Martoons

Today: Mr Go becomes transfixed by . . . fish ? ? ?

Cast of characters

Fred

Miss No

Mr Go

*

In between sipping from the cup, Go continued his rapid-fire puffing on his cigarette.

Fred shook his head and furrowed his brow.

Why is he staring fixatedly into that restaurant?

Fred could see that its front windows were actually large aquariums, with grey, roundish flatfish swimming around.

A neon sign, which Fred supposed said ‘Fish’ or something, flashed above the aquariums.

The entrance door was propped open and visible inside was a commanding chef wearing a white apron and chopping up fish with a large cleaver.

The chef radiated complete mastery and expertise at his trade and Fred was impressed.

* Mr Go’s continued erratic behaviour *

Meanwhile, Go suddenly became alarmed and Fred turned away so that Go wouldn’t see him looking.

He didn’t.

Go put his paper cup down on a nearby concrete tree planter and sprinted about 10 paces down the sidewalk, circled around, and sprinted back.

Still oblivious to Fred, he resumed the same spot, picked up his cup and refilled it from a small clear bottle also sitting there.

He resumed his trance-like stare at the chef (or the fish in the aquarium?) and then a moment later repeated the ritual: Putting the cup down, running down and back, refilling the cup and staring again.

Fred looked on in fascination at the truly unusual scene.

It was like some kind of gaudy re-run.

Miss No came out of the bedding store with a quilt packaged in plastic and saw what was going on.

“Mr Fred, come here please!” she yelled pleasantly if not somewhat accusingly, and he walked over to her.

“What are you looking at?” She hadn’t noticed Go in the shadow of the restaurant’s frontage.

“Oh…” Fred kept his voice down. “I didn’t mean to stare. It’s nothing, just …”

No then figured it out and seemed concerned. “Oh! Mr Go is just a little confused.”

She paused and her tone of voice changed. “Come back to the car now, Mr Go!”

* Does Miss No have some kind of control over Go’s behaviour? *

It was almost as if she was giving directions to a voice-activated-machine.

Go turned soldier-like and walked stiffly back, looking dead straight ahead and moving robotically.

No and Fred were waiting at the car’s passenger side.

“Mr Go,” she instructed, “remain in the vehicle. I want to show Fred something.”

He got in the car and slammed the door shut with a dead thud, while No put her arm in Fred’s and led him over to the restaurant.

Fred chuckled nervously. “Mr Go sure found something in this place interesting. It was almost like he was … hypnotized or mesmerized.”

“Look closely at this restaurant’s front showcase,” she said.

He glanced at it. “Yeah, I already saw those aquariums. Pretty.”

She waved him off. “Not those. Something else.”

What is this, eye spy?

Fred scanned to a small display case just under the aquariums, with three odd-shaped, old-fashioned-looking bottles in it.

“What? Those bottles . . . ?”

Their label read,

BLACK BERRY WINE.

PRODUCT OF THE

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Fred: “…from North Korea?”

Miss No waved him off. “You’re getting colder!”

She laughed and impatiently pointed to the top of the display, above the aquariums.

“Look at that sign. Can you read Korean? It says ‘Raw Fish.’”

It didn’t make sense to Fred why such a mundane sign would fascinate Mr Go. “What about it?”

No glanced back to ensure Go was still in the car.

Leaning closer to Fred, she confided, “Just so you know, Mr Go has some problem with his mind. He had a traumatic time in Korean army.”

She tugged Fred away from the display and back toward the car. “Fred, this is top secret. Mr Go’s privacy.”

She stopped whispering and her voice normalized. “But for now, never mind. He is a good man. He has a soft heart. My heart is not so soft!”

She giggled with her hand up to her mouth to cover her teeth, a traditional Korean woman’s gesture of humility.

* Is Miss No leveling with Fred? *

Fred chuckled along with her as it seemed she was joking.

He’d give her the benefit of the doubt – for now.

At least she was trying to be humorous.

However, he did wonder why she’d be telling him – a complete stranger – about Go’s private psychological problems.

Maybe it’s just another Korean thing.

“Come,” she said. “We have no time. Next stop is your house.”

They turned toward the vehicle and Fred immediately noticed the half-consumed bottle of clear stuff that was sitting on the planter, from which Go had been refilling his paper cup moments ago.

Its red label said ‘Soju’.

He didn’t say anything and obediently followed No back to the car.

Go stiffly and robotically eased the car off the sidewalk back onto the road; pedestrians quickly shuffled to get out of the way.

He drove slowly past the Raw Fish shop and looked over as he did so.

He muttered something in Korean and repeated it several times: “The raw fish chef’s sushi knife was very nice. The raw fish chef’s sushi knife was very nice.”

“Yes, yes,” Miss No assured him. “You are right. Now don’t talk about that anymore and concentrate on your driving. We’re almost there. Fred is almost home.”

*

Tomorrow: Fred moves into his new Korean home.