The Orphan Master's Son_ A Novel - Adam Johnson [54]
Jun Do pulled his arm back.
“Easy, there, tiger. There’ll be plenty of time to fish. First, we’ve got to show those Americans. They’ve got to get theirs. I hear a plan’s in motion. So we’ve got to get you presentable. Right now, it looks like the sharks won.”
“This is all some kind of test, isn’t it?”
The old interrogator smiled. “What do you mean?”
“Asking about Wonsan like some kind of fool when everybody knows no one retires there. Everyone knows that’s just a place for military leaders to vacation. Why not just say what you want from me?”
A flash of uncertainty crossed the old interrogator’s face. It shifted slightly to measurement and then settled into a smile. “Hey,” he said. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be rattling you.” He laughed. “Seriously, though, we’re both legally heroes. We’re on the same team. Our mission is to stick it to the Americans who did this to you. First, though, I need to know if you’ve got some kind of beef with the Captain. We can’t be having any surprises.”
“What are you talking about?” Jun Do asked. “Never, not at all.”
He looked out the window. Half the fleet was out, but the Junma had its nets spread across the docks, drying them for a mend.
“Okay, then, forget I said anything. If you didn’t say anything to piss him off, I believe you.”
“The Captain’s my family,” Jun Do said. “If you’ve got something to say about him then you’d better say it.”
“It’s nothing. The Captain just came to me and asked if I could put you on another boat.”
Jun Do stared at him in disbelief.
“The Captain said he’s tired of heroes, that he only has so much time left, and he just wants to do his job and fish. I wouldn’t sweat it—the Captain, he’s a capable man, a real solid hand, but you get old, you lose your flexibility. I’ve seen it many times.”
Jun Do sat down in a chair. “It’s because of his wife,” he said. “That’s got to be it. That’s something you guys did to him, giving his wife away.”
“I doubt that’s how it worked. I’m not familiar with the case, but she was an old woman, right? Not too many replacement husbands are clamoring for an old woman. The Captain went to jail, and she left him. That sounds pretty likely. As the Dear Leader says, The simplest answer is usually the right one.”
“And the Second Mate’s wife. Are you handling that case?”
“She’s a pretty girl, she’ll do well. You don’t have to worry about her. She won’t be living underneath dogs anymore, that’s for sure.”
“What will happen to her?”
“I think there’s a warden in Sinpo who’s high on the list, and down in Chongwang there’s a retired Party official making some noise to get his hands on her.”
“I thought girls like her got sent to Pyongyang.”
The old man cocked his head. “She’s no virgin,” he finally said. “Plus, she’s twenty now, and headstrong. Most of the girls who go to Pyongyang are seventeen—all they know is how to listen. But what do you care? You don’t want her for yourself, do you?”
“No,” Jun Do said. “Not at all.”
“ ’Cause that’s suddenly not so heroic. If you want a girl, we can get you a girl. But the wife of a fallen comrade, that’s discouraged.”
“I’m not saying that’s what I want,” Jun Do said. “But I’m a hero. I’ve got rights.”
“Privileges,” the old man said. “You get some privileges.”
All day he worked on the radio. The light was good at the window ledge. There he used the flattened end of a wire as a jeweler’s screwdriver and melted fine strands of solder with a candle flame. There, too, he could keep an eye on the harbor to observe the Captain pacing the decks.
Toward twilight, she returned. She was in high spirits, radiant.
“I see some of you still works,” she said.
“I couldn’t stay in bed without any fish to look at. They were my mobile.”
“Some impression that would make,” she said. “Showing up in Pyongyang with a suitcase full of fish.” Then she pulled back her hair to reveal a new pair of earrings made from thin tails of gold. “Not a bad trade, huh? I’ll have to wear my hair up so people can see