Angels of the Morning Calm (Chapter 4)

Byron carried the little TV he had purchased up the street to the front of Ok Sun’s landlady’s house this evening. He had accompanied Ok Sun when she stopped to pay her rent, so he knew the house, but he was unsure if he could speak well enough to get her landlady to understand his intent to leave the TV in Ok Sun’s house.1

The land lady answered the door, and smiled uneasily when she recognized him. She seemed unsure whether to try to converse with him, or send him away.2

Byron began with his strained Korean to try to explain that he had bought the TV as a gift for Ok Sun. When she nodded as if she understood he explained that he wanted to surprise her by leaving it in her house. It took two or three attempts, but finally the land lady smiled widely revealing her perfect set of dentures, and answered, “Ah, ah, araso.”3

She disappeared inside her house briefly leaving the door open as a signal to Byron that she would be back. She reappeared with a key in her hand. She stopped briefly and turned her back to Byron as she slid her toes into the shoes outside her door. She closed the door and shuffled down the narrow alleyway in front of her house waving for Byron to follow her as she went.4

When they arrived in front of Ok Sun’s apartment, the landlady knocked twice at the door and shouted. Nobody answered.5

Byron knew nobody would be home. He had cleverly scoped out her place of employment until he knew she had gone to work before he ever tried to bring the TV home. He knew her well enough by now to know that she would first be shocked, but if he was accompanied by her landlady, he believed it would be ok. He believed she would appreciate the present he was leaving for her to discover and enjoy by herself.6

Upon satisfying herself that nobody was home, the landlady opened the door. She motioned for Byron to enter.7

Byron stepped inside the house.8

The landlady barked at him and waved at his shoes..9

Byron stopped, sat the TV down, removed his shoes, then continued inside. It was very small, and only consisted of a small front room, and a tiny tiled bathroom that actually joined the area into which he first walked. Everything inside her house was neatly in its place, and every square inch of the house was sanitized. The neatness and cleanliness was typical of his meticulous student and teacher.10

He placed the TV on the tiny dresser just to the side of the mirror. He did not know for sure where she would want it, but he thought this looked as good as any other spot. He carefully situated it to be most easily seen from her bed.11

He plugged it in, and gave it a quick test. 12

Everything was functional.13

He turned it off and quickly exited her room.14

He replaced his shoes at her door as the land lady locked the door and checked to be sure everything was secure.15

Byron nodded his head deeply in acknowledgement to her. “Kamsa hamnida,” he thanked her.16

“Ye,” she acknowledged pleasantly. “Cheon man-eyo.”17

The peace of the frogs chirping in the nearby trees was interrupted by the quick percussions of a woman's shoes on the concrete street. 18

Byron stopped and listened. “Odd,” he thought to himself as he strode to a new position just ahead of the landlady and on to the mouth of this dark alley. He had become accustomed to the scoot and shuffle that these shoes made as the ladies walked in them. But the cadence of these shoes was unmistakable – someone was in a dead run toward them.19

They approached the entrance to the alley.20

Suddenly, a fury of arms and flying hair flew into Byron.21

Byron fell back from the force, then recovered himself and jumped back to separate himself from this newly appeared figure.22

Miss Gunn from Ok Sun’s place of employment panted and sobbed before him. She shuffled quickly and uncontrollably in a dance of terror. Her hair was mussed from her run. Her face was red, and she gasped in loud heaves as she struggled to find enough wind to speak. Even in the very dim light of the alleyway Byron could see the wild-eyed expression beneath her frazzled locks - or was that fear?23

Recognizing Byron just before he recognized her, she grabbed his arm.24

Byron pulled his hand away from her.25

She jumped up and down stamping loudly, screaming and wheezing out unintelligible syllables.26

Byron’s legs tingled from the adrenaline now beginning to flow.27

She waved her hands wildly to Byron as if to say "Follow me."28

Byron stood frozen.29

She grabbed his arm tightly and tugged a mighty tug as she turned to run back up the hill before them.30

He pulled back with all of his adrenaline enhanced strength.31

She turned to him again and jumped up and down – tears streaming down her face. “Bbali, bbali!” she pleaded with him. 32

Byron stood his ground, still set back by her maniacal state.33

She spoke rapidly through sobs.34

He understood nothing.35

Suddenly, the landlady came between them. Wide eyed, she questioned this newly appeared embodiment of panic.36

Through sobs and wheezes, Miss Gunn managed a few strained and very rapid sentences to the landlady.37

“Who?” Byron heard the landlady ask in Korean.38

“Yi Ok Sun,” Miss Gunn answered back.39

Byron looked questioningly at the landlady. He definitely recognized the full Korean name of Miss Lee.40

The landlady jerked her head around to look at Byron squarely and authoritatively. “Bbali bbali! Ga!” she shouted pushing him in the direction Miss Gunn was trying to take him.41

Recognizing the words for “Hurry go” from the land lady Byron yielded to Miss Gunn’s tugs.42

With all her short, petite frame could muster, Miss Gunn grabbed Byron and began powering up the hill she had just run down. She pulled Byron first, but then let go and began running straight ahead, leading the way - her backless shoes slapping the heels of her feet with every step.43

How could anyone even run in shoes such as these? But run she did at such a pace that Byron, with the hardened body that military physical conditioning had built, found himself struggling to keep up. With every step Miss Gunn wheezed or hinted at a sob - sometimes it was not clear which – but she never slowed.44

She turned into the alley that went along the side of the restaurant where she and Ok Sun worked.45

"I'm not allowed to enter this way," Byron thought to himself, but this time, he dared not resist.46

Miss Gunn grabbed the door at the side of the building, and swung it fully open. She stood to the side, tears streaming down her exhausted face gesturing for Byron to enter the door.47

Byron passed and entered the door.48

Miss Gunn fell to her knees and elbows on the alleyway behind him gasping for each new breath, and fighting the sobs on every exhale. Her job was now finished, and she was thoroughly spent.49

Inside the door, a pair of strong hands grabbed Byron by the shoulders, and shoved him through the door to the residence of the restaurant proprietor.50

Byron gasped at the first sight inside, his lips retreated in horror leaving him with a terrified snarl. As he was about to exhale the gasp, his eyes moved, and he gasped again. Again and again he gasped – each time unable to exhale the previous breath or close his mouth as his eyes moved from scarlet puddle to scarlet pool on the dull yellow linoleum floor of the room into which he had been pushed.51

Near the wall on the far side of the room, ajuma sat with Ok Sun’s head in her lap. A trash can containing scores of blood soaked paper towels sat just to her left.52

Ok Sun, eyes filled with tears, and face filled with pain, sobbed. Her shirt was spattered, splotched, and widely stained with blood.53

Ajuma removed the blood soaked paper towl from the left side of Ok Sun’s neck and threw it in the trash can before her.54

The horror that had just begun to take root in Byron gripped his very soul as he saw what had been hidden under that make shift bandage.55

Ok Sun had two gashes on the side of her neck. The lower gash was long - extending from just above her shoulder on the back of her neck upward and forward to the center of the side of her neck. About two inches higher was a 3 cornered gash in the shape of a 7. From the lower gash blood oozed. From the upper gash blood rushed with every sob, and receded with every fading gasp. Byron could tell the upper gash was very deep - even the inside corner of the 7 turned under revealing the raw flesh on the opposite side.56

He watched as ajuma took a clean paper towl from the roll at her side, and put it on the wound.57

“She doesn’t know how to stop bleeding,” he said to himself. “But, I don’t know if that kind of bleeding can be stopped.”58

Horror gave way to panic within him.59

He breathed rapidly, but now more from what was before him than from the run that was now behind him.60

“Get it together!” The words were a mumble under his breath, but a shout in his head.61

From deep inside him, a mighty struggle for control began. His seniors advised him to never get involved in an injury with a local. They told him he could be charged, and would never get a fair trial even if all he was trying to do was help. But this was not just anybody – this was the one he had promised to care for as he would his sister. This was someone from whom he could not walk away.62

Then came the pure desperation.63

She was hurt – badly. She cried, but in fear rather than in pain. She needed him, and he knew that, but what could he do?64

He looked again at the puddles of scarlet liquid in the floor. He had no experience with this type of blood loss. How much blood could a person lose and still live? But, she was still breathing – still crying. There must still be hope for her. How could he not try so long as there was hope?65

Fear paralyzed his mind. It was not a fear for himself and not a fear he could pinpoint, but a terrible, and disabling fear.66

What if she died? What if he couldn’t help her? What if he didn’t really know what to do? What would happen if he did nothing?67

The battle raged in his mind. Mentally he screamed from one side to the other. On one side the voice of panic held him. From the other side the voices screamed: “It’s not about you! ... She needs you! Now! ... Get it together! … Son of a BITCH! Why can’t you get it together and actually DO something?!”68

Straining as though lifting with his mind, he began to forcibly push the fear and panic out of the seat of power.69

“Ajuma,” He said as he descended to his knees before her and Ok Sun.70

Seeing him kneel, the ajuma moved her hands, and gave him control.71

Still straining to stay in control of his emotions, he began to think semi-audibly. Here was where that military first aid training was needed.72

“Pressure,” he said.73

He tore another paper towel off the roll, and placed it over the now blood soaked paper towel that he had watched ajuma place there only moments before.74

“Elevate the wound above her heart,” He mumbled. “I hope that means wounds to the neck too.”75

Forcing himself to breathe slower and to sound calm he spoke directly to her. “Miss Lee.”76

She looked up at him. Seeing him in front of her she quieted almost immediately. Deeply, she gazed into his eyes as he continued.77

“I need to sit you up,” he said slowly and softly. “We need the cuts to be higher.”78

Slowly, and gently, he raised her to a sitting position, then reclined her against the teak colored wardrobe behind her.79

Her eyes never left his. She gazed as if mesmerized.80

“No crying, and no fear,” Byron spoke inside his head as he noticed her fixed gaze. “She’s looking at you to see if she’s going to make it.”81

Her crying stilled.82

Still straining to hold his fear and panic in check, he searched for words to speak to the ajuma and ajoshi. But there was only so much that his mind could do, and now, in its stretched state, words of a foreign language were very difficult to find.83

“Hospital,” he thought to himself, careful to not let his growing frustration show to the eyes he knew were still fixed on his. “I know that word….WHAT IS IT?!”84

He turned to ajoshi. “Pyeong won,” he said.85

“Ah, pyeong won,” ajoshi repeated. He began to speak rapidly and motion as if giving directions.86

Byron shook his head. He didn’t know the word he needed – he had never learned this one. Maybe it was the same as in English.”87

“Ambulance,” he said interrupting ajoshi. “Ambulance.”88

Ajoshi and ajuma looked blankly at each other, then back at Byron.89

“Uuuh …,” Byron strained. What was his next option if ambulance could not be understood?90

“Taxi?” Byron asked.91

“Ah, taekshi,” ajoshi said now understanding Byron’s next step. He said something that Byron did not understand, quickly rose, and exited through the back door.92

Byron turned his attention Ok Sun.93

“You’re going to be OK,” he assured her. “We’re going to get you fixed back up.”94

She sniffled now, but only occasionally. The crying had stopped. She said nothing, but her eyes stayed firmly attached to Byron’s.95

Ajuma tapped Byron on the shoulder.96

He looked to her.97

She began speaking on and on, gesturing and emphasizing with guttural sounds and intense expressions. It was a story without understanding, but a story that continued - accompanied only by the occasional sniffle from Ok Sun.98

Ajoshi burst through the door.99

“Taekshi!” he exclaimed motioning urgently with an underhanded wave.100

Byron turned back to Ok Sun. “Carrying is going to be a trick,” he thought to himself. How could he keep pressure on the wounds while transporting her?101

He took her hand in his, and brought it to the paper towels he held against the side of her neck.102

“I’m going to carry you,” he said slowly and gently to her. “So I need you to hold this. Can you do that?”103

Ok Sun did not answer, but kept her hand firmly against the make-shift bandage.104

Byron reached gently beneath her legs and shoulders. She offered neither help nor resistance, but kept her bandage in place, and her eyes fixed on Byron’s.105

Byron straightened to fully upright cradling Ok Sun in his arms. With urgency he carried his beautiful, but broken friend to the door, and out into the chilly evening.106

Miss Gunn, now breathing easier after her gutsy rescue run spoke words through tears as Miss Lee passed by in Byron’s arms.107

Byron did not stop to acknowledge her.108

Ajoshi opened the back door to the lime green taxi which waited near the door.109

With scarcely a strain, Byron gently sat the delicately framed young lady inside, then entered the taxi beside her.110

The restaurant ajoshi spoke rapidly to the taxi driver. He handed the driver a bill and waved to him.111

“Bbali, bbali!” Byron heard him exclaim as the taxi screeched away.112

This taxi ride was even wilder than normal. The driver wove in and out of traffic in the night and paid attention to signals only in deciding whether or not his horn was needed to pass through.113

All Byron noticed was the fading flower beside him. Her breath was now becoming shallower, and was occasionally accompanied by a slight whimper. Her eyelids became heavier, and heavier until they no longer opened.114

“Oh, God! NO!” Byron pleaded. “DON'T take her now!”115

The tears that he had been thus far able to hold back began to force their way to his eyes. “This is my only friend! Please don’t take her now!” He repeated.116

Miss Lee no longer reacted to Byron's voice. He checked her breath. She was still breathing, but her breath was now very light and rapid - barely felt by Byron's hand. 117

The taxi stopped near the entrance of a brown painted concrete building not much larger than a large American house.118

Byron wiped his eyes and quickly got out. As gently as possible, he removed Miss Lee from the back seat. He brought her to a position where her weight rested on her posterior which he had placed on his thigh. His left arm was around her shoulders to balance her limp body on him. His right arm circled around her neck and held the now blood soaked paper towel she had once held in place.119

“Ajoshi,” Byron called to the taxi driver.120

The taxi driver looked to him.121

“Towa chuseyo,” Byron said motioning to Miss Lee’s neck with his head.122

The taxi driver got out of his cab and answered Byron’s plea for help.123

Byron pointed to the bandages on Ok Sun’s neck.124

The taxi driver reached and held the pressure on the bandages.125

Byron slid his now free right arm beneath Ok Sun’s legs and stood up cradling her once again in his arms.126

The taxi driver continued to hold the bandages in place.127

Byron carried her through the front door of the building to which they had driven. Two ladies dressed in white dresses and in white nurses caps with red crosses on them came forward to meet this threesome at the door.128

The taxi driver exchanged a quick word with them.129

They hastened through a door beckoning them to follow.130

Through this door was a single large bay which encompassed the rest of the building. Cot sized stainless steel tables were lined up on each side of the room. Some of these tables were covered by bed linens. Curtains hung along the walls with sliding fixtures such that they could be drawn around individual beds.131

One of the nurses walked to one of these covered stainless steel beds and motioned to them to deposit their load there.132

Byron gently laid Ok Sun’s limp body there, careful to not let her head flop to either side.133

The Nurses quickly moved in, and removed the paper towel to look. One spoke to the other who quickly exited. The first nurse replaced the bandage and continued holding it in place.134

The taxi driver patted Byron on the shoulder, and motioned to let Byron know that he was now leaving.135

“Kamsa hamnida,” Byron thanked him.136

A young man entered the area where Ok Sun lay. He spoke with the nurse there then checked the wound for himself. He nodded then spoke with the nurse again.137

The nurse hurried off, and returned with a large curved needle and suture.138

Byron watched as they worked to scrub the area around the wounds, and then to stitch up first the three cornered gash, then the lower cut.139

As he finished, the young doctor turned to Byron and spoke, “Why did you bring her here?”140

“It’s where her boss sent her,” Byron answered. “I didn’t know where to send her.”141

“She is your wife?”142

“No. She is a friend.”143

The doctor’s expression changed to show almost a degree of disgust.144

“She cannot stay here,” he said.145

“What do you mean?”146

“I can suture her. We can bandage her. This is not much money. But American men’s girls do not have money. She cannot stay here.”147

“How much will it be?” Byron asked incredulously. “I’ll pay if I have to.”148

“No!” the doctor insisted. “American military is not supposed to come here. She cannot stay here.”149

Byron’s forehead wrinkeld in irritation.150

“She’s not even frickin conscious!” he said demandingly. “You’re telling me she has to leave when she’s not even conscious?”151

“She cannot pay,” the doctor said. “We are finished now. Now you take her.”152

“Wait just a minute!” Byron said as the doctor turned to leave. “How am I supposed to take care of her? All I know is that she’s lost a lot of blood and she’s not conscious!”153

“Now I think she is in shock,” the doctor said callously. “You take her.”154

Byron’s frustration turned to rage. “I can’t take care of her like this!” he yelled.155

“She is not my responsibility,” the doctor replied, raising his voice to match Byron’s.156

Byron clenched his fist. The doctor’s smug little mouth would be an easy target.157

The doctor did not back down. “American military is not supposed to come here,” he said noting Byron’s threatening stance. “If I call police, you have big trouble, and still she cannot stay here.”158

Byron looked back at Ok Sun lying as if lifeless on the table.159

“You are likee my brother,” He heard her words echo in his mind. “I am likee you sister.” She upheld her part of the bargain when he needed her just a little. She now needed him desperately.160

He looked back at the doctor. Now even more he wanted to belt this cocky little man squarely in the mouth.161

He looked back at Ok Sun. If he actually hit this doctor, and was taken away, what would happen to her? Would she just be dumped on the street in front of the hospital? What would their customs allow?162

He looked back to the doctor, almost ready to let fly, but no…163

He looked back to Miss Lee once more. He could not leave her in uncertainty. His best chance of helping her was to stay with her.164

His fist still clenched and ready for deployment, Byron decided to gather her and go. He stepped first between the door and the doctor then turned toward Ok Sun. He purposely took a path that allowed him to roughly nudge the doctor out of the way as he went. He was backing down, but he wanted it clear that he did it for his friend, and not because he was scared of this arrogant little man.165

Byron gently held his hand to Ok Sun's lips. She was still breathing – perhaps breathing easier than when he brought her in.166

Gently, he moved his arms beneath her shoulders and legs, and stood up cradling her in his arms again. He carried her out the front door of the hospital to catch a taxi and take her home.