News from Korea

There she was, little woman in the meat isle, her basket loaded with bright red meat, gliding discretely toward what would turn into the dairy section past the side isles devoted to pet food, auto parts, painkillers, and hair-grips. She suddenly caught my eye and a mad grin spread across her face, flashing bright pink gums at the top of her mouth, but with reasonably sized teeth  placed in a tidy row two thirds of the way down.  It was the same smile that she always held, it was total abandon to total smile. I would vainly search for faint traces of competing emotions struggling to get some time and space on this platform of expression, but she not only held firm, her smile was ever expanding however long she wore it.
I stopped at once.
"Oh, hi, hi, how are you? Haven't seen you for a long time."
"No! No! Long time!" she screamed.
"You still go to ESL classes?"
"Oh, ESL classes."
"You still go?"
"Yes, well, no, sometimes. It is very hard."
"Oh, but your English is good, better, like it...is..."
"No, no good. Very hard."
We stood awkwardly for a short while. I begun to edge my basket forward, slightly, while my body remained pinned to the Healthy Oat Nut, Hundred Percent Wheat, and Jewish Rye shelves that faced the meat counter. She looked as if she expected the conversation to continue a while longer, her eyes and hands steady, smile expanding.
I cleared my throat.
"Terrible bad news from your country, with the North Koreans, you know."
"My country?"
Yes, you know, your home."
"Home?"
"Home country. Not home here. Korea. South Korea. The bombing, the people who were killed."
She slightly adjusted the angle of her face and her smile reached a higher level of completeness.
"Sorry, I don't understand."
"The war. Well, not war, but you know, Korea. North Korea."
"Ahh, the news. Yes, the news," she added a hint of breathy laugh to her expression producing an understated multi-media effect.
“Yes. the news...” I trailed off, and nodded, as if in good-bye.
She nodded back, very cheerfully. I tried not to bow. We parted.


It was only when I cleared the check-out that a horrible recollection came crashing-in on me.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! “
She wasn’t Korean. Of course. Now I remember. Chinese. Of course, Chengdu, the country of heaven, the Land of Abundance, the Brocade City, Hibiscus, paper money, Poet Sages and Poet Gods. Yes, now I remember.