Store owner, gunshot victim.
(A very pleasant, sunny, high-ceilinged new modern home in Fullerton. There is a winding staircase that comes into a hallway. The furnishings are replicas of Louis XIV. Walter Park, who has had a gunshot through the eye, has a scar on the left side of his face. He is wearing a blue golf shirt, white socks and slippers, and khaki pants. His wife, June, is sitting on a love seat next to him. She is elegantly dressed. She has on a black silk blouse and yellow slacks and a wonderful concha belt with red stones. Chris Oh, her son and Walter's stepson, is in another chair, perpendicular to them. He is dressed simply and in his stocking feet. Birds and a lawn mower are very present throughout. The lawn mover moves close and then distant and then close. The birds are really beautiful. Piano music of Ravel's "d**h of the Princess" playing on an excellent sound system.
(The feel of the place is airy but there is a lot of furniture. The love sear is in a sitting area with a soda and two chairs and a marble table. There is a wooden cart with wheels and porcelain pitcher. The dining room has a cabinet with many porcelain items. Along the wall of the staircase is a long strip of fabric, which is a Korean banner. There is a tree which is real, in the living room, but other plants are silk or artificial. There is a painting of a white woman with a white baby at her breast. I think it was a rendering of Christ and Mary. It's clear that good taste and a lot of thought and joy went into the design. At the same time, it is clear it's an imitation of European aesthetic.
(Mr. Park speaks in the rhythm of a person who has full authority and ease, and a person who has all the facts exactly straight. When he begins talking, his wife and son shake their heads to let me know that he doesn't know the answer to the question. He is sitting with his arms crossed and legs crossed, also in an easy but confident and authoritative position. From his body position and his rhythm you would think this was the most reasonable, sound response possible. It is, of course, emotionally sound, but there is a gap between the question and the answer. He is heavily sedated, and has been since he was shot.
(He starts by nodding.)
I felt kind of
lonely,
you know,
in the store,
so I said
well,
I might need go
travel somewhere,
y'know,
and I said
well, I'm gonna probably go see
my mom
or, you know,
somebody.
So I try to go to Korea.
Then I call a couple guys up
and, uh,
"I feel kinda lonely.
I wanna go Korea,
see if I can change, uh,
situation,"
and they didn't say nothing.
(Very pa**ionate, and amazed)
(Birds and lawn mower closer)
it's
kinda, you know,
wondering thing,
and one guy happened to tell me,
"Why you wanna go Korea
for?
You just came out of
hospital."
You know,
that,
that makes me wonder too.
So I came home and
I told her about it
and
she didn't say nothing.
Uh,
it happens to...
(His voice is much fuller here)
among the Koreans,
among Orientals,
if they really love somebody or they really like somebody,
they try
hide certain things
for different manner,
and, uh,
I accepted it as different manner
that
that's the way she loves
me and it's fine
as long as I know
and I have way to pay her back
that makes it even.
And she didn't say nothing.