Operation Counterpunch

2. Tears of Joy

Chapter Two

Tears of Joy

Jae-sun stood beside his mama, holding her hand. His daddy hailed a cab from the curb of Union Station.

“Embassy, Republic of Korea, please, sir. I have address for you.”

“I know the place, buddy. I’ll have ya there in a jiffy.”

As the cab pulled into traffic, heading to his daddy’s new assignment in America, Jae-sun got comfortable sitting up on his knees on the back seat between his parents; now he could see out the windows. After such a long trip he could hardly contain his excitement. He wanted to see the embassy. He wanted to see everything.

“Mama, what smells so good?”

“It’s the cherry blossoms, Jae-sun. Aren’t they beautiful?”

Jae-sun breathed deep; he even liked the way America smelled.

“You folks moving to Washington?”

“Excuse my English, please. Yes, I am new secretary for Ambassador Republic of Korea.”

“I guess you folks like ole Harry S. He and MacArthur really took it to the j**s, eh?”

“Yes, sir, very thankful. We have a country again.”

Jae-sun’s daddy nudged him and pointed as the embassy came into view. His mother’s tears fell onto the back of his hand. Jae-sun sensed his mother’s complete happiness. He turned and hugged her tight while enjoying his father’s approving pat on his back.

* * *

Jae-sun marveled at the bedroom in the embassy, his very own bedroom. He stood just inside the door, giddy with delight. He took in the aroma of new paint, light blue with horses galloping on a wallpaper strip around the room. His bed even had a horse themed bed spread.

“Do you like it, Jae-sun?”

“Oh, Mama, I love it!”

“Let’s put your things away, Jae-sun. No time to lose. Tomorrow we will go tour a school for you. It’s called the Randall Hyland School. I want you to learn to speak English like an American boy. That will be very helpful to you as you get older.”

The following Monday Jae-sun woke early and dressed quickly, anxious for his first day of school. On most days his father’s driver from the embassy would take him, but on this first day, his mother and father brought him and introduced him to the headmaster, Mr. Hodges. Jae-sun patiently listened to them discuss his curriculum. As his parents prepared to leave, he bit on his lip, determined to be brave.

As they walked from the office down the hall to his classroom, Mr. Hodges held out his hand for Jae-sun. Mr. Hodges seemed like he was ten feet tall, but a good man.

Mr. Hodges led him to Room 4 and motioned for him to wait in the hall—message understood. He returned a few moments later with Jae-sun’s very pretty teacher, Mrs. Price.

She easily squatted down to make eye contact, welcoming him with a smile. He looked into her eyes, confident a beautiful person, inside and out, had just entered his life. She stood back up, took him by the hand, and walked into the classroom—into the gaze of ten students checking Jae-sun out. The tops of his ears burned, but he resisted the urge to reach up and touch them. He counted six boys and four girls. One of the girls smiled at him from her desk in the back of the room next to the windows. She looked cute in her powder blue jumper over a plain white blouse with yellow ribbons tied on the ends of beautiful long braids. Her bright blue eyes held his gaze.

Ms. Price began to speak, and all refocused on their teacher. Jae-sun did not know exactly what she said, but the blue-eyed girl’s hand shot up so aggressively that Jae-sun recoiled slightly and his eyebrows shot up.

“Thank you, Rebecca!” She motioned toward the desk next to her.

Jae-sun quickly got the idea that he was supposed to sit next to Rebecca; concealing the smile forming on his face was difficult; school was going to be fun.

* * *

Time passed quickly. Within eight weeks Jae-sun understood everything Ms. Price said during lecture or when giving instruction to the class. Rebecca and Jae-sun were becoming great friends. She came from Oklahoma. Her father served in the Army and worked at the Pentagon. Rebecca’s bright mind impressed Jae-sun; many English idioms and little sayings from the South were added to his vocabulary through their friendship.

During evenings Jae-sun tagged along behind Earl, custodian for the public areas of the Korean Embassy. A black gentleman and deacon at the Baptist church, Earl taught Jae-sun many English words and the fundamentals of Christian faith. Jae-sun liked Earl, his stories and his accent. He eagerly absorbed the concepts of right and wrong from a Western Christian perspective.

As fourth grade began at the Randall Hyland School, Jae-sun felt like an upper classman. The Korean War broke out in the summer of 1950, so the family stayed in the United States throughout the war. First, second, and third grades went very well for Jae-sun; and as fourth grade began, he felt appreciated by his teachers. They marveled over his exceptional command of mathematics and language.

On the first day of fourth grade, Jae-sun stopped at the office to determine this year’s room assignment, Room 12—Mr. Clarke, a new room and a new teacher. Mr. Clarke stood by the door waiting for each of his students. He introduced himself to Jae-sun and gave him a seat assignment. Mr. Clarke meant business.

Delighted at seeing Rebecca in the class, Jae-sun smiled and waved enroute to his assigned seat. No doubt the war extended her father’s assignment, too.

Jae-sun approached the desk. His desk mate had already arrived, so he extended his hand. “Hi. My name is Jae-sun.”

Jae-sun looked up, and up even more as the boy stood to an impressive five feet and extended a hand back to Jae-sun. “My name is Billy. Are you a Jap?”

He smiled as he looked up at Billy, which seemed to soften his demeanor. “No, I am Korean.”

Mr. Clarke’s stern but subdued voice interjected from behind.

Speaking quietly so as not to embarrass Billy, the teacher said, “Mr. Johnson, even though many people use the word Jap, I do not want you to use that word. We defeated the Japanese; they are our allies now. Using such a term diminishes you, not them.”

Three weeks into the school year, Jae-sun could tell that Billy was struggling with their math lessons. It bothered Billy; he just couldn’t quite grasp the concepts. Billy lived for competition; he tried his hardest at everything. He wanted to grow up and be a naval officer just like his father. Jae-sun wondered how he might help him.

Mr. Clarke’s schedule had the math lesson just before the noon recess and lunch period. One day, just before Halloween, Billy was having an especially hard time with the lesson, frustrated almost to tears. Already finished, Jae-sun used the time to read a Korean story book. He stole side glances, trying to assess Billy’s frustration level.

“Hey, Billy, let’s stay in at lunch. I’ll help you.”

“You’d be willing to do that?”

“Yessum!” Rebecca had taught Jae-sun that word.

For the rest of fourth grade and through the fifth, Jae-sun eagerly stayed in at least two days a week to help Billy.

School came easy for Jae-sun, but he also enjoyed a challenge; extra reading became the solution of choice. Jae-sun and Billy’s friendship had blossomed during fourth grade, and now they happily discovered they shared the same home room in sixth grade. It didn’t matter that Billy was still the biggest kid in their class, and Jae-sun one of the smallest; they were the best of friends.

Billy’s mother had decided he could begin walking the ten blocks to school, but Jae-sun lived seven miles away, so when he arrived home after the first day he walked into his father’s office and said, “Dad, six blocks from school my friend’s route intersects with mine near a park. May I ask our chauffeur to begin dropping me there?”

“Yes, you may.”

“Keen!”

“Keen? What is keen?”

“It’s an English word, Dad. It means That’s Great!”

His father looked over the top of his glasses and smiled.

One day Jae-sun arrived at the park to meet Billy as usual. They always left themselves plenty of time, but Billy was running a bit late. Jae-sun sat on a bench and enjoyed all the daffodils planted around the trees; they were just beginning to bloom.

Moments later three older boys he didn’t recognize walked up to Jae-sun and began poking and taunting. This sort of thing had never happened to Jae-sun before, but his bright mind could not control his sharp tongue. Even though remaining silent may have been a better response, his cutting remarks belittling their cumulative intelligence seemed to provoke them further.

When the ringleader jerked him up by his coat collar, Jae-sun implied that the kid’s mother must be a moron to have produced such a child.

The kid responded by throwing Jae-sun to the ground.

Jae-sun wished he hadn’t heard what the ringleader said next. “Hold his arms, boys! I’m gonna teach you a lesson!”

“Hey!” shouted Billy, trotting up from behind.

Jae-sun and the kid reacted together.

Billy let his best fastball fly with a green apple. The apple caught the kid square on the nose.

Jae-sun winced at the blood, pushing the kid off, hands still over his face and screaming.

The other two boys rushed Billy, the one on his left two steps ahead.

Jae-sun cringed—two on one! His anxiety turned to pride as Billy calmly kept his guard down, as if to encourage their charge.

At the last moment Billy popped the kid coming on his left square in the jaw with a right hook—one down.

Jae-sun couldn’t believe how fast Billy moved. He took a half step back with his right leg and landed a left precisely onto the side of the other kid’s temple.

As Jae-sun drew his knees up to stand, Billy reached down and pulled him up. “Let’s go to school.”

“Okay! Thanks for getting me outta that jam.”

“You bet.” Billy reached down and picked up his apple. “I’m sure glad Mom made me bring this.” He tossed it in the air once and put it back in his pocket.

They arrived at school to Rebecca waiting for them on the front steps, waving wildly.

Jae-sun and Billy returned her greeting, but never said a word, like it never happened.