Cromer

In New Malden, they owned a corner shop together. It was the place where you could get the gossip magazines and newspapers from Seoul.

- Paul Yoon

Then, when everyone got smartphones, it became the place to get your smartphone cases: cute cats, cows, hippos. Gel pens, too. The students picked out a few colors while they got their fizzy drinks or, when it grew warmer, waited their turn at the shaved ice machine that Harry had convinced his wife they should buy. At first,

Harry had wanted a pinball machine and Grace had been forced to tell him that was ridiculous. What kid played pinball these days? Harry never minded the kids4kids helped him forget that they had woken up one day to find themselves in their mid-40s—but Grace went to the back whenever they came in. She said it was because their voices sounded to her like paper shredders, and they always picked up a box of something and left it somewhere else. But Harry knew it was because years ago, one of them had come up to the counter while Grace was arranging the pens and asked if they were really North Koreans and what life was like there and whether they had any health defects or bad teeth or were actually siblings or something.

A parent had made a comment about them, maybe at dinner, maybe while passing the shop, and their kid had overheard. This had happened a few times over the years, would happen probably until they died.