Chapter
55
IT HAD TAKEN THE BETTER part of two weeks, but Chung-Cha rinsed Min off once more in the shower and beheld a girl devoid of dirt, even in her ears. And the stubborn grime under her fingernails and toenails was no more.
The medical visits had been conducted and Min’s wounds and bruises had been attended to and were healing quickly. The girl’s overall health had been pronounced sound and her immune system was functioning properly. That was truly a miracle, Chung-Cha knew, for a camp prisoner of any duration, because the conditions were so squalid. As on a battlefield, far more died from disease than wounds. Bacteria easily trumped bombs and bullets in lethality.
Min’s teeth were in poor condition, but unlike Chung-Cha’s they were capable of largely being saved. The girl had not flinched once at the dentist’s office. She seemed to understand that all that was being done was for her own good.
Chung-Cha had increased the girl’s meal intake slowly, giving Min more and diverse food each day until her stomach could handle it properly. The doctors had told her that Min had not reached her growth spurt yet and the additional food would help accelerate this event.
There was the matter of education, which for now Chung-Cha took on herself. Min was an eager if frustrated learner, and the hours of instruction went by quickly. She could read a bit and she knew her numbers to a point. She was well versed, as all prisoners were, in the philosophy and teachings of North Korea’s great leaders. But she needed to know more than that.
This could not be accomplished in a week or even a year, Chung-Cha knew. And she was not a trained teacher. She would have to arrange for Min to attend school. But Min would be far behind other students her age and to place her there now would only serve to humiliate her. So Chung-Cha would work with her, and then she planned to arrange for a personal instructor. It would all take time and money. But Chung-Cha had requested and received special dispensation to accomplish this. It was a wonder to her that she had never asked for such things before. Apparently the leadership was willing to give her far more than a rice cooker and some wons.
As she spent time with Min, Chung-Cha waited for a phone call or a knock on the door that would summon her to work. She knew it would come at some point.
And when she had to go and train, as she did each day, Min was left with the family that managed the apartment building. At first Min wanted to stay with Chung-Cha, go wherever she was going. This was impossible, Chung-Cha had explained to the girl. The first time she had to go away, Min was very upset, and Chung-Cha knew why.
She doesn’t believe I’m coming back.
Chung-Cha had taken off a ring that she wore and given it to Min. “You take care of this for me while I’m gone. You can give it back to me when I return. It is my prized possession.”
“Did it belong to someone in your family?” Min asked.
Chung-Cha lied and said, “My mother.”
The ring was actually of no significance to her. It was just a ring. But a lie was as good as the truth when it achieved one’s goal.
One evening Chung-Cha dressed Min in her nicest clothes and they walked to the metro. At first Min was afraid to get on the train, but Chung-Cha told her it was a fun ride that would take them to a place where a great meal would be waiting. Min jumped on the train without further hesitation. She looked around in amazement both at all the people on the train and at how fast it moved. When they got off and ascended to street level she wanted to know if they would take “this train thing” back home.
Chung-Cha assured her that they would, which made Min smile.
They walked past a number of restaurants. While Min looked curiously at them, Chung-Cha kept her gaze straight ahead.
Then she led Min into the Samtaesung Hamburger Restaurant. They sat at a table. Chung-Cha kept her back to the wall.
She was surprised when Min noticed this and said, “You don’t like people coming up behind you, do you?”
“Do you?”
“No. But they do anyway.”
“Then you must do something about that.”
They ate hamburgers and fries. Chung-Cha let Min have only a few sips of her vanilla milk shake because she was worried the richness might make her sick.
Min’s eyes widened. “This is the best food I have ever had.”
“It is not Korean food.”
“Where, then?”
“Just not Korean.”
They finished eating and left. Chung-Cha and Min walked around Pyongyang and she showed the young girl as many of the sights as possible in a few hours. Min had innumerable questions, and Chung-Cha tried to answer them all as best she could.
“Is the Supreme Leader really three meters tall?”
“I have never met him, so I do not know.”
“They say he is the strongest person on earth and his mind is full of all the knowledge in the world.”
“They said the same to me about his father.”
They walked on in silence for a bit.
“You said you had no family at the camp,” began Chung-Cha.
“I have no family.”
“You were born in the camp, Min. You had to have a family.”
“If I did, no one told me who they were.”
“They separated you from your mother?”
Min shrugged. “I have always been alone there. That is just the way it was.” She looked up at Chung-Cha. “What about your family?” She nudged the ring on Chung-Cha’s finger. “Your mother gave you this?”
Chung-Cha did not answer. They walked on in silence.