"Auntie Char-lot, what means "Uncle"?" It had been a year since WAC Charlotte Mackenzie had brought her orphaned nephew back to America. He had learned the basics of the language quickly, but his vocabulary was scarce. He turned to her from looking out the restaurant window out into the rainy Boston day.
"Well Kim, oh, you make me wish I had my Korean dictionary." She hammed up for the 6 year old to which he gave his million dollar grin. "Um, an uncle would be, how can I explain. An uncle would be your mommy or daddy's brother, or an auntie's husband."
He looked pensive for a moment, let all this register. "How come you have no uncle?"
"What?" It was Charlotte's turn for not understanding.
"You have no uncle." He repeated and realization dawned on Charlotte and she turned bright red in embarrassment.
"No, you don't have an uncle, I don't have a husband. Don't think it's not for lack of trying baby bear."
He giggled at the pet name she had given him. 'Bear' was his first word in English. Other nicknames included 'kid', and 'trouble' Charlotte pulled the menu off the center of the table and started to peruse it. "What means 'Trapper'?"
"A trapper is a type of hunter." She was slightly confused by her nephew's word choices

* * *

His life had been falling apart. Doctor John MacIntire slouched through the drizzly rain and headed to the bar of Felicity's Restaurant in downtown Boston, and ordered a gin martini and it was only 2:16 in the afternoon. Ah well, it reminded him of old times. Times before his wife left him. The war. The still. 24 hour martinis. Hawk, Henry, Ferret Face and Hotlips. In spite of the war, life wasn't too bad. At least then his wife still loved him. But then he had gotten discharged and was elated to come home. He never wanted Louise, Kathy and Becky to leave his sight ever again. Then, then three days later Louise told him that she divorcing him. She'd fallen in love with some lawyer big shot and was taking the girls with her to live with them in his house in the country.
His shift at Mass. Gen had just ended but he didn't want to go home yet, the house was too empty with out the girl's clutter and the smell of Louise burning yet another pot roast.

* * *

"What do you want to eat baby bear?" Charlotte gazed over the menu. Kim did not respond. "Kim?" He didn't respond again. He was staring at a man that just came in the door. She put her menu down, "trouble." That got his attention. "What do you want to eat?"
"Kimchee."
"Again? Sauerkraut is all you ever eat. Pretty soon you're going to turn into a cabbage. How 'bout some chicken fingers?"
"Kimchee." He insisted.
Unable to resist her nephew, she waited for the waitress and then ordered a Ruben and a bowl of chowder and a plate of "kimchee" and pork.
After half an hour, Kim and Charlotte had finished their meals and headed to the counter to pay the bill.

* * *

John felt someone staring at him. He quickly gave a perfunctory glance over his shoulder, and saw a little boy, holding his mother's hand, staring at him. It took him a minute to realize the little boy was Asian. He went back to his martini then did a double take.
Either he was drunk without drinking a sip or Kim was standing over in the Foyer of Felicity's restaurant, Boston! His Kim!! It had to be! No, it couldn't be. He looked back again, and the little boy was smiling at him. That was Kim! It couldn't be though; Kim was in Korea, with his mother.
By the time he looked towards the foyer again, not-Kim had disappeared

* * *

It took some doing but Charlotte had finally pulled Kim out onto the side walk, and they walked down the street, hand in hand, Kim singing a little tune and Charlotte just enjoying her nephew.
"Charlotte? When did you get back from Korea?"
"Mrs. Carson!" Charlotte recognized the woman approaching her. "Yes, I've been back for almost a year now."
"Is that your son?" Mrs. Carson said looking at Kim.
"No, my nephew. My brother had just started filling out the paperwork to claim him and his mother as his family when both he and Moon-Keung died. I adopted him right away and was discharged just in time to bring him home with me."
"How very Christian of you. He's an absolute darling, how old is he . . .?"
The conversation was continuing and Kim was getting board. That happened to him a lot. His English was good, but not good enough to be able to understand entire conversations. He noticed a pet shop across the road. He saw a pretty cat he wanted . . .

* * *
Dr. McIntire quietly paid his bill and left a nice tip for Felicity.
He was out the door when he heard a frantic. "NO, no stay there, stay there. No!"
John turned to look what was going on and recognized the woman h saw with the little Asian boy and saw that she and the boy were separated by the heavy traffic - and that the boy was about to cross the street. Both the mother and the elderly lady standing looked petrified. The scene looked so familiar and his own voice echoed in his head - Who wants a kid who crawls into mine fields anyway. He'd probably cross against the lights back home.
He quickly ran to were the distraught women were standing."
The mother turned quickly to him as if to explain. "He doesn't know the English for stay."
"Kim - Kuchio Nugoa" He called across the traffic and repeated it twice, to which the little boy smiled and sat down happily on the curb. John turned quickly and quickly pushed the crossing button a few hundred times. As the lights changed, he quickly dashed across the street and scooped Kim up in his arms. The had to wait through another light, but then they changed again, and the good Doctor triumphantly crossed the street and placed the small boy in the waiting arms of his Mother who was now in shock and tears were streaming down her face.
"Oh, Kim, you scared me. Don't ever do that to me again, kid." She hugged him tightly, Trapper just watching the entire scene. She turned to him. "Thank you so much, but, how do you know Korean?"
"I was a surgeon at a MASH unit. I'm John McIntire."
"Charlotte MacKenzie. Thank you so much again. Is there anything I can do to thank you?"
John smiled. "No, that's fine, thanks. It was my pleasure. You're little boy reminds me of a kid I met when I was over there." he replied, looking down at the smiling little boy who would now not let go of his hand.
"How did you know his name was Kim, though?" Charlotte was quite bemused by this.
"Lucky guess." He shrugged it off. It was just a premonition. A lucky guess. It wasn't the same kid. What were the chances?
"Well, thank you so much Dr. McIntire." She said, taking Kim's hand and starting to walk down the street.
Kim hesitantly let go of the Doctor's hand, and was being practically drug by Charlotte, never turning from him. When the reached the end of the block, John was still standing there and Kim started to wave. "Bye Uncle Trapper!" the little boy called to him.
John went pale as he realized that someone had beaten fate and his Kim had ended up in Boston, crossing against the lights.