‘Since you have approached us,’ Madeleine said, ‘we assume you have certain ideas that you would like to discuss.’
‘As you said,’ Shannon said, ‘this is a preliminary discussion to see whether there is any basis for co-operation between us. I am thinking not so much of present-day practical matters but whether we have a shared vision of how our combined resources might best be deployed in the future. Not only in Hong Kong but in China itself.’ She looked at the three of them, her eyes on fire with her vision of what, with planning and purpose, might be possible. ‘The most populous nation on earth. It has been held back and almost destroyed by the will of one wicked man. Now, at last, he is gone. Now, under the new leadership, that will change. China is impoverished. That will change. China has much to learn from the West, so much to teach the West. How? By communication. That is the key. By helping to develop the infrastructure, by helping to open up the country, I truly believe not only China but the whole world will benefit. The process is inevitable but at this time, with our combined resources and expertise, I believe that if the four of us, sitting around this table, have the courage, we shall also have the immense privilege of assisting in that process.’ She sat back in her chair, looking at each of them in turn. ‘The question is, do we want to assist in that process and, if so, how do we proceed?’
Now, late in the morning, it was hot, the humidity climbing, and Jess and Madeleine left Shannon and Mr Tan to carry on their talk of what vision, if any, they shared for the future. They walked down the drive and across the road. It was pleasant to stroll beneath the trees, the open waters of the roads on their left hand, the salty smell of the sea in their nostrils. The tide was out and the stones along the shore where the water had been were dark with moisture.
‘What did you think of your sister’s remarks?’
‘I’ve never heard her talk like that before. Whether she’s right or wrong I don’t know. Whether her ideas are practical I don’t know. But I’ve known her all my life and I know this: if it can be done, she’ll do it.’
‘Do you share her vision?’
‘Out of my league, I’m afraid.’
If the Chinese people were ready to throw off the shackles of the Mao tyranny, the opportunities – for China and the world – would be immense. Not only in business terms, either; it was even possible that a new age of enlightenment might be dawning, an opportunity both for China, with its huge population and civilisation going back over thousands of years, and the rest of the world, with its technological advantage, to unite in a way that only a few years before would have seemed impossible.
Jess wasn’t sure what she felt about that and, until she was, thought it might be wise to keep her mouth shut. She also thought changing the subject might be the order of the day.
‘Your daughter… How old is she now?’
‘Erica will be twenty-three on April 30.’
‘And what is she doing?’
‘Studying for her master’s degree in information technology at the James Cook University’s Townsville campus. When she has completed her studies she will be coming back to join the family business. At least, that’s the intention.’ Madeleine laughed. ‘But young people are very independent nowadays, aren’t they?’
‘Andrew’s just joined the family business as well,’ Jess said. ‘But that’s always been his ambition. Erica Soong,’ Jess said. ‘What’s her Chinese name?’
‘Soong Cui Ying.’
‘Is your husband involved in the business?’
‘That was my father’s original intention but my husband is more interested in historical research. His heart is not really in the business.’
‘And yours is?’
‘My four brothers all live overseas and have their own families and concerns. So it falls to me to do what I can.’
They reached the end of the trees. The footpath ahead of them, exposed to the glare of the tropical sun, no longer looked inviting.
‘Maybe we should be getting back,’ Madeleine said.
They strolled back the way they’d come.
‘Do you think your sister’s right? After being isolated for so long, is there any chance China will re-open its doors to the West?’
‘You’re Chinese. You tell me.’
‘I am Singaporean, my husband Malaysian. Very different from mainland China. I have no idea what China will do in the future.’
‘I suppose the only way to find out is to try,’ Jess said. ‘But I tell you what I think. I don’t think either my sister or your dad will be the ones to make a break-through. Not you or me, either. It will be people like your daughter and my son who’ll see it happen, if it ever does.’
‘But that is what we’re doing, isn’t it?’ Madeleine said. ‘Building for the future.’
‘I’m just a cook,’ Jess said. ‘I leave all that stuff about the future to smart types like you.’
‘You’re a chef, not just a cook.’
‘I pay homage to the cuisine of China and France. I worship at the culinary altars of East and West. That’s what I do. I believe it’s important, but I don’t care what you call me.’
They crossed the road, dodging the trishaws, and walked back up the drive to the hotel.
‘Lunchtime,’ Jess said. ‘Tell me, does Erica have many friends in Townsville?’
‘A few, I suppose. Why?’
‘I was thinking it might be nice if your daughter and my son might meet up.’
Madeleine looked at her, a smile quivering at the corner of her mouth. ‘Like parent, like child?’
Jess smiled back. ‘Something like that.’
‘She’s sharing a unit with three other girls.’
‘I’d like to give her a ring when I get back,’ Jess said. ‘Her mother is my oldest friend, after all.’
‘How nice of you. She would love that, I’m sure.’
‘The least I can do,’ Jess said.
Andrew
Andrew had his own place, an apartment in the side road that rose steeply from the Airlie Beach high street, with a single bedroom and a large bed beneath the lazily-turning ceiling fan. From the balcony he could see the sea fringed by coconut palms on the far side of the shops. There were often sailing boats out there, and launches travelling to or from the islands, and it was pleasant after he’d got home in the evenings to take a drink out onto the shaded balcony and sit and watch the people going to and fro.
Twenty minutes’ drive from his office in the Maitland headquarters, it was a convenient place where he could be solitary when he wanted to be or have company when it suited him, and he’d discovered there were always young women on holiday who were willing to flirt or sometimes more. He also thought of the balcony as his thinking place, because sitting out there he did a lot of that, too. He thought about his future and how he planned to get to the top of the company, if he were capable; he thought about what he had to do to be worthy of getting to the top of the company; and what he would do when he got there. He never thought if because he never doubted.
One evening in early January he took a drink out on to the balcony. A girl he knew had phoned and suggested they get together but he had put her off; that day he had more pressing things on his mind than a casual relationship. Five days before, Mum and Auntie Shannon had flown to Singapore on what had to be business. They hadn’t said why they were going and it gave him an uneasy feeling to think that decisions about which he knew nothing were being taken that might affect his future.
When Mum got back from Singapore, he’d demand to be told what was going on.
There was a knock on the door. He went and opened it to find Mum smiling at him. He gaped in astonishment. It was as though his thoughts had conjured her into being twenty-four hours earlier than he’d expected.
‘I was just thinking about you.’
‘That’s nice.’
She came in and he made her a gin and tonic, her favourite drink in the hot weather. He freshened his own glass and joined her on the balcony.
‘Good trip?’
‘Interesting.’
‘Tell me about it.’
She told him they’d met up with some people she’d known years before, when she’d been a student.
‘Madeleine Tan was my dearest friend,’ she said. ‘They’re a rich family, business interests all over. Her father claims he’s more or less retired, which leaves Madeleine running things. We were discussing the chances of the two companies teaming up in a joint venture in Hong Kong and later, possibly, mainland China.’
‘Do you think it’ll happen?’
‘I think it might. Which brings me to a big favour I want from you. Madeleine’s daughter Erica is doing her masters in information technology at the Townsville campus of James Cook University. I’d like you to meet up with her, if you can.’
‘What’s she like?’
‘I’ve no idea. Only that she’s a couple of years younger than you are.’
‘Why do you want me to meet her?’
‘Madeleine is one year older than I am. Another ten years and we’ll be out of the picture. Then, if our plans for co-operation between the two families go ahead, you and Erica will be running the show. It makes sense to get to know her, don’t you think?’
It made him feel good that Mum was thinking of him as the natural successor to the business, yet this mention of Erica sounded suspiciously like matchmaking and Andrew didn’t like that idea at all.
‘What does Erica have to say about this?’
‘Madeleine is going to speak to her. I’ve no idea what her reaction will be, but I’ve got her telephone number if you want to find out.’ Jess put her hand on his knee. ‘You needn’t look so suspicious. I’m not asking you to marry her – unless you want to, of course – but it makes sense to meet her, doesn’t it?’
Andrew wasn’t sure whether it did or not, but the next day he phoned her anyway. She said her mother had mentioned his name. She sounded as guarded as he felt, which made him feel better, and they agreed he would drive up to Townsville the following weekend and they would get together then.
She sounded pleasant on the phone and he felt better about meeting her.
The university buildings were near the army base. She was staying in a large apartment she said she was sharing with three other girls, two from Malaysia and one from Hong Kong. The others were out and he and Erica Soong walked down the road to a café where she said they served good coffee.
They sat at one of the tables. The waitress came and they ordered the coffee.
‘How are you enjoying Australia?’
She had black hair cut short and her skin was the palest gold. She was slender, tall for a Chinese girl, and he thought she was very beautiful.
‘Very much,’ she said. ‘It is a good place to be and the work is most interesting, also.’
Her English was good, her accent slight.
‘Have you had the chance to see much of the country?’
‘Not as much as I would like, but what I’ve seen is very beautiful.’
The coffee arrived. There was also a trolley with cakes and they each took one.
‘Tell me about your work.’
She told him she was working on statistical and mathematical methods to assist in decision-making. She was enthusiastic and knowledgeable and she explained things so clearly he was able to understand most of what she was telling him. He thought she was impressive and by the time they’d finished the coffee and cake had shed most of the negative feelings he’d had about meeting her.
‘I have to get back,’ she said. ‘I have work to do.’
‘No dramas,’ he said.
‘You’ve driven a long way for such a short conversation,’ she said. ‘You haven’t told me much about yourself at all.’
‘Another time,’ he said.
He had expected her to be shy but she was not. He had expected to be bored, or irritated, or both, and had been fascinated.
‘That would be nice,’ she said.
‘I’ll give you a call.’
He walked back to her apartment with her but did not go in. He made no attempt to kiss her or touch her in any way but thought about those things as he drove south. Another time.
‘How did you get on with her?’ Mum asked.
‘OK.’
‘What did you talk about?’
‘She talked about her studies. I didn’t say much at all.’
‘Will you be seeing her again?’
‘Yes.’
He phoned her the next day.
‘Do you like dancing?’
‘I used to when I was home. I haven’t had the opportunity since I’ve been here.’
‘We must do something about that,’ he said. ‘Are you free this weekend?’
She said she was.
‘There’s a club I know in Townsville. They have a live band on Saturday nights. We could go there, if you like.’
‘What sort of club?’ Sounding doubtful.
‘A bit of a rave up.’
‘Great.’
‘I’ll pick you up at eight,’ he said. ‘Have something to eat, go on to the club. How’s that?’
‘I’ll be waiting.’
This time he booked into a small hotel not far from the university and strolled down to her place at ten to eight. It was a pleasant evening, warm rather than hot, with the night sifting down softly through the trees along the road.
Erica Soong was waiting for him, wearing the sort of clothes that would fit in anywhere. He took her to Wellers, where he knew they could get good food and the service to go with it, and he realised what he should have known before but had not, that he was trying to make a good impression on this woman who a week ago he had not wanted to meet at all.
After they’d eaten they went to the club where the band was doing its best to shake the plaster off the walls. Plenty of dancers were on the floor but Erica found a place. When she got into it, shoulders and arms pumping, hips shaking, with the overhead lights kindling red and blue flames in her black hair, it was as though no one else existed. Andrew thought she was not only the most beautiful, but the most exciting woman he’d ever met.
When they’d danced for a while, they went and sat down at a spare table and he ordered drinks: orange crush for her, a beer for him, at the inflated prices clubs always charged.
Once again they walked back to her place. Once again she did not invite him in. Once again he did not try to kiss her but held her hands outside her open door.
‘Tomorrow?’ he said.
She did not smile but her eyes searched his face for a while before she answered. ‘I will be here.’
He collected her in the morning and they drove inland along a road that climbed steadily as it left the coast. On either side of the road were thickly wooded valleys, emerald-green in the sunshine. As they climbed the road grew steeper in a series of sharp bends.
‘Where are you taking me?’
‘A town called Charters Towers.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘It used to be a gold-rush town in the last century. The mines were all closed down in the 1920s but apparently there’s still a lot of gold there and there’s talk they may start mining again.’
He had to keep his eye on the winding road but when he could he turned his head to look at Erica, staring out at the passing countryside. The morning sunlight fell on her face. Her skin was as pure as porcelain and he thought she looked even more beautiful than she had the previous evening. He thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and he felt a stirring in his heart he had never felt before: in his loins, too, certainly in his loins, but mainly in his heart, and he was very pleased that his mother had persuaded him to go and seek this girl out.
He looked at her and saw a light in her face that hadn’t been there before.
‘Gold?’ she said. ‘How exciting! Maybe we should start looking for some while we’re there.’
‘Maybe we should.’
‘Why are we goi
ng there? Really?’
‘There are heritage buildings from the nineteenth century. I’m told some of them are very beautiful.’
She looked at him. ‘You don’t know the town?’
‘Never been there. But that’s what I’ve heard. A beautiful town for a beautiful woman,’ he said.
She shook her head. ‘Stop it. You are not being serious.’
‘I am being very serious.’ But said no more because he saw he was embarrassing her. ‘There’s also supposed to be a very fine restaurant. Or so my mum says, and she should know.’
‘Why should she know?’
‘Because she’s a chef. A good one. She and my aunt are planning to open a new restaurant in Hong Kong.’
‘A restaurant?’
‘They haven’t set it up yet but when they do my mum will be a part owner. Sort of.’
‘What d’you mean, sort of?’
‘She and my half-aunt own the building it’s in, so I suppose they own the restaurant, too.’
‘What’s a half-aunt?’ Erica was laughing, incredulous.
‘Mum and Shannon are half-sisters, so I suppose Shannon’s my half-aunt. I haven’t seen the building but Mum says it’s quite large. It’s not finished yet but when it is they plan to call it the Golden Phoenix Complex.’
‘Is that why our parents are talking?’
‘I think that may have something to do with it.’
‘And is that why we’re together now?’
He glanced at her and saw that some of the light had gone out of her face.
‘That has nothing to do with it. I’m with you now because that is what I want. No other reason.’
She said nothing but he felt better for having told her the truth. At first he had met her because of business but that was no longer the case. He was with her now because he liked her very much and wanted to go on seeing her.
‘And your dad?’ she asked. ‘What about him?’
‘He walked out a long time ago,’ Andrew said. ‘And yours?’
‘He’s more interested in Chinese history than business. That is why my mother is helping my grandfather run things.’
They reached the town. It was a quiet place with not many people about and it was possible to park in the street. They walked around for a while. He thought of trying to hold her hand but decided not to risk it. He was enjoying her company and did not want to do anything to spoil that.
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