Martoons

Cast of characters

Dame

Mr Go

Miss No

Fred

Mr E

*

Dame at Tent      

“Okay, Mr Go,” Dame puffed into the phone, somewhat out of breath. “I now see the men’s washroom. Which way do I go?”

Go sometimes mistook left and right in English and Dame got bogged down in a roundabout route to the soju tent.

“Mr Go, you’re sending me around in circles! Look, I’ve reached the back of the restroom building and …”

He made his way around front and …

* What?!… *

It was like taking a Tae Kwon Do kick to the side of the head. Was that Miss No standing a few steps away with her back towards him?

Go’s confused directions had inadvertently steered Dame precisely to the one person he didn’t want to see tonight.

He uncontrollably coughed and quickly shielded his face with his hands, then scooted past behind No.

Peeking through his spread fingers he saw that she hadn’t noticed him. His cough, however, took on a life of its own from the cold and became a hacking fit.

That did catch No’s attention and she glanced over.

* Will she recognize him? *

She watched the man disappear into the shadows of the big tent, and then turned her attention back to the washroom exit.

As Go welcomed Dame at the mouth of the tent, the waygook cast one final furtive glance over his shoulder to make sure No hadn’t spotted him.

He disdained her for what she’d done to Mr Go and was relieved to have avoided her.  

“Problem is,” he explained to Fred inside the tent, “I have to run right past there again soon to go and pay my cabbie his fare!” He cringed.

* Will Dame be able to avoid No a second time? *

“Here Damey,” Fred replied. “I’ve got something for you. Mr E where’s that beard?”

*

Moments ago outside the washroom and counting down E’s 5 minute deadline – now down to 2 minutes – Miss No was trying to get her mind off shivering to death.

A Korean-looking guy with an American jacket and blue jeans had just scooted by toward one of the soju tents.

What stuck with her about him was his horrendous cough.

And I’m going to get sick too if I don’t get out of this damn cold. “Mr E! Get out here! What on earth are you doing in that washroom!?”

A moment passed and then No saw another odd-looking man moving swiftly from the big soju tent towards the men’s washroom. Yet something wasn’t right.

* What isn’t right to her? *

For one, he seemed to wear the same American clothes as the coughing man; of course, Koreans often wear similar clothes; but what was striking was his beard.

* How is that striking? *

Koreans rarely sported beards these days, yet this was the second man within minutes to have one – and a similar white, Santa Claus one. What were the odds?

The two Santa beards she’d just seen triggered a memory: That portrait she’d seen on Mr Kang’s desk when she’d visited him a while back.

His father (in actual fact Mr E) had also sported a Santa beard.

Why am I seeing beards everywhere? This is just too weird.

So there was Mr Kang’s father; the limping guy a few minutes ago with the beard exiting the washroom; and now this latest bearded beach guy – Beardy #2 – the guy with the American clothes walking towards the men’s washroom (in actual fact Dame).

No couldn’t help but stare, and suddenly their eyes met. Ah ha! Maybe he knows me?

She stepped toward him and waved him down: “Excuse me. Have we met somewhere before?”

* What is Dame going to do?! *

Up close, No could see that the beard was phony and that the guy had pulled it right up below his eyes as an obvious disguise.

* Will she see through the disguise? *

Brazenly – yet purely for fun – No tugged at the fake facial hair.

Strangely, however, her fingers seemed to pass right through the tangled web as if it wasn’t physically real – ethereal perhaps; cloudlike.

Surprised by the groping hand, Beardy #2 was suddenly struck with the worst coughing fit you could imagine; he reflexively hunched over and hid his face completely in his hands.

No looked on, uncomfortably.

Behind them, E had poked his head out of the big tent and was watching.

He now had literally seconds to somehow magically and invisibly transport himself to that washroom and then very visibly come out of it to appease Miss No.

His chance had just presented itself.

* How so? *

No was distracted trying to comfort Beardy #2 and his crippling cough, so E folded his jacket collar up to hide his face and darted from tent to washroom.

Beardy #2 saw all this out of the corner of his eye; he purposely retreated away from the washroom exit and its bright orange light, drawing Miss No with him.

E slipped into the restroom easily.

Beardy #2 recovered from his apparent coughing spasm, waved Miss No off, and walked quickly away into the darkness of the beach. The whole thing left No with a creepy chill.

Had she just seen another ghost?

*

Tomorrow: Go accompanies Dame to pay his cab fare and an old part of himself re-awakens…