Martoons

Cast of characters

Mrs Kim

Mrs Park

Miss No

Donna

*

“Long time no see,” No said, sensing the wives were up to something that she should know about. Kim and Park stopped and bowed apprehensively.

No wagged her finger, her paranoia kicking in and getting the best of her.

“It’s none of my business really but may I ask why were you talking just now to Mr Go and Fred?”

* What will they tell her? *

The wives were speechless; the only way to get the overbearing woman off their back was to feed her a scrap of information to chew on.

“We heard rumor,” Kim said.

“Maybe a businessman from Ulsan is on this beach tonight. Maybe he is roaming around recruiting foreigners to work for him. Maybe Fred.”

Like a bloodhound, No immediately picked up the trail. She looked straight into Kim’s eyes and the housewife was instantly unnerved.

“What does he look like? Do you have a description? Anything?”

“We d-d-didn’t see him,” Kim stuttered.

“We only heard about him,” chimed-in Park.

No’s head was spinning and she almost lost her balance.

Kim now regretted having opened her big mouth. “We must go. We d-d-don’t want to c-c-catch cold.”

She slid her arm over to Park and without looking, pulled her closer and telegraphed that they get away.

No’s eyeballs had glassed-up and she hypnotically gazed again at the bonfire’s raging inferno. All she could see was the white beard … Grandpa Kang.

When she snapped out of the stupor and looked up, the wives had quickly vanished.

I knew that was Grandpa Kang I saw earlier this evening, going in and out of that men’s washroom.

And what the housewives are saying makes sense: He was watching me and knows that Fred would be nearby.

No’s eyes shot back to the bonfire yet again. The beard was growing bigger, wavier, and scruffier.

“Yah, yah! Mrs Park! Now I remember! You told me way back when, at Thanksgiving; you phoned me before I went to countryside. Remember?”

Images poured into her consciousness. She rhymed them off: “Jiri Mountain … Mr Go and Fred! … Mr Kang! … And you mentioned a white-bearded old man!”

“That’s Mr Kang’s father. He is rich.”

Her mind raced ahead: “The Kangs must have made a deal to buy Fred. Grandpa is here tonight to pick up the goods!”

* Once again, No has jumped to an incorrect conclusion… *

The wives had disappeared into the night but No’s mind was working at the speed of light to crystallize her fragmented thoughts.

This all makes perfect sense: They made the deal at Thanksgiving, but didn’t carry through right away.

The time wasn’t right – those were tumultuous times and they knew I’d be on the alert.

They waited a few months so that I’d let my guard down. Now it’s another holiday and while everyone else is frolicking and having fun, and no one’s expecting this!

And that hobbling, sickly Grandpa Kang looks so helpless. Nice act – they even had me fooled. But why else would Go bring Fred all the way out here to this deep freeze?

This whole New Year’s Eve celebration is just a front!

She forgot, of course, that she herself had been the one who’d planned the whole party and done the inviting.

But a paranoid mind ruthlessly lassos half truths, rumours and imaginings; edits and omits others; and feverishly paints a doomsday picture.

Donna stood by patiently. No clutched her arm assertively. “Let’s go.”

Being pulled along like a small child by a rushing mother, Donna uttered: “Was it something the housewives said? I couldn’t hear them.”

“Yes it was and I am so glad they are here tonight. What they told me was only a rumour – but I’m a big believer that rumors always contain a seed of truth.

And I’ve got to act on this one now.

“Fred could be snatched from me at any moment by my arch rival Mr Kang, who’s using his elderly father to do the dirty work.”

*

Tomorrow: There’s one more round of soju before the group heads out.