The Orphan Master's Son_ A Novel - Adam Johnson [196]
Look, citizens, at how delicate are her sensibilities. The attentive citizen can see that no one else is pure enough to play these roles, that if anyone thieved Sun Moon from us, they would be stealing these powerful characters as well. Why, the movies themselves would be swiped from posterity. Kidnapped would be the very future of our nation’s cinema, which belongs not only to our patriotic citizens, but to the entire world!
The Dear Leader neared her. “Please say that these are tears of joy.”
Weeping, Sun Moon nodded.
“What is it?” he asked. “Come, you can tell me.”
“I weep only that my mother won’t be able to make the premiere of Comfort Woman,” she said. “Since retiring to Wonsan, she never writes, not once. I was just imagining her at the reception for Comfort Woman, seeing her own mother’s story large across the screen.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll solve this. Your mother probably lacks only for typing paper, or perhaps the stamp deliveries to the east coast have been delayed. I’ll make a call tonight. Trust me, I can make anything happen. You’ll have typed letters from your mother by sunset tomorrow.”
“Is it true?” she asked. “Can you really do anything?”
With his thumbs, the Dear Leader wiped away her tears. “It’s hard to believe how far you’ve come,” he said. “Sometimes I forget that. Do you remember when I first laid eyes on you?” He shook his head at the memory of some long-ago moment. “You weren’t even named Sun Moon then.” He reached into her hair and touched her ear. “Remember that you have no secrets from me. That’s what I’m here for, I’m the one you reveal yourself to. Just tell me what it is you need.”
“Please,” she said. “Give me the joy of seeing my mother at the premiere.”
Citizens, citizens. Ours is a culture that respects the elderly, that grants them their need of rest and solitude in the final years. After a life of labor, haven’t they earned some remote quietude? Can’t the greatest nation on earth spare a little silence for the aged? Certainly, we all wish our parents were spry forever, that they’d never leave our side. But Sun Moon, listen to the people cluck their tongues at you. See how selfish it is to burden your mother with an arduous journey, one on which she might perish, simply to satisfy your own personal pleasures? But we throw up our hands. Who can deny Sun Moon? Ever the exception, so pure of emotion is she.
“She’ll be sitting in the front row,” the Dear Leader told her. “I guarantee.”
Citizens, if the Dear Leader says it, that settles it. Nothing could prevent Sun Moon’s mother from attending that movie premiere now. Only an utterly unforeseeable occurrence—a train mishap, possibly, or regional flooding—could stand in the way of this joyous reunion. Nothing short of a diphtheria quarantine or a military sneak attack could keep Sun Moon’s dreams from coming true!
In a gesture of socialist support, the Dear Leader placed his hand upon her.
“Haven’t I followed all the rules?” he asked.
She was silent.
“I have to have you back,” he said to her. “We must return to our arrangement.”
“It was an agreement,” she said.
“So it was, and haven’t I lived up to my side, haven’t I followed your rules?” he asked. “That I never force you to do anything, isn’t that rule number one? Answer me, have I ever gone against your will? Can you name one thing I’ve made you do?”
She shook her head.
“That’s right,” he told her, his voice rising. “That’s why you must choose to come back, you must choose right now. The time has come.” His voice had turned sharp, such was his paternal concern for her. He gave himself a moment of pause and soon his charming smile returned. “Yes, yes, you’ll have a new set of rules, I’m sure. They’ll be whoppers, impossibly complicated rules—already I can imagine the joy on your face when you spell them out to me, but I agree to them right now, I accept all your new rules in advance.” He held his arms wide with possibility. “Just come back. It will be like old times. We’ll play Iron Chef with the kitchen staff, and you