Parting with Dear Grandma

23
Decked with Chrysanthemums, 1972


One of the colleagues was inquisitive about Dano: Where he had been, what he had been doing, how he had come to join them, and what he would do. He was not being hilarious about the food thing. He was being serious. Others concurred; They were not insinuating anything; They were just curious about Dano's job shift from an elementary school teacher to a newspaper "reporter." The proofreader was referred to as "reporter."

Dano defined his erstwhile experiences as a man of default, or a "default man." They wanted to know what he meant by a default man. He blandly explained to them the person in question as a human being who had made various attempts but achieved virtually nothing. His occupational journey after he had left pedagogical job for good in the year 1971 included a mineral water and insurance salesman. He did not dare mention his stunt in judicial examination, that is, the Korean version of Bar Exam.

There had been family accidents and catastrophes during the launching years of the 1970s. Illczhin, Dano's next immediate brother had had his legs broken in a demonstration of a special alpine training course in the Nth Division in Gillchon, the U.S. Armed Forces Korea. He had been a rock climbing instructor for the U.S. Army officers. Dano's sister, who had been born in Sun Valley after the Korean War, had left home to become a Buddhist monk.

Tschai, vulnerable to Dano's whims, had been thrown off guard on and off. Although inwardly terrified at first of all the unwholesome situation about her, uprooted and without resources, she had outwardly remained calm and composed. She had always gotten herself prepared to face the harsh realities by opening the seamstress' shop, lest "the spider should build webs on the mouths" of her family.

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Mrs. Euiseong Kim was a mystery to Tschai since Tschai had made an encounter with her after Tschai's marriage to Dano. The scene, in which her grandmother-in-law had been confined, was a shock to her because, although her grandmother on her father's side had also been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, nobody in the family had gotten her grandmother caged and nobody had ever thought of keeping their beleaguered elderly in captivity. What had shocked her more than anything else was that her unfortunate grandmother-in-law had recognized her at first sight. Tschai, who had been forced to live, albeit for the time being, at Oksan, had once stopped by to look after her grandmom, who, when seeing her, had brightened her face and astonished her with her sane recognition and the exact guess by saying "Have you been to the bazaar to buy salt?"

On an autumnal night of October, 1972 Dano's grandma had passed away with a great cry that could have torn the air into pieces. On that very day she had been uncaged. Dano had wondered why the sky didn't fall down. It had stayed bright and clear. The sky had been so studded with stars that it had appeared to pour them on earth. The chrysanthemums in the rear garden had been in full bloom and the moonlights on them had been shining blade sharp.

Dano and his cousins had had the coffin decked with the solemn flowers. Dano wondered aloud what had caused Grandma to shut down the gate to her memory. Grandma had stayed so sharp in her prime years that she had even composed sadonji on behalf of any family clan member, or the letter written on the scroll and sent to the parents of the bride or bridegroom as a token of gratitude or celebration.

To her darling grandson, Mrs. Euiseong Kim had been a best cook. She had had a good memory of various recipes. Any food material she had touched her hands on had changed into a gourmet food. She had also been a great doctor equipped with the profound knowledge of the alternative medicine. Whenever Dano had been sick, she had been on the prowl for medicinal herbs in the woods and mountain hills.

Dano had endeared so deeply to her grandmother that, in his mind's eye, she had always been standing on the hill top waiting for the late- coming grandchild holding the lamp aloft. On the starry night under the shimmering moonlight before the flower-decked coffin of his dear grandma, Dano had still wondered what kind of memory his grandma had tried to bury and flee from it.