From Wonso Pond Read Online Free PDF Page A

they’ve just eaten.”
    Minsu’s fingers trembled ever so slightly. He lost the courage to use his spoon any longer. He placed it down, and drew himself away from the tray.
    â€œBut . . . but why won’t you eat? I suppose it’s not good enough.”
    The man scratched his head and pushed the tray to the side. All four boys and girls swept out of the corner and grappled with each other over the dishes on the tray. In the scuffle that ensued none of them managed to eat any food.
    The man jumped to his feet, picked up a long pipe and began striking the children. At a loss as to what was happening, Minsu grabbed hold of the man.
    â€œWhat are you doing? They’re just kids. Come on now, put it down. Put it down.”
    One of the children, in the meantime, had attached his lips to the edge of the tray and began sucking off the gruel that had spilled down its side. Ashamed that a stranger was witnessing this horrible scene, the man’s wife grabbed the child and held him to her breast. Pretending to wipe away the snivel from the child’s nose, she then dabbed the bow on her blouse into the corners of her eyes.

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    Perhaps in consideration of the stranger who was trying to hold him back, the man put down his hand and sat, now winded.
    â€œOh, who knows why we have so many kids. A sin in a previous lifetime, I guess. It must have been something terrible for us to end up like this.”
    Though he had just beaten his children in a fit of rage, the man felt so unjustly treated by the world he could barely hold back his tears. Distraught
that he could neither feed nor clothe his hungry kids, he regretted the fact that he’d beaten the poor things too.
    Moments earlier they’d been screaming and shedding tears, but now they whispered and giggled beneath their dirty quilt as though nothing had ever happened.
    Minsu slept not a wink that night, as thoughts of all sorts churned through his mind. While he told himself this was another man’s dilemma, he worried that something terrible like this might happen to his own family too. One after another these thoughts raced through his mind, as though driven by the wind that whipped the paper flaps sealing the windows.
    Having remained awake all through the night, Minsu got up before the red of dawn had broken. Perhaps because he’d spent the night in the cold room, his body felt heavy, and he seemed to have caught a cold.
    â€œYou must be freezing.”
    The man of the house rose and sat directly across from Minsu.
    â€œWell . . .” Minsu stuck a cigarette into his mouth and started to smoke, unable to offer a more direct reply. He pushed the pack of cigarettes in front of his host. The man bowed his head humbly, accepted one, and put it in his mouth. As Minsu took a deep drag on his cigarette, he heard the sounds of whispers in the corner. He lifted his head and looked in their direction.
    From out of that pitch-black corner came the constant sound of whispering voices. Just about now Sonbi was probably getting up out of bed and whispering something to her own mother, maybe asking where her daddy had gone, he imagined. Minsu then saw Sonbi’s face flash before him in the corner of the room.
    â€œMommy, I’m hungry!”
    Minsu was shocked by how similar the voice was to Sonbi’s. Unconsciously he flung his cigarette onto the floor. He shrugged off the idea that the voice might be Sonbi’s, and yet for some reason this voice still pierced his heart, unbearably so.
    Minsu felt horrible. He wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. When he stood up to go, he pulled out a one-won note from his pocket without thinking.
    â€œGet your kids something to eat!” he said, pressing the note into the palm of the man’s hand.

    The man was bewildered. But when he realized that this was money he was holding in his hand, he felt like collapsing onto the floor and breaking into tears. Minsu realized that his own