Confliction incarnate was what sat quietly eating a bowl of kimchi (fermented cabbage soup) on the park bench that day. Kyung Soon O'Malley...the only child of three generations off-the-boat, town Mayor Ronald O'Malley and his beautiful Korean wife Kyung Mi. Kyung Soon was a beautiful but volatile creature. Having inherited her shocking red hair and pale skin from her father and the straight, thick hair texture from her mother along with slightly slanted brown eyes, she was the epitome of all people born Irish-Korean.
Kyung Soon had been brought up in a strange environment. Her mother was all quiet--exuding the gentile, peaceful personality of a docile housewife while her father was Irish to the core. The result was born in Kyung Soon. She carried herself with a regal shyness born of empires. However, that composure could fracture and splinter in an instant. A wicked tempest brewed under her skin and it took merely a hint of provocation to unleash it.
Kyung Soon, now 22, had recently begun working at the only bank in town. She was using her lunch hour to both eat her lunch and walk her white miniature poodle named Kashi. This wasn't a problem as she only lived one town block from the bank. Dressed in a fancy pale blue linen suit, Kyung Soon was sitting on a park bench in the shade of an oak tree. She had spread a white linen napkin (embroidered with the O'Malley coat of arms) across her lap and was eating her kimchi from a fancy porcelain crock. Kashi sat at her heels, barking randomly at the passersby. First there was the odd jogger, then an old lady with the squeaky walker, followed up by a couple of young mothers pushing their wailing toddlers in strollers.
Kyung Soon ignored her dog as it barked and instead relished every bite of her lunchtime treat. Kimchi made using her mother's old family recipe was a rare treat. Most days her mother cooked for the delight and happiness of her father. So a typical meal in her home was more often Shepherds pie or boiled potatoes with cabbage.
Kyung Soon had inherited a particularly garish piece of jewelry from her Irish grandmother whose tastes had ran somewhat eccentric when she had been alive. But Kyung Soon loved the heavy silver necklace and it's odd hanging bauble in a way that most couldn't understand. Since Kyung Soon had a fantastic lineage it also stood to reason she would be allowed to have unusual tastes' in bling. So, while the long, heavy silver chain strung round her dainty pale neck stood in sharp contrast to her features, it also pointed out her familial diversity. It contained several faux round emeralds set into the chain at varying intervals and one large, rectangular faux sapphire set in the center of a small wooden pendant-clearly in the shape of an Irish pub sign. It was as every bit heavy as it looked and though its overall weight and craftsmanship made it solid and strong, the clasp that connected the ends was oddly old and frail.
When Jolly the squirrel spied the jewels as they sparkled in the sporadic dappled sunshine, he knew in an instant he had to have it.
No comments:
Post a Comment