The Queen of Tears (14 page)

Won Ju nodded. “My mother wants to know if you’re working tonight.”

Crystal turned to the little Korean woman putting thinly sliced beef into an oily, black soy-sauce-based marinade. “I’m so sorry. But I have to say, your son has been a prick for the last two months.”

Soong looked befuddled. Won Ju laughed. “I don’t think she knows what a prick is.”

Crystal turned to Soong. “You know ‘asshole’?”

Won Ju grabbed Crystal’s arm. “She knows; she knows.”

“Anyway,” Crystal said, “I want to switch with one of you for now. Is that cool?”

Won Ju translated it for her mother. In Korean, Soong said, “See all the trouble this causes?”

Won Ju responded in Korean. “What can we do? One of us either works with Donny or Crystal.”

“You want me to choose? One hates me, the other is crazy.”

“Just work with Donny, Mom.”

“O.K.,” she said, waving her hand at Won Ju in annoyance.

Won Ju turned to Crystal and reverted back to her in English. “You and I will work mornings.”

“Cool,” Crystal said. “You guys weren’t talking shit about me, were you?”

Won Ju smiled. “No, my mother loves you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“How did you get here?” Won Ju asked.

“I drove.”

“Over the mountain?”

“Yup. It was scary, but scary in a good way. That hairpin turn, I thought for sure I was going to end up in the railing. It was fun, though.”

Crystal walked back to the front. Won Ju followed her. Darian was taking an order from a cute marine with blond, spiky hair wearing a tank top. His arms were thin, but well-muscled. The veins on his biceps and forearms were like the ones on that famous statue of that cute guy in Italy. She really needed to go back to school.

His eyes instantly focused on Crystal’s chest. Crystal kissed Darian on the cheek. Then she went around the counter and headed to the door. When she passed the marine she squeezed his arm. “Keep dreaming,” she said.

He smiled. “Thanks, sister, I will.”

“Hey, let’s talk,” Won Ju said to Crystal.

The marine was the only customer in the restaurant, so Crystal, Won Ju, and Darian walked out to smoke a cigarette in front. Won Ju took her purse, a nice Louis Vuitton number, Crystal noticed, identical with one of Soong’s purses. “Listen,” Won Ju said as she lit her cigarette, “my mom is going to be moving into her own place really soon, so you can stay as long as you want, if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor for the next few weeks. Oh yeah, and stay away from Brandon. My mother has some kind of fear that you are a sex monster waiting to gobble him up.”

All three of them laughed. “Thanks, Won Ju,” Crystal said. “It must be hard. He’s your brother and all.”

“Fuck him,” Darian said.

“Yeah, if he could get it up.” Crystal knew she crossed the line with that statement. She tried to read Won Ju’s reaction, but her sister-in-law was calmly taking a drag from her cigarette. She regretted saying it, nonetheless. Darian, on the other hand, reacted with bulging eyes. “I knew it wasn’t about sex with you two. How could it be?”

Crystal wanted to change the subject. “So Darian, possibly soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law of mine, how about loaning me a copy of Shakespeare.”

“Sure, I have a mother anthology. Riverside. I’ll loan it to you. Though I’d recommend
Hamlet
before
Richard
III
.
Hamlet
is the one about male inadequacy.”

“Thanks. I’m actually looking more for the meaning of life. I heard Shakespeare had all the answers.”

Darian didn’t say anything for several seconds. Then she said, “Come to think of it, they’re all about male inadequacy. Richard has a hump on his back. Othello’s paranoid. Lear, Prospero, Macbeth. It could be said that none of them could get it up. Anthony could, but boy, does it cost him anyway.”

Crystal noticed that Darian talked about these people as if they were real, like they were friends or something. She turned to the quiet Won Ju. “So what about it. What’s the meaning of life?”

Won Ju dropped her cigarette on the cement and meticulously put her shoe on the cherry. “I’ve looked and haven’t found anything yet.”

“Where did you look?” Crystal asked.

“Buddhism.”

“Me too,” Crystal said.

“In God.”

“My God, me too.”

“Oh shit, here we go,” Darian said, as she tugged on Crystal’s arm for another cigarette.

“Astrology.”

“Which one, haole or Chinese?” Crystal asked, handing Darian another cigarette.

“Both.”

“Now we’re getting into the depths of self-delusion,” Darian said.

“Amnesty International.”

“What?”

“It sprang from the Christian stuff. Help your fellow man.”

“What happened?”

“It lasted for about a month. I never thought that to get into human rights means to have to look at so many human wrongs.” She looked at Darian. “And I’m not talking about Shakespeare. I’m talking about real life.”

Darian ignored her. Won Ju continued. “Get rich quick. Tony, what’s his name? Tony Robbins. Also
Chicken Soup For the Soul
.”

Crystal laughed. “Me too, on both.”

“Amway.”

Crystal screamed, jumped up and down, and clapped her hands. “Me too.”

Darian shook her head. “I heard they have a church now or something. It’s like a cult.”

“Being a vegetarian. I felt guilty after turning my back on human rights and running to money. I figured I could at least help poor animals.”

“Me too,” Crystal said. “What happened?”

“About two months. Poor animals taste too good.”

Both Crystal and Darian laughed. “Me too,” Darian said, meekly raising her hand.

“Should we go back in?” Crystal asked. “We’re finished smoking.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“You’re kidding,” Darian said.

“Scientology.”

“Well, that’s pretty new stuff,” Darian said. “When was this?”

“About a year before Crystal’s wedding. I went to a meeting downtown and everything. That’s when business started to get really bad.”

“That explains the desperation,” Darian said.

“Wait, what’s Scientology?”

“You know,” Darian said, “Tom Cruise, John Travolta.”

“Oh yeah. I’d love to do Tom Cruise. Even Travolta in his Danny Zucco, Tony Manero days.”

Won Ju sifted through her purse and pulled out a crumpled piece of laminated paper. She read from it. “‘If it is true for you, it’s true. And if it’s not true for you, it’s just not true, that’s all.’ L. Ron Hubbard.”

Darian grabbed it from Won Ju and shook her head. “You still keep it. Jeez, look at this. He probably thought this one up while sitting on the can. A Descartes he’s not. Look at this. There should be a semicolon between ‘true,’ or should I say the fourth ‘true,’ and ‘that’s’.”

Crystal grabbed it and looked at the black-and-white photo of a sixtyish white man pensively looking away from the lens, with his hand under his chin. She didn’t know about Descartes, but a Tom Cruise he was not. She pointed to the man’s neck. “Is that a scarf?”

Darian tugged at the picture and said, “Ascot.”

“I took a test with about a hundred multiple-choice questions,” Won Ju said. “They recruited me right on Bethel Street in Downtown. Well, guess what? After evaluating the hundred questions, they discovered that I was unhappy.”

“Eureka,” Darian said.

“Really,” said Crystal.

“So now what?” Crystal asked.

“I don’t know,” Won Ju said.

“Agnosticism,” Darian smiled. “Or welcome to existentialism. But then that turns to nihilism, which is a lot like what you said about the human rights thing. Most don’t have the stomach for it.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Crystal asked.

Darian laughed. “I had one in Berkeley. I just broke up with him before I came here. He was a self-proclaimed Marxist working on a PhD in lit. He wore Donna Karan shirts and drove a 1989 Grand Marquis station wagon. I couldn’t stand being with someone with that much inner conflict. I guess I’m like Diane Court in
Say Anything
. I’m looking for something basic.”

“No one is basic,” Won Ju said.

“You’re such a humanist. Your husband? I mean I like the guy and all, but he knows exactly what he wants. Christ, we’re talking about a guy who probably gets his philosophy from Yoda, or worse yet, L. Ron Hubbard.”

Crystal was surprised that the words didn’t seem to offend Won Ju. Suddenly an angry Soong Nan was pounding on the window, looking as if she were locked in or something. Won Ju began walking to the glass door. She pushed even though there was a sticker that said “pull.” She turned back toward Darian and Crystal. “I always do that. By the way, about my husband, you can have him. I tried that one, too.” She pulled the door open and walked through. Won Ju and Soong headed for the kitchen.

“Well, I gotta grab my stuff and take off,” Crystal said. “But you should check out my brother. I mean, don’t let the pidgin and prison fool you, he’s not basic. But he’s good. And goodness beats basic any day. I want pure.”

“Be careful, pure and good may not be the same thing.”

Crystal and Darian walked in as the marine was ordering another plate from Won Ju. “For dinner,” he said.

As Crystal walked to the back to grab her keys and backpack, she began singing “Dreamweaver” and was gratified by the marine’s laugh. Then she thought about the conversation outside. She had that weird feeling that too much was said. Too much was put out there. She shrugged. She felt that she put very little out. It was Won Ju and Darian, especially Won Ju, airing their dirty laundry. She didn’t like publicizing hers. Physically naked, fine. No dirty underwear to see. She picked up her things and walked towards the door.

Right when she pushed the glass door, Donny stepped in front of it. Crystal jumped back. Donny ignored her and walked past the counter without saying anything to Darian. He was wearing a T-shirt. It was the first time she’d seen him wear one in public. It wasn’t even tucked in. Crystal closed the door and sat at one of the tables. In about a minute, she heard the muffled sounds of Donny screaming in Korean. Soong screamed back. Donny screamed again. Soong screamed. Won Ju was silent. Donny swung open the door and walked past Darian. He put his hands on Crystal’s table. “Give me the keys.”

Crystal frowned and looked up at him. “Fuck you.”

“I will not have my mother catching the bus.”

“Is it you who refuses to catch the bus, or your mother? You didn’t mind her catching the bus until today.”

“Just give me the fuckin’ keys, you slut.”

She almost laughed. The word “slut” didn’t exactly roll off his tongue. But then she decided to get serious. She didn’t want Soong catching the bus either, but she certainly wanted Donny catching the bus. She pulled the keys from her purse and gave them to him. Just as he grabbed them, the marine was standing by him. He put his food on the table. “Is everything O.K., ma’am?”

Crystal smiled. “Fine.”

Donny looked at the marine and smiled. “She’s my wife.”

The marine stared back at him. “Where I come from, you don’t call women sluts.”

“Where are you from, Disney World?” He turned his head to Crystal. “What are you fucking this guy or something?”

The fist hit him on the bridge of the nose. He fell. Another fist smashed the top of his forehead, leaving a red cut. Now that’s how you throw a punch, Crystal thought. She’d try to re-create it in front of the mirror in the bathroom at Won Ju’s after she got back. Or maybe she’d start taking Tae Bo.

The marine calmly picked up his plate from the table and said, “Sorry, ma’am,” then left.

Donny was holding his nose. Blood oozed between his fingers. Saying nothing, he walked out of the restaurant. Crystal smiled as Darian began to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand. “Sorry,” she said in between laughs. Crystal walked to the door and looked out. Donny was sitting in the car holding his nose with one hand and the gash on his forehead with the other.

-6-

Crystal, Won Ju, and Soong stayed the entire shift. After they closed, all three rode the bus up the Ko‘olau Mountains. “I miss driving already,” Crystal said. Won Ju looked at her mother, who was looking nervously out the window. As they approached the Pali Tunnel, Won Ju could see the Pali Golf Course below. It was so far down that she could barely see the golf carts and the little men trying to get their little white balls close to the hole. Won Ju had a disliking for most sports, but she hated golf the most. It took up so much space.

As she looked down, Won Ju was thinking about the day’s events. At first, nothing surprising had really happened. Her mother was unhappy with Crystal’s decision to leave. She got tired of hearing her mother’s take on what a wife should and should not be, even if she agreed with some of it. But when Donny came in, all puffed up and angry, demanding that Crystal be thrown out of the business, something surprising came out of Soong’s mouth. She defended Crystal. She called her son stupid and childish. She told him he was an improper husband without even knowing exactly why Crystal had left. Won Ju had been tempted to tell Soong about the blowjob incident, but shied away from it. When Donny yelled back, Soong yelled louder. And no one could yell louder than the ex-actress, the ex-Park Soong Nan. She could’ve been an American scream queen instead of Korea’s Queen of Tears. It was always amazing hearing that thunderous voice come out of that tiny body.

So Donny had left, and grabbed a knuckle sandwich to go on the way out. After things calmed, Darian left, and Crystal took over as cashier, Soong went right back to repeating in Korean what a spoiled little girl Crystal was. She also insisted that she stay somewhere else, away from Brandon.

But Won Ju couldn’t think of any other options as far as where Crystal could stay. She looked at Crystal, who seemed to be staring at Soong’s fingernails. She probably didn’t have enough to put down first month’s rent and a security deposit in any apartment, and Donny was definitely not going to help her out. She was also afraid that Kenny would give her a hard time about Crystal staying too long. She looked at Crystal and Soong. They were quietly sitting on separate seats. Won Ju thought about the huge fish tank at the Pacific Beach Hotel and smiled. All of these different fish forced together behind a wall of glass called “W&D Korean Take Out.” Won Ju shook her head.