tag on his uniform, he stopped and said, “Sister Monica.”
Aunt Monica said, “Look who it is!” and hugged him. They looked like an aunt and her nephew greeting each other after a long time apart.
“I heard you met Jeong Yunsu.”
“Word gets around fast. How have you been?”
“We don’t have any secrets from each other in here. My sister is here to see me. I’m on my way to meet her. But how is Yunsu? He must be in pretty bad shape after solitary. Is he giving you a hard time? Don’t give up on him, Sister. Just think about the first time you met me, how I used to scream and cuss at you.” The inmate laughed bashfully.
“That’s true,” Aunt Monica said. “You were a handful.”
“Sister, someone told me his accomplice framed him. He must have made a false confession. That accomplice of his, I heard his family is rich. He only got fifteen years, and now he’s been transferred to Wonju. None of the guards like Yunsu, but we think he’s a good kid. You know that money you put in his commissary account? There’s an elderly man here who’s serving a life sentence. Yunsu gave all of his money to him. The old man had nothing in his account, so he couldn’t even get proper medicine. But Yunsu told himto use the money to get medicine from outside the prison if he had to. It’s hard for Yunsu, too, to get by without any money.”
“Is that so?” Aunt Monica’s face brightened.
“I bumped into him yesterday in the prison yard, and he asked me if I had a Bible. So I loaned him one right away. I did good, didn’t I, Sister?”
“Yes, you did. You did really well, my boy.”
Aunt Monica patted him on the back, and he beamed proudly, like a child. I watched him and my aunt from a few steps away and thought,
Is that really a death row convict who has killed people?
There was no end to the unexpected and surprising. Not in this place.
“By the way, did Father Kim get that operation?”
“Yes, he did. That’s what I heard.”
The inmate’s round eyes darkened.
“Me and the other guys on death row were talking about it the last time we were together. We decided to pray. We prayed to God to take those of us with more sins first, instead of him. What did he do to deserve it? We also decided not to each lunch until his cancer goes away. We wanted to make a sacrifice. We found out that he kept coming here to offer us Mass right up until the day of his surgery. He never said anything to us about it.”
His eyes were wet with tears. Aunt Monica bit her lip.
“That would be an enormous sacrifice for you to make. Eating must be your only pleasure in here… A great pleasure and a diversion… Thank you. I’ll tell Father Kim about it. God, too, will look favorably upon you for giving up your lunches. Keep up your promise to Him, but make sure you sneak in some snacks from outside. I’ll take the blame for that one and ask Him for forgiveness.”
The inmate laughed out loud. The guard who was with him looked uncomfortable.
“I should get going,” the inmate said. He started to walk away, his hands shackled and the tips of his ears red with frostbite just like Yunsu’s, but he turned suddenly and said, “Officer, wait! Sister, I miss you. Sometimes I miss you more than I miss my real sister. Even more than I miss my mother, who passed away when I was young. Come see me. I’ll write to you.”
There wasn’t even the slightest trace of pretense to his words. Was that the power of someone facing an impending death? When I saw how easily, how like a child, he said the words that I was too embarrassed to say, I was struck by the feeling that he, not I, was Aunt Monica’s true kin. And, to my surprise, I felt a little jealous. For a moment, I wondered, if I were Aunt Monica, whom would I have cared about more, me or them? Had they hogged the love that I should have been receiving while squandering my life for the past thirty years? When they cried out, begging to be left alone to die, did Aunt
Aunt Monica said, “Look who it is!” and hugged him. They looked like an aunt and her nephew greeting each other after a long time apart.
“I heard you met Jeong Yunsu.”
“Word gets around fast. How have you been?”
“We don’t have any secrets from each other in here. My sister is here to see me. I’m on my way to meet her. But how is Yunsu? He must be in pretty bad shape after solitary. Is he giving you a hard time? Don’t give up on him, Sister. Just think about the first time you met me, how I used to scream and cuss at you.” The inmate laughed bashfully.
“That’s true,” Aunt Monica said. “You were a handful.”
“Sister, someone told me his accomplice framed him. He must have made a false confession. That accomplice of his, I heard his family is rich. He only got fifteen years, and now he’s been transferred to Wonju. None of the guards like Yunsu, but we think he’s a good kid. You know that money you put in his commissary account? There’s an elderly man here who’s serving a life sentence. Yunsu gave all of his money to him. The old man had nothing in his account, so he couldn’t even get proper medicine. But Yunsu told himto use the money to get medicine from outside the prison if he had to. It’s hard for Yunsu, too, to get by without any money.”
“Is that so?” Aunt Monica’s face brightened.
“I bumped into him yesterday in the prison yard, and he asked me if I had a Bible. So I loaned him one right away. I did good, didn’t I, Sister?”
“Yes, you did. You did really well, my boy.”
Aunt Monica patted him on the back, and he beamed proudly, like a child. I watched him and my aunt from a few steps away and thought,
Is that really a death row convict who has killed people?
There was no end to the unexpected and surprising. Not in this place.
“By the way, did Father Kim get that operation?”
“Yes, he did. That’s what I heard.”
The inmate’s round eyes darkened.
“Me and the other guys on death row were talking about it the last time we were together. We decided to pray. We prayed to God to take those of us with more sins first, instead of him. What did he do to deserve it? We also decided not to each lunch until his cancer goes away. We wanted to make a sacrifice. We found out that he kept coming here to offer us Mass right up until the day of his surgery. He never said anything to us about it.”
His eyes were wet with tears. Aunt Monica bit her lip.
“That would be an enormous sacrifice for you to make. Eating must be your only pleasure in here… A great pleasure and a diversion… Thank you. I’ll tell Father Kim about it. God, too, will look favorably upon you for giving up your lunches. Keep up your promise to Him, but make sure you sneak in some snacks from outside. I’ll take the blame for that one and ask Him for forgiveness.”
The inmate laughed out loud. The guard who was with him looked uncomfortable.
“I should get going,” the inmate said. He started to walk away, his hands shackled and the tips of his ears red with frostbite just like Yunsu’s, but he turned suddenly and said, “Officer, wait! Sister, I miss you. Sometimes I miss you more than I miss my real sister. Even more than I miss my mother, who passed away when I was young. Come see me. I’ll write to you.”
There wasn’t even the slightest trace of pretense to his words. Was that the power of someone facing an impending death? When I saw how easily, how like a child, he said the words that I was too embarrassed to say, I was struck by the feeling that he, not I, was Aunt Monica’s true kin. And, to my surprise, I felt a little jealous. For a moment, I wondered, if I were Aunt Monica, whom would I have cared about more, me or them? Had they hogged the love that I should have been receiving while squandering my life for the past thirty years? When they cried out, begging to be left alone to die, did Aunt
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