Skating Free

"Nabineun hangsang gajang yeppeun kkoch-e nal-aganda."

At this point, Chin-sun fell to her knees in front of the TV, bawling her eyes out and touching the image of her grandmother on the screen. Scott was at a loss for what to do; he hadn't completely understood what her grandmother had said, let alone why it would elicit this reaction. Nonetheless, he placed a comforting hand on Chin-sun's shoulder and helped her to her feet.

"Chin-sun, what did that mean?" Scott asked.

"It means... the butterfly always flies to the prettiest flowers. It is the moral of a story my grandmother would always tell me growing up," she explained. "In the story, a group of butterflies have their flowers that they feed on and have fed on for generations. But one of the butterflies can see that they are smaller and sicklier than the butterflies in the field. When he mentions this, his fellow butterflies berate him for daring to be different and remind him that they have survived this long by staying true to what they know. This is where the story ends for most North Koreans. But my grandmother continued the story to tell of the butterfly sneaking away every night to try the other flowers frequented by the prettier and healthier butterflies. After a week of this, he had grown to be the most beautiful butterfly in the field and led the rest of his friends to do the same, saving their dying group. The moral translates to never settling for less than the best."

"And why would your grandmother mention that? To try and draw you back home?"

Chin-sun laughed. "Never! My grandmother is the one who convinced me to defect in the first place! No, I believe this to be a message. She wants me to know that I have found the best and that she and my family are pleased with this. In spite of what the State forces them to say, they wish for me to make a new life here and never return to North Korea."

Scott wrapped his wife in a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek. "You're very lucky, Chin-sun. Your family loves you very much to want this for you."

"I know."

Chin-sun sighed happily, feeling her husband's strong arms around her. Here, she was safe and loved without condition. She knew this to be right. This was her place. If there was a God, no words could express her gratitude for her deliverance from certain death at the hands of her former countrymen. Now was the time. Chin-sun had been harboring a secret for over a week now, and she was finally ready to tell her husband.

"Scott, there is something wonderful I must tell you."

"You can tell me anything," he replied.

Placing her lips next to his ear, Chin-sun took a deep breath and tried her best to still her trembling hands before whispering to him those fateful words.

"We are pregnant."