The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Author:Marie Myung-Ok Lee [Lee, Marie Myung-Ok]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

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Everyone waited for the good news that they all thought must inevitably come on the heels of an end to war. They didn’t understand that the opposite of war is not peace; it’s just more war. Wars are ongoing, like underground fires, even if you can’t see them. Even a war that’s officially declared done, dead, forgotten, can still be alive, every day, for those living it. The villagers looked on in shock to learn that Water Project Village was now in North Korea.

“Wait!” the villagers said. They were, and always had been, south-of-the-line people.

The soldiers putting up the notices didn’t reply. They informed the villagers they had forty-eight hours to choose between being evacuated to South Korea or staying and joining the Communists of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. However, anyone who decided to stay in the “North” would be brought in for psychological interrogation as to their reasons why. Yungman burned with curiosity when he heard that the interrogators were American civilians. What Americans would speak Korean well enough? It turned out that they weren’t white Americans; they were Japanese immigrants and their children who’d been locked up as enemies during World War II. So they didn’t interpret to them in Korean but Japanese. Why would you want to become a Communist? Have you always been one? Most villagers were so disgusted at hearing Japanese again that they decided to go south just to get out of the questioning.

Father Andrea, who had been standing quietly by during the announcement, suddenly started yelling at the soldiers. “You can’t do this! You can’t make us leave our home!” He kept yelling. He told people not to leave. He said the Americans had not only dropped that white powder containing sickness from the sky but they had other horrible weapons they were experimenting with putting their germs in: insects, bullets, even feathers. They didn’t actually want people to stay and become North Koreans; they had plans to put germs in the town well to kill anyone who stayed behind. Father Andrea yelled so much that some military police were eventually called to bind his arms and gag him. Even still, you could see his red face, his wild eyes as he fought.

As they began to lead him away (to where, no one knew), Yungman saw an astonishing sight.

Father Andrea somehow mustered the strength the break away from the two young MPs holding him. He ran pell-mell to the well where, before anyone could stop him, he fell or jumped in. The well was so deep that they didn’t even hear a splash. The soldiers drew their guns and made everyone move away, warning them not to listen to the “Communists.”

“How can we help Father Andrea?” Yungman frantically pulled at his mother’s sleeve. She whirled around and immediately put her hand over his mouth. “Please,” she said. “He was our dear friend. But we have to concentrate on us.” They heard a MRAAAAAP! noise behind them. Yungman started to turn back, but his mother yanked him along.

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