Martoons

Cast of characters

Dame

Mr Go

Taxi driver

Donna

Miss No

Fred

Mr E

*

Miss No suddenly shot into a sitting position.

* Has she awoken?! *

“Show me your face Mr Poacher!” The blurt from behind her thin wall of sleep startled Go. She seemed to be talking directly at him.

“If that’s you Grandpa Kang you can’t hide from me! I’d recognize that Santa beard a mile away!”

Mr Go froze in his hunched-over position above Dame – amazed at the comments he was hearing.

The things people dream about! Grandpa Kang? How could she know about him? Or that he had that white beard?

And she talks about him as if he’s alive.

Go remained immobile for a full, agonizing moment and hoped No wouldn’t come any closer to consciousness and actually see him.

He flashed-back to an old army exercise: Huddled up in a bush, in complete silence, suppressing breathing, and waiting for the enemy to pass.

A very tense moment later, No finally lay back down, rolling away from Go. Immensely relieved, he scampered to the door and out, dripping with sweat.

He’d forgotten all about his red, poked eye. The sheer terror of the last minute had moved that pain along.

* He’s given up on waking up Dame then? *

He passed the office where the groggy motel manager was now sitting cross-legged with a comforter over his legs, watching TV.

He mentally registered Go leaving but didn’t bother gesturing.

He was absorbed in his favorite TV show – about Japanese kamikazes during World War II.

He’d been educated during the Jap occupation of Korea and was fluent in Japanese.

Right outside the motel door the cab was waiting. Go got in. “My friend cannot come with us. Impossible.”

He forked over Dame’s fare from his own pocket as well as his own. “Thank you for waiting tonight and I will pay my fare in advance. Let’s get going!”

“Dawn will be breaking before we know it.”

The taxi’s dashboard clock showed 3:30. Cabbie guessed they’d get back to Chinju about 6:30.

Perfect. Go smiled smugly. That will be just as Miss No and company will be getting up for sunrise.

*

Back on the Beach         

What was Mr Go talking about – his ‘secret plan’? 

Fred was roused at 6:15 a.m. by the whirring of everyone else in the motel room.

He reluctantly elevated himself off the floor and quickly found himself having to hustle to keep up with the others.

Miss No, who seemed to be setting the pace, abruptly threw wide open the room’s only window – a smoky, opaque one.

Instantaneously, a tidal wave of icy air flooded in.

“Ah … God’s breath,” she commented as she inhaled deeply and stretched.

She commanded the others to stand around in a circle and bow their heads solemnly while she recanted a brief prayer.

When it was done, the room was crispy-cold but it didn’t seem to bother anyone else so Fred carried on. It forced him to keep moving.

No meanwhile had commandeered Donna into some calisthenics, which Fred innocently ignored at first but then decided to join in, mostly to shake off the chills.

Apparently the improvised jacket-roll pillow he’d slept on overnight had kinked his neck. As he stretched it out with neck rotations, he inadvertently noticed two blobs on the floor nearby.

He didn’t make much of it.

In the space where Go had been, there was crumpled up bedding. And next to that was Damion — snoring in quick, shallow bursts.

* So Fred has now noticed that Go is already gone… *

Soon Fred got his turn to file into the washroom to freshen up. On his way he tapped Mr E’s shoulder and pointed to the slumbering Dame.

“Yah yah!” E snapped. “Meesta Damion! Time to get up. Get up!”

Dame awoke in a bit of a panic and as he cleared out the cobwebs, was looking frantically around the room.

“Where’s Fred? Is Fred still here? Where did he go?”

Then he sat up, somewhat startled. “Somebody find Fred!”

“Don’t worry,” E replied, gesturing that he calm down. “Washroom.”

Dame got up quickly and got organized with determination. There was something clearly on his mind.

Moments later the group assembled near the door to go out, including Dame with bulging bags under his bloodshot eyes, and Fred still doing minor neck rotations.

Fred noticed that Go was gone but figured everyone else already knew.

* Do they not?… *

*

Tomorrow: The group heads out of the motel.