Beasts of a Little Land(67)

“Please sit down,” the principal told the new guest, who shyly slid between a chair and the coffee table and settled down, resting her white hands on her lavender skirt. As sometimes happens when meeting a stranger who is either unquestionably good-looking or ugly, the principal and Curtice were startled by the woman, who was remarkably pretty. Out of their good breeding, however, they both behaved as if they hadn’t noticed. Curtice looked out the window to show that he didn’t wish to intrude on their meeting. A warm breeze was coming in from the courtyard, causing the white linen curtains to flap around.

“I teach only the senior girls myself, so I don’t know Hesook well,” the principal said in English. “But from what her teacher tells me, Hesook is a very bright girl.”

“Thank you,” the woman said quietly with a bow.

“She’s never caused any trouble before, so we were surprised when she got into a fight with a few of the other girls. It appears that those girls were taunting Hesook, but she was the one who started kicking and punching. Do you understand?” the principal said in a stern voice that she used indiscriminately on troublesome students, faculty, and visitors alike.

“Yes, I do,” the woman said meekly, studying her lap.

“Those girls were making fun of Hesook for not having a father, which is a terrible thing, but I can’t have anyone who acts violently at the school.”

“You mean, you’re expelling Hesook?” The woman became agitated and looked straight into the principal’s eyes. “No, she is just a young girl. She made a mistake . . .” She switched to Korean and appeared to beg for forgiveness. Still seated awkwardly at the table, Curtice resisted the urge to intervene and say to the principal, Why not just let this one go?

“I know that Hesook is young, which is why this time it’s only a warning,” the principal said. “But please, have a talk with her about not fighting. I won’t be so lenient next time.”

“Thank you, thank you so much,” the woman said in English, bowing deeply at the waist.

Having overheard snatches of the conversation, Curtice wondered to himself who this stranger could possibly be. She looked young enough to be a student at the school, and it was also curious that she spoke English. Soon, his curiosity was partially satisfied: when the principal asked her where she had learned the language, the woman explained that she’d been taught by her aunt, who had been a student at this school.

After the visitor left, the principal turned to Curtice and said, “I’m sorry about that. She could have waited for us to finish, but . . .”

“No, it was no trouble, I didn’t mind at all,” Curtice said. “Who is she?”

“Just the mother of one of our students,” the principal replied.

“She looks much too young to be a mother.” The deputy consul raised his eyebrows, not bothering to conceal his thoughts. “She speaks English. You don’t think a married woman could possibly want to work at the consulate—?”

“She is not married, Mr. Curtice, although I highly doubt she’d want to be a translator or a secretary,” the principal said tartly. Curtice blushed, wondering how he’d offended her. The principal was at least ten years older than he was, and they had always had a mutually respectful, sexless dynamic. Nevertheless, it was clear that his interest in this stranger made her feel indignant and insulted.

“She’s—what’s known as a giseng. A very successful one, I hear. Her daughter doesn’t have a father,” the principal pronounced, clasping her hands together on her lap, as though that would be the end of that discussion.

Curtice looked out the window again so as not to betray his astonishment. A sudden thought came to his mind that if he could see the stranger crossing the courtyard, he would take it as a sign. A sign of what? He didn’t know yet. A light breeze lifted a veil of dust and carried it up to the blue sky. When Curtice was beginning to feel afraid that he’d been looking away too long, that the principal would be offended by his inattention, the woman in the lavender skirt appeared in the frame of the window. Amid the pink sand that was blowing up, she looked a little like a traveler crossing the desert.

*

HANCHOL NO LONGER BROUGHT the rickshaw to the theater after Jade’s performances. Instead, they strolled home side by side slowly every night. The walk lasted nearly an hour, but neither of them felt any fatigue, even after a long day of running around town, rehearsing, and going onstage. They both felt so keenly alive simply by wandering and holding hands. They pointed out to each other the things that they saw: “Oh look at those arched windows of that department store . . .” “Did you ever notice that statue there?” Though none of those things were particularly profound, everything seemed significant and delightful and memorable. When they reached her house, he gently, almost reverentially, wrapped her in his arms and they kissed.

One night when the weather was particularly beautiful and the moon was bright, Jade pulled away from kissing him and said, “Wouldn’t you like to come in?” She knew he’d been thinking of this for a long time, but that he’d never have the courage to ask her first. She led him by the hand to her pavilion, proud to be showing him where she lived.

She knew this was his first time, and that he had to be nervous. But despite being inexperienced and younger than she was, he took her as if he knew what to do. His touch was urgent, but gentle. Even when they were both undressed, he kissed her from the crown of her head to her fingertips, then all the way down to her toes. His lips traveled along her body like a cartographer, making a map of her sensations. Little sighs escaped her mouth—not like with others, to show that what they were doing was suitably pleasing, but because she couldn’t help it. She looked up mesmerized at his lean but well-muscled body above her own, so patiently caressing her while delaying his own gratification. She said, “I don’t want to wait any longer,” and reached for him, but he kept touching her all over. “I could kiss you forever,” he whispered. When he finally pressed into her body, they looked into each other’s eyes in awe. The sensation of being so close was painfully exquisite. They held each other motionlessly for a while, before moving and dissolving into each other. He came first, and she expected him to roll off of her and fall asleep as others had done. But he stayed inside her and became hard again until she also climaxed.