Martoons

Today: Witness the first meeting of Thomas and Coffee Lady.

Cast of characters

Miss No

Thomas

Coffee Lady

*

That night Miss No was simply too angry to fall asleep.

The coffee shop stop with Thomas had been an absolute disaster.

Her worst nightmare.

Thinking it would be free of other female threats, she’d hoped to repair the damage done so far that evening and regain his respect.

But within minutes even that humble goal had proved completely unattainable.

From the moment the coffee shop waitress approached their table, No thought Thomas’ eyeballs were going to pop out and his jaw drops right off.

He’d never seen a more intriguing-looking female in his life.

His eyes were doing the full head-to-toe on her.

She had the most exquisite eyes – awfully sad but with a micro hint of hope.

He locked on to that hope and from that moment on could not let go.

No, watching this interaction with amazement, felt frustration and disgust inside, but in true Korean style cranked up her biggest, widest pasty smile and politely excused herself to the girls’ room.

Thomas didn’t even notice.

* Did he really not notice? *

She went in and primped herself up.

She came out and saw Thomas still sitting there goo-gawing the coffee lady and that was it.

No cut toward the exit and stormed right out of the café.

The coffee lady noticed out of the corner of her eye but Thomas didn’t.

That woman – whoever she was – had just inadvertently introduced to Coffee Lady her future.

Thomas, for his part, actually took no special interest in the coffee waitress.

All he knew was that he couldn’t stand another minute of Miss No dripping phony emotional syrup all over him.

For him, the reticent serving girl (who kept her head bowed and didn’t make eye contact during his entire visit) was someone he could cling to for an escape.

And so he hammed it up with her.

His man sense told him Miss No was walking on a tightrope and near the end of it.

A little flirting with the innocent coffee lady would finish the vulnerable boss off.

And he was right.

As soon as No left, the pressure was off and Thomas started yawning.

He hadn’t eaten for hours and the last thing in the world he wanted was a coffee.

That caused a small problem: With Miss No gone, he was on the hook for two coffees, which in sleazy cafes like this cost about $5 a pop.

And Thomas had no money.

* What is Thomas going to do? *

Inadvertently perhaps, No had left him in a bind.

He could have played the Dumb Foreigner routine and walked out claiming he didn’t know what was going on and “no speaky Korea”, but decided as the new foreigner on the block a better strategy was honesty.

So he used his acting skills from high school drama club to explain his way out of this mess: “Excuse me, Miss?”

She slowly approached.

This will be brutal, Thomas thought, but get on with it.

“I’m sorry. Me…” He pointed to himself.

“No money. That lady who walked out? She my boss. I think she angry. She invite me here but leave early. So – two coffees: Me – you – how pay?”

Coffee Lady had faced the situation numerous times – drunks or losers forgetting their wallets or having already emptied them elsewhere, and too broke to pay for their coffees.

But this situation was a little different: This client wasn’t one of those losers; in fact, he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen and her woman’s instinct told her this guy was putty in her hands.

“No problem,” she said, waving him off, then shoed him out politely.

Thomas got one of her business cards on the way out.

*

Tomorrow: Miss No grapples with Thomas’ rejection.