Martoons

Today: The wait for Donna’s arrival continues.

Cast of characters

Mr Go

Damion

Donna

Scene: Central Institute – Mr Go’s office

*

Glued to Go’s office couch for the time being then, Dame only left to use the facilities; otherwise, food was delivered and the new secretary (yet another one) would go and get fresh smokes for them.

As the minutes, hours and days passed, and then the first week of waiting for Donna to arrive, Go came to think that this whole thing was some kind of cosmic punishment for exiling Thomas.

And each time he had those thoughts, his eyes would naturally carry over to Damion, and his anger would brew.

* Will Go eventually turn against Damion? *

In turn, as if reading his mind, Damion would often catch the scornful glances and feel compelled to say something soothing.

“Think beyond the moment, boss,” he’d say in his most Buddha-like, calming tone.

“Transcend the cosmic Now-ness. When my sister gets here you’ll forget Thomas.”

(Too bad, he thought, that Coffee Lady hadn’t.)

“When my sister gets here you’ll forget Thomas,” said Damion.

* Will he though? *

The words sounded good but then more hours would pass and Go’s phone would sit there dead on his desk.

His frustration and doubt would build again.

During the peak pressure moments, he could feel a splitting headache coming on.

“Ayeesh, stress,” he muttered.

He wished he’d never met Damion.

He wanted Thomas back.

And Damion’s sister Donna?

He’d come full circle and didn’t even want her to come here anymore.

Why did I change my mind?

For the umpteenth time, he picked up her curled-up faxed resume and looked at her grainy passport picture, trying to read it like a tea leaf.

She looked grey, faded and wrinkled.

And wasn’t she capable of a smile?

She was too much like a Korean.

He thought of the institute’s clients and how horrified they’d be of the woman’s ghastly and ghostly face.

Why can’t I just hire a whiteface like every other Englishy school in town?

“Ayeesh!” he muttered and slapped the page down on his desk.

It instantaneously rolled up and then rolled off the desk. 

This whole thing was going horribly wrong.

His only relief from the frying pan-like environment here in the office was when Damion nipped out to use the facilities.

Go had stashed aside a couple of soju bottles and kept them secretly secured in the big, lower left hand drawer of his desk – the only one with a little lock on it.

When Dame would scoot out to empty his tanks, Go would quickly extract a bottle and take a good, long swig.

Thus, as the days went by, he pretty much maintained an ongoing soju ‘warm on’.

Everything was okay as long as he kept that window blind closed.

One thing was for sure:

Go was downright nervous about meeting the waygook woman.

He’d never had one working for him before.

Come to think of it, he’d never met one before.

As he reached down to the drawer for his bottle one mid-afternoon, the secretary stuck her head in unexpectedly.

Her face was radiant and she could hardly contain herself, waving her fists around as if cheering for the home team.

“Why?” Go asked calmly.

“Boss Go, waygook woman is here.”

* Will Go’s first meeting with Donna go well? *

*

Despite the dislike, disdain, doubt and discontent he’d felt for days about Donna arriving, Go knew that the worst thing now would be to let those feelings show in any way.

She was here.

Now.

And for Koreans, the arrival of a foreign guest is a big event.

It’s not something that happens every day.

So, Go rolled out the welcome mat and jumped into the whole ‘Welcome Donna’ thing with full vigour.

Certain times in life one has to be an actor, and this was one.

Just ask Shakespeare.

Koreans understand the importance of first impressions and do their utmost to make a new foreigner feel royal right off the bat.

With the brand new waygook waiting in the lobby, Go nipped into the men’s and brushed his teeth twice to ensure no flakes of chili pepper powder were stuck between them.

Then he cranked up his biggest ear-to-ear smile.

His first impression was good (and he presumed hers was too) and Go immediately put Donna on display around the institute.

* Was Donna’s first impression of Go good? *

She felt like a political candidate, shaking hands and even kissing a few housewives’ babies, pretending the whole time that she didn’t speak a word of Korean.

Later when the open house crowds had thinned out, she was called into Go’s office.

“Here,” and he handed her a set of keys, “for your apartment. I will drive you there later. But because you arrive in Korea today, I want to introduce you to our country.”

*

Tomorrow: Donna just wants to relax.