Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:01 pm
Auld Lang Syne
PART 7B-2 (24-2-1) - Season Finale - SECTION 2-First Half
PART 3/8 - Everything I Wanted
PART 7B-2 (24-2-1) - Season Finale - SECTION 2-First Half
PART 3/8 - Everything I Wanted
'Well, sorry about that.' Theo Pinson hiccuped, his speech slightly loose from all the alcohol him and Ian Lautner had drunk earlier. Both Theo and Ian were coming from the other side of the country, former Chicoutimi and latter California City, and the ride to the airport was certainly hectic to say the least. Having only arrived at the funeral home about an hour ago, they decided to get drunk early and it showed with the way they started slurring and saying uncontrollable words. 'I don't know about him, but we shouldn't have behaved like that when the Sangju himself is silent.'
‘It’s fine, Theo.’ said Asher as he slowly poured the 30’c Makgeolli, from the halfway-full pot to a Notgeureut. ‘It must not have been easy making the trip so late in advance. Not easy to do that even when your mum’s been such a close friend of late Mrs. Turner. Same goes for Ian as well.’
‘Certainly. What a way to start the March break. Not in the warm, backyard beaches, but in Kingston.’ Ian nodded, as he gulped down another load of Makgeolri. ‘But we’re all here for Myeong-Shin. He must be really hurting now, but that’s expected of anybody who lost his mum.’
‘Yeah. And he’s a senior too,’ nodded Samuel Carlini-Mwambutsya, who remains amazed at this. ‘Thank god he came back just in time for her last words….we were all worried about the whole match, against Westlake of all schools too.’
‘Yeah, the QBC guys were talking about it on broadcast,’ Theo nodded, as he looked at Ian. ‘I’m sure nobody thought this year would go anything like what we expected from 2038, you know? Myeong-Shin and I were supposed to play for Queen’s together, win a few and then be rivals once in pros. Instead, he bolted to Saguenay while I’m still heading to Cornwall.’ Theo lifted his head up and pensively into the ceiling. Theo and Ian, while still young, looked a lot more aged than what their written age suggested once in this room.
Of course, there’s a bit of a complicated reason behind why things were slightly complicated, and we all knew that was because Myeong-Shin, for whatever the reason only few (including themselves) knew, decided to break upon a promise of them all ending up in Cornwall. Being an Erskinian whose parents both went like the Lautners did (but not the Pinsons - Theo’s father Nathan was a community college grad back in the Pinsons’ hometown of Beolgyo, Ontario), it had previously made sense for him to go to Queen's College. That's what everybody thought. 99% of the crystal balls said so too!
But that didn't happen and now everything's changed. That may have been why the college junior was hesitant on making a college commitment at this point in time. Everybody knew Ian Lautner had reduced the list to three: Queen’s College, Saguenay and Southern Manitoba (most commonly referred to as USM). St. Croix was out early, so was Farrer and a bunch of major ones. UPRI made a valiant pitch, but they did not promise him that the Thunderbirds were not going to recruit a quarterback for the very next class after. Queen’s was where his parents, a history student and an art history student, met; USM was his hometown school where at least four football players from Pater Dei went every year; and of course, Saguenay. They became a huge riser after Myeong-Shin, the sangju himself whom he spent many cottage summers, committed to Saguenay.
‘And that’s why you never go back on your own words.’ said Ian, as he tried to find the right ways to describe it. ‘The old man, of course, never held back on his words nor did he stop loving her. Something my papa never came to understand, but it’s at least a good love story that ties all of us here.’
Of course, the final sentence was playing somewhat of a heightened tension in the room. Sure, it’s partly to do with Myeong-Shin’s commitment, but more it’s over the divide between the two. As described earlier, people on both sides of the polemics still argued whether it was the gorgeous redhead in Maureen Turner that seduced him the first time and then played a cruel game until it was too much, or that Heo Dong-Soo himself played a long game of life and death that he seemingly bet on for too long.
‘If such happened, then love must be a powerful creature,’ said Bradley Coughlan-Chen, trying not to say too much.
‘It certainly is, because nobody believed them when it was late Mme. Turner who was the one that saved him when he had to retire.’ responded Theo. ‘One of the greatest mysteries in this universe.’
‘Maybe miracles do happen out there.’ said Asher, just adding a minor thought to the discussion that was getting too blamatory towards this Dr. Heo and that Mme. Turner. Frankly, Asher didn’t care too much about it. Sure he was very much concerned with the deceased, being Myeong-Shin’s friend and long familiar to the family, but he had little concerns with whatever Ian and Theo were talking about. If anything, he was rather wondering who had the audacity to send a text message exactly five minutes ago. A text message so urgent that it got sent through and made emergency notification even though he had his phone turned off.
Now the conversation went onto something else about memories of Mme. Turner whenever the crew reached over the cottage summers or all star games, Asher found this a right time to move away. He turned on his phone, waited ten seconds and swiped right to unlock the phone.
‘Who is it...who is it...who is it…’ Asher repeated as he pressed the text button, trying to see if he could find out. It was an unfamiliar, out of town phone number for one. But for another it must have been a non-Montreal or Quebec City phone number, since it didn’t start with 0. Those two cities were the only ones that had their phone numbers start with 0 or 1. ‘Oh no….’ he dropped the phone, having seen the text and realised what had happened.
Hey Ash, this is Eileen. Is everything okay back there? I received your mail and tried to call you few nights back but you weren’t responding.