Martoons

Today: Miss No learns of Thomas’ departure. 

Cast of characters

Miss No

Mr Kang – manager of Mr Go’s business in Ulsan

*

Miss No was irked.

Something wasn’t right.

* What is going on? *

She customarily made a mid-morning call to Mr Go at Central and today was no exception.

The only exception was that he wasn’t there.

She pondered.

Normally, Go rigidly held to a very regular schedule:

From sun-up till sundown at Central, then after hours his three favorite nightspots:

007 James Bond V.I.P. Room, Morning Calm Soju Tent, and Beatles Singing Room.

And when not in Chinju, which was rare, he often visited his best friend Mr Kang in Ulsan, who managed Go’s business there.

All in all, nothing out of the ordinary for an average Korean businessman.

So No picked up the phone and dialed Ulsan.

As the phone rang, her aversion accumulated.

She disliked Mr Kang.

He was single, in his late 30s, and the only son in his family.

As such, he lived in his own little world, accountable to no one.

He did what he pleased.

Judging from Go’s phone calls to him that No occasionally and inadvertently (of course) eavesdropped, Kang viewed women as servants to men.

No wondered if Kang’s mother was the only woman he really knew.

Consequently his view was very narrow and skewed – a woman’s place was squatting on the porch out back, either making kimchi or hand scrubbing laundry.

Kang was just coming up the stairs to his office when he heard the phone ring.

Expecting someone else, he grabbed it in mid-ring and greeted the caller, trying to mask his gaspy, heavy-smoker’s breathing.

The crackly female voice on the other end:

“Hello I’m looking for Mr Go. Would he happen to be there at this time?”

Kang recognized the caller immediately and switched on his syrupy mode.

“Ah, the beautiful, sexy and vivacious Miss No. Where are you? Hopefully cooking something delicious for Mr Go? Or making up the bed after a long night of lovemaking?”

She didn’t answer.

Kang’s tendency to ‘rub things in’ was one of his most annoying traits.

Kang well knew about the animosity between Go and No these days.

“Anyway you have immaculate timing. Well, almost. Your lover man Mr Go was just here. He left only moments ago. I saw him off.”

“Oh? What was he doing there?”

“Not much, just making a little delivery.”

“Huh?”

“Did you not know? Dropping off the latest waygook for me.”

“Really? Who?”

“Do you know Meesta Thomassa?”

* How is Miss No going to react? *

She instantly went into shock and hung up the phone.

Yet one thing could be said about Miss No: She had almost superhuman abilities to suppress emotional outbursts.

This put her a cut above most Koreans (women and men) who were prone to instantaneous mood bursts followed by hasty, knee-jerk reactions.

In the ensuing moment, she managed to keep a lid on what would have been a loud and stompy temper tantrum.

She sat at her desk maintaining rigid posture and glaring straight ahead.

For a few tense seconds, an urge to scream rose up inside her but she suppressed it.

Intelligence must rule.

Intelligence MUST rule. Her new mantra.

A moment passed; the heat of potential hysterics dissipated.

Her mind cleared and she was able to reflect on the matter.

Okay, Thomas is gone.

It’s too late for goodbyes.

Time to move on.

Nevertheless, she patted herself on the back for her self-control.

She stayed on alert in case her latent wrath did happen to become unhinged, like an ungrounded electrical circuit arcing wildly and looking for a ground point to touch down.

Yet further moments passed.

Calm and control prevailed.

* Will her self-control continue to prevail? *

Over the next few days, wild rumours flew, particularly amongst the protesting housewife clients.

Why had Thomas left they asked.

He’d looked ill in his final days.

Had he caught an incurable illness or perhaps even died?

He’d been spotted with a coffee lady.

Had he contracted a social disease and been deported by the health department?

One rumour even suggested Miss No had fired Thomas because he’d spurned her advances!

 * That last rumour has a grain of truth to it… does it not? *

*

Tomorrow: Damion attempts to market some romance.