Fishing for Bacon by Michael Davie

Author:Michael Davie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000, FIC019000, FIC008000
Publisher: NeWest Press
Published: 2009-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Environmentally Friendly, Recycled Paper(75% recovered material content,

10% post-consumer recovered fibre)

“He’s crazy!” I cried out, generating a scowl from the librarian. I didn’t owe Laszlo money! I’d never even heard of KC Enterprizes. If anything he should be paying me damages for pain and suffering. I read the letter again, stood up, and sat back down. I jumped up once again, paced around the table, then crumpled up the letter and hurled it into the trash.

It took nearly a full hour of stewing before I could force Laszlo and his incredible letter from my mind, at least enough to focus partially on two more chapters from the Korean travel book.

With a handle on the alphabet, I turned to learning grammar rules and how to group the letters into syllable blocks for writing. I began memorizing words and stringing simple phrases together.

Every morning for a week I returned to the library and studied the entire day. Twice, when the wind blew less ferociously, I fished for a bit in the afternoon. But even then I’d practise speaking the Korean words as I reeled. River was gang. Creek was cheon. Mountain was san. Each night after everyone had gone to bed, I’d sneak over to Meryl Streep’s room — which was actually my room, much like my condo in Calgary was actually Karla’s — and I’d try out some words or phrases. My pronunciation improved, but my listening and comprehension went nowhere. No matter how hard I studied or how carefully I listened, everything Meryl Streep said sounded like poison frogs. Poison frogs are in the cereal. Poison frogs have snuck in through cracks in the walls. When I asked Mr. Kwon about it, he showed more surprise at my learning Korean than at the poison frogs.

“I once said to you that Meryl Streep watches too much Korean dramas. She is obsessed with Korean dramas. In fact, I think maybe she believes that she is in a Korean drama. Sometimes poison frogs, other times she has cancer. Almost always she says she is torn in a love triangle. So strange. I can’t know exactly, but when her mother left us, Meryl Streep started acting this way.”

Mr. Kwon hoped a change of location would help Meryl Streep. Each morning he took her for breakfast and a walk in Blairmore or Coleman or Hillcrest or Pincher Creek. Each evening they sat and chatted for an hour after dinner. He was a busy man, Mr. Kwon. After his breakfasts with Meryl Streep, he’d spend the rest of the day scouting out restaurant locations, researching costs and suppliers. In the evening when he got home, he’d water the lawn or clear the slow drain in the tub or patch the hole in the screen door or some other neglected problem the rest of us had stopped noticing. Each night after his chats with Meryl Streep, he’d sprawl out several books across the kitchen table, begin planning and budgeting for everything you could imagine you might need to start a restaurant.

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