Martoons

Cast of characters

Fred

Mrs Won

*

Mrs Won’s Ulsan option resonated with Fred. What did he have to lose? He was finished here.

He could treat the Ulsan excursion as a mini-holiday.

The least he could do was go and look at the place again (his first time was the Thomas visit), and she was even offering to escort him.

That was always the best way to see a place in Korea.

Fred immediately felt certain warmth toward Won, despite their disagreements of

late.

* Is he going to go then? *

Another voice inside him told him to stand fast and simply leave. Why put-off the inevitable?

As all these thoughts consumed Fred for a few crucial seconds and his mind shuffled back and forth, the ajumma sensed that his silence meant he wasn’t really interested in taking the trip with her.

It was yet another situation where the foreigner was turning a cold shoulder to a Korean’s warm heart.

She immediately became more businesslike. “Will you stay here for lunch?”

Fred nodded. “Sure Mrs Won, thanks for your kindness.” Over lunch I can decide about her Ulsan offer.  

* Will the offer still be on the table by then though? *

Won, however, paused and broke eye contact. “Cleaning Lady will arrive in a few minutes to prepare lunch for you.”

She headed to the door to put her shoes on.

Fred was surprised. “Cleaning Lady’s back?”

She’d been laid-off by Mrs Won right after her husband Mr Kim’s problems surfaced. To now be invited back behind the family fortress walls showed tremendous trust and respect.

“If you see her Fred,” Won said, “please don’t say anything about my husband’s problems.”

Fred assured her he wouldn’t.

“Oh!” she said at the door, “In the next little while Mr Go will drop by to pick up your bed.”

This was the Western-style bed Go had purchased specially for Fred that first night he’d arrived from Canada. 

Mrs Won giggled. “As you know, my sister, like many Koreans – doesn’t sleep on a bed. She prefers the floor.”

Then she left and Fred had that odd feeling of being entirely alone. It was times like this when he wondered if he’d really made any progress at all while having been in Korea.

I’m thinking I really should have gone to Ulsan, just to show my thanks to Mrs Won. 

After listening to other waygooks and their homestay situations, Fred knew he’d had it pretty good here.

The ajumma had done a lot for him and the trip would have been a good way to show his appreciation.

Too late now. He had to shift his mind-set to leaving mode.

*

Cleaning Lady    

Fred cleaned out his room for move-out and quickly filled the red hockey bag with his few possessions.

Yet, disturbingly, his plan to evacuate Chinju and Korea altogether – as powerful and clear as it was earlier this morning – now seemed unsatisfying and unsettling.

* What will Fred end up doing? *

He mulled it over while taking a load of recyclables down the elevator to some blue bins out back.

They were so clearly idiot-proofed that even a waygook couldn’t screw it up.

Symbols showed Bottles for one, Cans for another … Fred had empty plastic bottles and flipped up the lid for Plastic. It was jammed full of large polystyrene blocks.

He flipped up the lid for Cans but it was stuffed full of old pillows and a quilt.

The Glass bin? Plain old garbage.

“Ayeesh!” He tossed his bottles into the trash.

* Apparently somebody can mess it up… *

Glancing to the parking lot entrance, he could see no sign of Cleaning Lady. His stomach was rumbling and he needed something to tide him over.

He scooted over to the little convenience store, which to his great delight had recently started stocking frosted flakes cereal.

Although outrageously priced at double the price back home, it was one of the rare, satisfying little foreigner comforts that could get you through the day and keep chronic culture shock at bay.

Fred flinched as he guiltily forked over the small fortune for the painfully small box, then nodded thankfully and gracefully exited the store.

Right outside, two cars were parked with engines left idling in front of bold No Parking signs, their drivers having vanished.

As Fred skirted the nauseating exhaust cloud, he inadvertently looked down and saw trash, wrappers and a cigarette butt – at first two, then four … ultimately dozens.

He found it comic and cosmic: With Korea now a fait accompli, its unattractive features were exposing themselves. He passed a phone booth and realized he had to call and tell Donna.

* Why Donna? *

Somebody reliable had to know what he was doing, in case he ran into trouble on the way out. She lived across town in her own self-contained one room unit within a multi-story house.

There was no answer right away and as the phone continued ringing, Fred drifted off and plotted out his escape plan.

Or tried to.

It wasn’t coming together; now seemingly dissolving inside his mind and he didn’t know why. He snapped back to reality when Donna finally answered the phone out of breath.

* How come she’s out of breath? *

*

Tomorrow: Fred talks with Donna over the phone and then chats with Cleaning Lady.