My Seoul Man

Chapter 33

They got me good, the day we took Seoul Food on the road.

I was stuffing my face at this massive breakfast Jennie had cooked up so that everyone could stop by before work to send us off when Aunt Jennie smiled this devilish little smile and said, "Y'all hear somethin'?"

AJ's smile changed, too, as the "somethin'" they were listening for got a little louder and a little louder—sounded like a big truck coming down the street.

So, I thought maybe she'd bought some kind of furniture or a new dishwasher or something. Until Cousin Bam said, "Eboni gon' out there see what's goin' on." And AJ caught my hand and pulled me up and out behind everybody else running for the door.

And when I looked up...my knees buckled.

It was a semi with a big old trailer behind it. A huge semi and trailer but fancier looking than anything I'd ever seen before.

Because Ronnie had designed the incredible wrap-around mural like the ones he got paid thousands of dollars to do all over the world. It had "Seoul Food" in big, bubbly letters on the side of the trailer we'd be serving from and Hangeul on the other.

I swear, I felt like I was on one of those TV shows where they fix up your house after the fam convinces you to take a long spa day. Only instead of somebody calling out "Move that truck" to reveal the renovation, the "truck" was the big surprise, right?

My cookin' cousins Bam and Junior ran right for the trailer and opened it like they'd definitely seen it before.

But I looked over at Jennie and said, "How the hell..."

She gave me one of those chuckles from way down deep in the belly and said, "Your boy sold that other one. And then I had that money Sadie left me. Calt herself payin' me back for that little money I give her 'way back when she opened that diner."

I turned to AJ then, still too stunned to speak right. "That front part must've cost...I mean..."

Bennie folded her arms and stood all back in her legs. "Girl, you know what they say about gift horses?"

And one of my uncles piped up with, "They say it 'cause if you look 'em in the mouth you'll see how come they're just givin' it away for free."

But his wife elbowed the wind out of him and "Ain't nothin' wrong wit that there, though. Brand new and custom made!"

"Well, the sleeper cab's not so new," AJ admitted. "Used to haul Wally's prize stock around. The ones that had to be handled with care, you know? The trailer part's new, though."

"You got that from Wally?" I said.

"He's got a few, actually. Has to have, to get the stock to all those events. So he fixed them up like little houses almost."

"Go check it out," Jennie said, giving me a little shove.

I didn't know where to start, to be honest. Bam, Junior and Bennie had opened up the serving side of the trailer that looked like a better kitchen than most of the ones I'd worked in.

So I walked on over there first and found a little hatch in the side of the trailer that opened to reveal a row of spigots customers could turn to pour out whatever kind of sauces, condiments or bingsu syrups they wanted.

"These little details," I marveled.

"There's storage space, too, in the back," Bennie said. "I think your boy here's got some plans for that, but..."