *

The way things were now, she didn’t think he really understood her at all. He was always pouring syrupy compliments all over her like, “You are best café hostess.”

He seemed to have no idea she utterly loathed the job!

Yet, she’d be stuck in it for life unless she won a lottery or underwent a divine miracle and Thomas just might be that gift from the skies.

And if so, that was her ticket out of Korea.

However she was very cautious by nature and approached everything step by step. As it stood now she was anxiously awaiting the next move in their relationship.

But she didn’t dare allow anything to happen at work. Truth be told, she hadn’t expected Thomas to be so bold in front of her boss Max back at the k/o singing room.

That Max had even allowed that kind of personal fraternizing had surprised her. And so had the boss’s allowing Thomas to brazenly escort her back here to the café.

* Why do you think Max allowed it? *

Disappointingly, as his beer toot dissipated, Thomas’ tingles also faded. Maybe this wasn’t the night.

He’d been disillusioned by Korean ladies before but had learned from the experience: They have such high social grace that often a foreigner mistakes her big toothy smile and little touchy episodes (like grabbing your arm, or a playful slap) as being friendliness when really she’s just being polite.

Surely though, the kindness and warmth Coffee Lady showed towards him was more than mere social etiquette.

She must feel attraction for me and tonight I’m going to find out for sure.

He still had one strike left.

* Will he strike out? *

*

Tomorrow: Fred’s hostess catches him by surprise.