EXAMPLE PAGE - EBOOKS - THE PROMISE OF THE TEA GODS - Flipbook - Page 23
the promise of the tea-gods
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reveal. He also had a habit of answering questions with questions, which
drove Soo-kang crazy—but as mystic as he was, Binnie had a beautiful
humanness about him. He was genuine, he was compassionate, he was
caring, and he was kind. Everyone loved him, and Soo-kang considered
him his greatest friend. He was the only person in the world who he
could talk to about anything—the only person who truly listened, and
who truly understood what he heard. And, to Soo-kang, that was the
most valuable thing you could ever receive from another human being—and he cherished it.
After gulping down a cup of tasteless tea, Soo-kang’s first mission of
the day was to run ten miles, which he usually did by circling around
the park a few times before it got too crowded. If he got there early in
the morning—before seven—he could get in most of the ten miles before it filled up with people. Which it did, every day, rather quickly.
On his second lap around the park—as his feet were flying past the
fountain—out of the corner of his eye, he saw Binnie race across the
street, catch a falling girl, then disappear into a circle of commotion.
He stopped in front of the fountain, trying to get a better look at what
was going on, but there was a crowd gathering and it was hard to see
exactly what was happening . . . Looks like Binnie got himself tangled
up in a whole lot of drama, he thought. I should go help him with whatever it is. His eyes scanned the growing crowd . . . Suddenly Binnie
turned around and put his hands out—palms toward the curious onlookers, as if to push them back—and, surprisingly, most did step back, as
if they had just been given an order from the king.
When Binnie turned back to the girl, Soo-kang craned his neck trying
to get a better look at her, but it was impossible to see anything other
than a few strands of her hair blowing in the wind—the rest of her, completely blocked by Binnie’s heroic presence.
Just as he was about to push his way through the throng of gawking
pedestrians and see what he could do to help, his phone rang. Tearing
his eyes away from Binnie, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and
looked to see who it was . . . “Of all the times to be calling me,” he
