Martin Limon: Buddha's money

We scurried through the maze of Itaewon's alleys and made good our escape into the traffic of the Main Supply Route.

The cab driver was too frightened to ask about the rusty cylinder cradled in my lap.

In Ernie's room back at the barracks, we had time to examine the contents of the metal cylinder. Wrapped in asbestos was the jade skull of Kublai Khan. Also a wad of Korean and American money and an American passport. Herman's face frowned out of the passport, but the name under the face was phony.

Emie counted out the money and handed me half. "Beats Army Emergency Relief," he said.

I touched the skull with my fingertip.

"No way," Ernie said.

"No way what?"

"No way are you going to use that thing to get Lady Ahn back."

"And what makes you think I won't?"

"Because I won't let you."

"Bullshit."

Ernie shoved my shoulder. "That's right. I won't let you make a fool of yourself."

He was starting to annoy me. "I'll do any goddamn thing I want to do."

"No. You won't."

The tap on the side of my head stunned me. When my mind cleared, I realized it was a punch. The best Ernie had. He held both fists up, bouncing on his toes.

"Come on, goddamn it! Come on!"

I stepped toward him, more surprised than angry. "You'd punch me? Just to keep the jade skull?"

"Not to keep the jade skull," Ernie answered. "But to keep you from chasing after a woman who intends to use you. And then toss you aside."

"You're full of shit."

"Not me. You're the one who's full of shit, Sueno."

I took another step toward him. Ernie snapped out a jab, but it wasn't strong enough to slow me down. I had three inches and twenty-five pounds on him. He landed a couple of punches. I threw him back up against the wall and cocked my right hand.

He was open. I could have pulverized his jaw, but I didn't do it. He was like family to me. The only family I had.

Slowly, I dropped my fist.

Ernie smacked me again. "Go ahead, goddamn it! Fight! You want to throw your life away on some broad who doesn't give a fuck about you? Then fight!"

I stood with my hands at my sides, glaring at him, expecting him to punch me again. He did.

This time my jab shot out with a life of its own. And another and another. Emie staggered back under the onslaught. My right caught him below the eye and I felt flesh and cartilage and bone beneath my knuckles.

I didn't like the feeling. It was like beating up your little brother.

Ernie was dazed, his eyes glassy. Still, he kept bouncing on his feet, holding his fists up. I didn't want to hit him anymore. I hadn't wanted to hit him in the first place.

I turned and walked out of the room. He didn't follow.

It was raining again. I didn't think about where I was going, but my feet moved with a will of their own. In a few minutes I looked up in surprise. I stood surrounded by the flashing neon of Itaewon.

I entered the first nightclub I saw and reached across the bar for the nearest bottle.

When I woke up, I was in my bunk back at the barracks. How I got there, I didn't remember. It was still dark. I wanted to vomit, but figured I'd better take a leak first.

I slipped on my shower shoes, opened the door to my room, and slapped my way down the hall.

Spec 4 Jorgenson, the CQ, Charge of Quarters, slouched in a big chair in front of the entrance to the barracks. His khaki uniform was as wrinkled as if he'd slept in it all night. Which he had. He roused as I approached.

"Sueno," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Did your partner ever find you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Bascom left for Itaewon after you did. Said he was going to look for you."

I rubbed my head. "I don't know if he found me or not."

"Tied one on, eh?"

"Yeah."

"So anyway some chick came looking for him."

"What chick?"

"You know. The little one. With the real short hair."

Choi So-lan, the ex-nun. Her hair had started to grow out and she'd stopped wearing her cap.

"I hope it was all right," Jorgenson said. "I let her in his room."

"You did?"

"Sure. I'd seen her here with him before. You know, spending the night. I figured he wouldn't mind. And she was crying and all. I didn't want her sitting out here in the hallway bawling."

I grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him to his feet. "Gimme the key!"

"Sure. Sure. It's on the ring here."

He rattled a loop lined with about fifty keys.

I snatched it out of his hands and ran for Ernie's room. In the dark I was fumbling with the keys, trying each one. Jorgenson approached with his flashlight.

"Here. Let me do that."

He found the right key and opened the door. I switched on the light.

Ernie wasn't in his bunk. The blankets hadn't been mussed. Still out in Itaewon, I figured.

It was the wall locker I was worried about. Ernie had an extra bolt on it and a double padlock, always bragging that it was burglar-proof.

The padlocks hadn't been moved.

But the hinges lay on the floor in pieces. Someone had patiently scraped off the thick layers of olive-drab paint and unscrewed the hinges and pried them off. The door of the locker was slightly ajar.

"Shit," Jorgenson said. "I didn't know she was a slicky girl. I thought she was his girlfriend."

"Did you see her leave?"

"No. She must've slipped out the side door."

A drop of rain splatted on my leg. The window was open, the screen set on the floor below it.

I peered into Ernie's locker. Jorgenson shone the flashlight in. Propped up on a set of folded fatigues was Herman's phony American passport and the wad of Korean and U.S. bills. I counted them. They hadn't been touched.

But the jade skull was gone.

Jorgenson reached in and lifted out a felt purse. "What's this?"

I snatched it out of his hands and examined it. I saw the neatly embroidered Korean lettering: Choi So-lan.

I pulled back the strings of the purse, opened it, and turned it upside down. Out fluttered two handfuls of freshly shorn black hair.

"Looks like somebody cut their hair," Jorgenson said.

I nodded.

"Not that chick who was looking for Ernie?" Jorgenson asked. "If she cut off this much hair, she must be bald by now."

I nodded again, thinking of Choi So-lan. Of Lady Ahn. Of Mi-ja. Of Kublai Khan's jade skull. "I think you're right, Jorgenson. She's bald all right. As bald as a Bride of Buddha."