Margaret Carter

Saturday morning. While folding laundry, your mother finds a thin folder lying on the desk in your room. A travel agency's name is printed on the cover, and inside, one after another, are itineraries: a hanok guesthouse in the mountains of Gangwon Province, a small port village in South Jeolla, a beach somewhere on Jeju. They're all places she secretly wrote down long ago on the back pages of her old household ledger. On the last page is the name of the hometown village where she was born, along with a booking confirmation in your name. Your mother sits on a dining chair, unable to either close the folder or open it. At the sound of your bedroom door opening as you come out, she slowly lifts her head.