Chapter 1: Jeung

It was a gloomy old house, large and foreboding.  It needed painted. 
Yellow paint across the siding was faded and peeling.  Some of the roof's 
shingles were loose. Others were missing here and there.  The old man who 
lived there was not seen often in town.  In winter he always wore an old 
brown coat with a hood, creating a shadow over his face.  His appearance 
was much like the house, old and needing some upkeep. People said he was 
pleasant enough, just quiet. He was a puzzle to most.  People talked about 
him in whispers. They said he had worked for the government.

The huge leafless trees hovered over the walkway.  Bows were bent toward 
the center, the branches hung down. They appeared as arms waiting to grab 
any who dared approach the porch. People survived the walk, the mailman, 
the delivery driver from the grocery and the UPS guy with those smiling 
Amazon.com boxes.  It seemed the old man rarely shopped in the local 
stores.  However, there were exceptions, Lim's Computer Parts and Repair 
Shop and McCrae's Antiquarian Books.  He visited these regularly twice a 
month on the third and thirteenth of the month.  Both places fit the look 
of the man.  They were dark and dusty with a sense of both mystery and 
sadness.  

The wind blew and the tree branches of the walk moved in menacing gestures 
that would have alarmed anyone approaching the house from the street.  
With the dark clouds and misty rain, the walkway created an awesome 
challenge as Jeung stood staring toward the front door.   She had to walk 
between the trees and deliver the packages.  Her father, Byung-hun Lim of 
Lim's Computer Parts and Repair Shop, sent her and three boxes loaded on a 
hand truck the four blocks to the old man's house.  "He needs these now.", 
her father declared.  "Your brother is out on other deliveries with the 
truck.  It's only a short walk. GO!"   

It wasn't the distance that made her balk at the assignment or the heavy 
load. It was the thought of the gloomy house and the dusty old man.  There 
were the rumors the house was haunted and that the old man brought up the 
dead.  More frighteningly there were other tales that he was once a hired 
killer, working for the government, cold and ruthless.  Seung, her 
brother, said he was in a war, some kind of special soldier who killed 
with his bared hands.  He said it was the souls of all those he murdered 
that haunted the house.  Jeung's father put an end to such talk, calling 
it ridiculous.  But, he would offer nothing more about the man's history, 
except that he was very busy and preferred his solitude.

The 15-year-old-girl mustered all the courage her slender 5 foot frame 
could muster and pushed the truck down the walk. Turning around at the 
steps she pulled the  truck up the first step. THUD! It was easier pushing 
than pulling. THUD! The second step was even harder than the first.  

"Hold on! Hold on! Let me have that," a voice came from behind her.  She 
stepped aside as two hands grabbed the handles of the truck. "That's much 
too heavy for a little bit like you.  Hold open the door, we'll take this 
into the my office." 

She stood holding the door while the "old man" wheeled past her and off to 
the side of the entrance way. "Don't stand there holding the door.  Step 
in!" His voice came from the other room.   Jeung stepped in hesitantly and 
looked around.  It wasn't what she expected.  The interior of the house 
was well kept, warm and inviting.   

"I was hoping your brother would come.  No offense to you.  He usually 
helps me with things like this." 

She stared at him blankly. "Usually?" 

"Hmm... You were standing out there for quite a while.  I wondered when 
you would... Well, you delivered the packages.  That's the important 
thing.  But, now something else is required of you." 

Her eyes widened as she thought of running out the door.  What's "required 
of me'? 

"Do you have your cell phone?  Will you please ask Byung... I mean your 
father, and ask if you can stay a short time to help me unpack the 
equipment and set up the new system." 

"You can sit down if you like." 

Jeung hesitated then dutifully called her dad.  During the brief 
conversation, Jeung complained, in Korean, but her father told her that 
"Mr. Douglas" was an important customer and that she should help him. 

"Everything ok?", Mr. Douglas asked returning to the vestibule carrying a 
tray of tea and a few cookies.   

She nodded. 

"Okay, follow me." 

They entered Mr. Douglas' office. The room was filled with monitors and 
keyboards. Old computer parts and books were scattered everywhere.  There 
was a large screen TV on the wall facing the door between the two outside 
windows.  The TV displayed multiple windows some with newscasts, others 
with streaming text.  All the monitors in the room showed multiple windows 
open with streaming text and blinking cursors.  It was a high-tech light 
show. 

In the center of the room was a desk with a blank monitor. 

"Take that jacket off it's wet. "

 "There's a coat rack behind the door."  

Jeung moved the door back to hang her coat.  On the wall she noticed 
pictures of Mr. Douglas shaking hands with different men and there were 
certificates with his name on them.  There were also pictures of a younger 
Mr. Douglass with a group of Asian men and women.  One woman looked 
familiar. 

"Come sit down. Drink some tea and warm up."  Mr. Douglas turned to the 
handcart lifting the boxes to the floor. Then he tore them open revealing 
a new computer, keyboard, and mouse.  Another box opened to reveal a 
scanner with a sheet feeder. The last box contained networking equipment.   

He slipped the computer from the box, knocked off the Styrofoam and the 
clear vinyl covering. He examined the pc thoroughly.   "There's plenty of 
ports."

 "It will do." 

He sat down in a chair, took a cup of tea and looked at Jeung.  

She smiled, looking nervously. 

"You're not a talker, are you?"  

She smiled again. 

"Your brother never shuts up. By now he would have told me all about his 
day delivering for your father. I have to remind him to work.  But, he's 
good with the equipment. Like your father. Kept this old machine running 
well beyond it's time." He kicked at an old PC on the floor.   

"My brother?  "Here?" She smiled again and took a bite of a cookie. 

"Many times. He talks about you too.  Not always sure he's telling the 
truth.  He has a fantastic imagination." 

"Fantastic," she grumbled. 

He looked at her gently. She had thick black hair cut shoulder length.  
Her dark brown eyes were wide and alert. "You look like your mother." 

"You know my mom too?", she asked. 

"I've known both your parents for a very long time.  I lived in Korea for 
many years." 

She looked surprised. 

With a sigh, sadness came over Mr. Douglas saying , "They were some of the 
happiest years of my life." 

He stood up and looked at the other boxes and approached them.  Then 
leaning over the main desk began to remove the wires and connections from 
the dead computer.  "Time for you to go old friend." 

While Mr. Douglas was working, Jeung looked around the room.  Photographs 
were everywhere.  One caught her eye.  It was a younger Mr. Douglas and 
two young women. She immediately recognized her mother. She was so very 
young. 

Douglas watched her and said, "Your mother was a freshman at EWHA at the 
time. She would meet your father her junior year." 

"Did you date my mother?" 

Douglas grinned. "She was a beauty.  I should say she still is. But... Oh 
my, no. She was much too young for me.  I worked with her roommate, 
Soo-Young, who was a post-grad student at Seoul National. The three of us 
ventured out together on our free time." 

"Soo-young?  My aunt Soo-young?" 

"Uh..." He turned back to the desk saying, "I just ran a new network 
cable.  I'm going to pass it up to you from under the table." 

He knelt down and the laid on his back. There were rattling noises as he 
maneuvered the cable up a conduit that led to the top of the desk.   

"Do you see the cable?" 

Standing up and abandoning her cookie, Jeung moved over to the desk and 
found the connector.  She brought it through the conduit.  

"There's a latch to catch the plug, just fold it around the wire.  It 
won't fall back through again."  

Jueng found it and secured the wire. 

"Okay. Let me out." 

 "Thank you." 

Jeung said, "I can put the new PC in place. If you want. I know how." 

"Yes, please."  Douglas grabbed a dirty cloth and quickly dusted the area. 

Jueng lifted the new computer, placing it on the desk and began to work on 
the cabling. 

Douglas lifted a box of DVDs from a bookshelf, software for the new 
computer.  He brought over some of the disks and set them beside Jeung at 
the desk. 

"You up to doing the software installs?" 

She smiled and nodded. In reality, she was hoping to do the setup. She 
started to feel comfortable with the dusty old man. 

"When you start it up press F2 to go into the setup.  You'll need to boot 
from the DVD. Get rid of all that Windows crap." 

Jeung looked at a DVD. It read Ubuntu Server 18.05. 

She loved Linux.  "Good choice.", she said. 

"Glad you approve.  Someone told me you were the Linux wiz in the family." 

She beamed a smile. 

Douglas placed a paper on the desk, "That's all the info you'll need for 
the network." 

Jeung was in her element.  The screen flashed, LEDs flickered.  She 
relaxed. 

"Both your parents were computer geeks.  Your father was amazing. Still 
is. Most people don't know that he is a major league cyber-security 
consultant.  They see that humble guy at the old computer store." 

Jeung smiled. Shook her head, reasoning out a problem. Then... "You knew 
my aunt?" 

"Yes." 

She turned to him. "I never got to know her." 

"She was formidable. She kept your father in line while he was dating your 
mother. She knew how to put me In my place too'"

"She always bore responsibility well.  I know she took your mom's 
well-fair into account with all her decisions.  Soo managed school and a 
job and the care of your mom. That was quite a juggling act for anyone."

"I don't know much about her.  My grandparents died young. Some sort of 
accident.  I do know my Aunt created a college fund for Seung and me. Mom 
still thinks about her even though she doesn't say much. How well did you 
know her?" 

Jeung turned back to type in some information for the setup.  She hit the 
return key and looked intently at the screen.   

Douglas looked blankly. A few minutes passed. Jeung turned and looked at 
him, head tilting.

"Well..., he mumbled. "We worked together 5 years for the US State 
Department while I was in Seoul." He paused as if the thought pained him. 
Then with a slight smile, he said, "Then when I transferred back 
stateside, we married. " 

"Huh?" She stared at him quizzically, eyes wide. "Married?"

Douglas chuckled.

"That's what I said, married." He smiled a little more and continued, "I 
worried about our age difference.  Fifteen years was quite a difference.  
But, she gave me the courage to do it." 

"Then Soo took a job teaching here at the University.  I semi-retired.  
Later your parents came. Soo helped your father get established here. Your 
mom caught on with IT at the university. So..." 

"Wait. Wait. Wait.  You're my Uncle?" 

"Shocking, huh?" 

"My parents never said..." 

"Soo and I were married 6 years, 3 months and 21 days. After she passed, 
your Mom and Dad were a big comfort to me. But, I became, I guess, 
reclusive. They've respected my privacy and I never wanted to interfere 
with your lives and happiness.  I have had my work here. It keeps me 
occupied." 

Jeung looked back at the screen. Douglas gathered up some of the boxes and 
packing materials and took them away.  Jeung could hear a door open and 
the sounds of the outside.  The rattling of metal announced the final 
destination of the materials. A bit of cold air snaked it's way to the 
desk where she was working.  It carried the scent of fallen leaves and the 
smell of rain.

Douglas walked back and forth from the office to the kitchen a few times. 
He replenished the tea and replaced the missing cookies.  Then he settled 
on the couch and watched Jeung.  There was quite a conversation going on 
in her head.

"I don't remember any of this.", she shook her head.  "Don't remember my 
Aunt or you." 

"You were very little when Soo passed. Maybe you were 2, I think.  Seung 
was 5, maybe?  I doubt if he remembers much. Strange he and I never had 
this conversation. We talk a lot, mostly about computers and school work.  
He probably doesn't know.  Hmmm.  I never thought to mention it." 

She shook her head once more saying, "He didn't see the pictures?"  
Catching her words. "Never mind that's my brother. He's not very 
observant."

Mr. Douglas' forehead creased as he tried to bring up a memory.  "How old 
are you now?" 

"15." 

He leaned back calculating in his head.

"Really? 15?"

He lowered his eyes, "Sometimes I feel I live in a fog."  

Looking up at the computer he said, "Ok.  You're at the login.  Go in and 
download the software from the list.  I have instructions and passwords on 
the back of the sheet." 

"Uh huh," she nodded. 

"Your aunt loved this house.  The first summer after we moved in, she and 
three of her students tore this place apart and put it back together 
again.  She installed most of the wood floors by herself.   She had those 
kids scraping, hammering and painting until exhaustion. By the following 
year, she had the house looking brand new inside.  The outside wasn't in 
bad condition then. " 

"And she was very, very happy to see you born. She loved you and your 
brother dearly.  But, I thought she had a clear preference. Don't  tell 
your brother." 

Jeung smiled at the screen. 

"We never had the chance for a family.  There was work,  settling your 
parents here and the house, then her illness." 

Jeung looked at him but kept silent.  She didn't know what to say.  What 
could anyone say? 

He got up walked over to a bookshelf. Shuffling some old books and dusty 
nik-naks, he picked up a picture in a frame.  "That's you, just born." The 
pictured showed a woman holding an infant. "It was a good day." 

The two were silent. 

"Uncle."  She touched his hand.  "Ajusshi." 

Tears.

The computer beeped behind her.  Turning Jeung typed in some commands and 
another download began. 

Your mother used to call me "ajusshi."  I didn't always think she meant it 
as a term of endearment.  She thought I was too old for your aunt.  
Grumbled a lot about it when Soo dated me.  But... I'm happy you used it." 

She smiled as she worked.  "What happened to my Aunt? Mom doesn't talk 
about her much." 

"She had... had... She developed stomach cancer.  They said it was one of 
the risks of the Korean diet."  He had a faint smile as a memory flashed.  
"She joked that it was her kimchi.  It was notoriously bad.  Your mother 
hated it. Me, I loved everything Soon made."   

Your mother would say, "What does an American know about Korean food?"   

He paused. "She died a year and four months after the diagnosis." 

"She was strong through the whole thing." His voice faded tears welling in 
his eyes. "She worried about me.  She knew how much..." Tears flowed, 
"...much I needed her."   

He regained some composure and smiling stood and put the picture back on 
the shelf.  

"She was my sunshine." 

Silence. 

Then, "Beep!", the computer demanded attention again.   

Turning to the keyboard, there were tears flowing from her eyes.  She 
wiped her face with her sleeve then tapped a few lines at the prompt 
displayed on the screen.  Her voice shook a bit as she said, "You may need 
to make a few changes to the kernel for this version of the software.  
That is if you expect more than 5 simultaneous connections. I assume this 
will have more than 5 users." She held up a disk.

"More than 5? Yes, I usually set it to 25. Let's see you make the 
changes." 

She took the challenge. Logging into root she brought up a text editor and 
then the configuration file.  Scrolling down the text she typed in a few 
changes. "I'm going to change this too."  She pointed to a line of code.  
Douglas nodded agreement.  "And this."  He smiled.  Then she rebooted the 
system and watched code fly-by until the login prompt displayed.  

"That simple!" Her palms went up in victory. "What's next?"

Douglas beamed,

"Let me tell you how I use all of this. Just so you know."

"Okay."

"All the equipment here is used to support web services for about a dozen 
non-government organizations, non-profits, charities things like that.  I 
run a library system for a small college in Appalachia."

"Here", pointing to another server. "is an online classroom for a school 
in Malaysia."  

"I am part of a group of well-to-do nerds, who try to help out people with 
limited access resources.  In many areas of the world, internet access is 
cellular only or satellite.  These aren't places where the Internet is 
easily accessible. But, I and a few others try to find ways to help people 
and organizations open up the Internet to those often left behind. Some of 
us run servers like these and others are on the ground trying to develop 
infrastructure." 

"O.M.G. That's so cool.", Jeung smiled. 

Douglas continued "I Skype with a dozen or so people every week to make 
sure things are running well.  Also, do a lot of instruction so that in 
time our clients won't have to rely on outside services.  Just trying to 
help out."

"Don't really need money. I do this for the satisfaction of helping.  And 
I've met a lot of good people." 

His eye caught the clock on the wall. He looked at his watch, "It's almost 
8!  You should be home!" 

Jeung looked at her cell, there were 5 messages from her mother. "Oh. I'd 
better get going." 

She stood and grabbed her coat from the rack then started to take the 
cart. 

"Leave the cart here.  I need to take something down to Byung." 

"Okay." They started to walk toward the front door.

"Give your parents my apologies for holding you so long. " 

"Okay." 

They walked out the front door and down the walk.  To Jeung the walk was 
not as foreboding now, even though it was dark.  Douglas handed her his 
card. "My cell phone number is here.  Text me when you arrive at home. 
Your Uncle will worry.  And thank you very much for all your help." 

She smiled then, "If you ever need help with your work..." 

"I always need help.  If you're serious I can talk to your father." 

He paused, "When do you turn 16?" 

"November.  Why?" 

"You did a great job today.  At 16 you can be on the payroll. If your 
parents agree."

Jeung's eyes went wide. "Really?" 

"We'll talk with your parents.  Hurry home." 

She turned and began to walk.  A block away she gave one look over her 
shoulder and waved.  

Mr. Douglas thought, "A little bit of sunshine." He whispered to himself, 
"You did good Soo. My Soo. I miss you everyday."

Returning to his computers Mr. Douglas lifts up a keyboard pulls out a 
well worn letter and reads. Tears flow.

My Love,

I was once promised love until the End of Summer

I had always loved to see the summer end. The crickets calling out 
awaiting cooler days. The birds stir preparing to go south to warmer 
lands. The shadows growing longer. The days growing shorter. 

Now memories haunt me of  that past.The leaves begin to change and fall. 
Melancholy calls. It is bitter and it is sweet. I will miss you always.   

Min