THE TRUCE AND THE BEEF

     I drove carefully maintaining speed so that I wouldn't lose track of Dr. Park's little Nissan or let anyone get in between it and the big Crown Victoria that I was driving. Both cars belong to Dr. Park, but he sold the Nissan to his brother-in-law in San Jose, a town in the middle of the Silicon Valley, about one hour away from us. We were now transporting the sold vehicle to that person.

     Since I wrote that post about changing my attitude towards Dr. Park, I noticed that my tension with him in the room decreased. I think, even thinking about it helped me to start forgiving him for the bullying and humiliation that he imposed on me. He seems genuinely sorry and determined to be only helpful from now on. Perhaps I don't trust him yet, and he might betray me at a drop of the hat, but for now I feel that it's time to bury the hatchet (and, preferably, not in each other's heads). Sylvie, who detests Dr. Park and either runs away or watches him intently with her seriously spooky green eyes whenever he is near her, seems to have felt the easing of tension in me. Today she didn't do any of that behavior when he tried to initiate a give-and-take with her, but first mewed at him and then came and sniffed his offered hand. She is very intuitive that way!

My demon-kitty

     I was dreading going to San Jose following Dr. Park. It's not an easy drive, the freeway gets really congested, and one has to do a lot of merging and lane changing. Fortunately, we were able to reach our destination, a brother-in-law's apartment building, in good time and intact. 
     Mr. Kim is from North Korea. He and his wife came to the U.S. at Dr. Park's invitation in nineteen seventies. He doesn't speak much English, but Dr. Park translated for him or just talked instead of him. He said that the elderly in South Korea can' t enjoy life as they do here. All they get is $100 a month. I tried to find out how much would be their expenses, for example, the rent, but he only told me that people there have to buy their place of residence. If I understood him wrong, you are welcome to correct me!
     In thanks for bringing his new/old car to him, Mr. Kim took us for lunch to a Korean Bar-B-Que Buffet. Imagine a place where you can get as much tasty,  

      soft meat and other 

dishes as you want! I love it! Too bad that I have only a finite amount of space in my stomach and can't usually eat more than one plate of food. Today Mr. Kim would nod stand for Roberta and I refusing politely to stuff ourselves any further. He went and brought us plates of desert, soft-serve ice cream cones and fruit to share at the table. I guess, it's a Korean custom to finish everything that's put in front of you, because that's what we were forced to do. Dr. Park wrapped the remaining sesame covered balls and steamed buns in a napkin and stuck it into Roberta's purse.