Martoons

Today: Damion executes his devious plan.

Cast of characters

Damion

Scene: Back alley outside Central Institute

*

The cab pulled to a halt.

“Here, okay?” the cabbie asked.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Damion paid his fare, got out and the vehicle sped off as if the cabbie knew something was up and wanted no part of it.

Dame scampered toward Central’s back door and as he walked over the concrete parking pad felt some shattered bottle glass scrunch under his feet.

He looked down – some anonymous dawn reveler had likely carelessly discarded a soju bottle there.

He swept some of the shards aside with his foot, and then took the final steps to the door.

He reached up and felt along the top of the doorframe for the key that Mr Go kept up there.

His fingertips slid through some greasy gunk and dust but detected the key.

He poked it into the top and bottom keyholes of the glass back door, releasing the two latches.

He smoothly swung the door open and stepped inside the landing.

* What is he about to do? *

Most students went through the front entrance; only a few through the back.

This was also the mail area.

On the wall was an average-sized metal letterbox for letters, but the mail carriers left larger items on the floor.

Koreans were pretty good about that.

Dame hadn’t heard of anyone stealing mail.

The landing was dark but a streetlamp threw just enough rays in there to see.

The floor was littered with flyers, pamphlets and snack wrappers.

Knowing Go as he did, Dame guessed the mess would probably sit there for days.

He swept everything into a little pile with his foot, clearing out the area right below the mailbox so that anyone entering the landing would immediately see what was about to be deposited there.

And the first person would be Go.

He always arrived at 6:15 a.m., parked his car on the concrete pad and entered this way.

 * Will Go actually be the first person to come in this time? *

Dame took one final look at the package.

He was impressed by the authenticity of the writing he’d put on there:

Thomas Mapletree

Go English Institute

Chinju Riverside 4-13 Dong

Chinju, Republic of South Korea

He didn’t have postage stamps but had already figured out how to get around that: He poked the sharp edge of the building key into the top right corner of the box and pierced it.

Then he tore off the corner area that would have displayed stamps.

He’d seen this before: Mail where an unidentified Korean – likely someone in the postal service – had torn off the exotic foreign stamps.

Dame then ensured the gash in the box was enough to expose the contents: A baggie full of oregano that he’d purchased at the underground market that afternoon.

He plunked the package down on the floor below the mailbox just as the letter carrier would.

The cunning Canadian stepped back outside, re-secured the door and plunked the key up top of the doorframe.

As he backed away he copped a view of how the entrance would look when Go would arrive shortly.

Perfect.

The pile of trash surrounding the package looked so natural that Damion gave it a thumb’s up.

“It’ll jump right out at him.”

He took a deep breath of the cool, dawn air.

“Welcome new day.”

He fled down the alley.

“Beautiful weather for Thomas’ last day here.”

Now he could light that last cigarette.

Job well done.

* Will Damion’s scheme work out as planned? *

*

Tomorrow: The mystery box is found…