Bernard raced over to his wife, whose face was flushed a bright red. ‘What happened?’ he asked.
‘I must have slipped,’ she said, batting him away.
‘Mama, is it your shoulder?’ Coco hurried to her side.
‘I’ll be fine,’ Lucille snapped. ‘I just need to take a few minutes.’
Lucille hurried off towards the changing rooms.
‘Mama!’ Coco called after her. She hated the thought of her mother being hurt.
‘Leave her,’ Bernard said. ‘Your mother will be fine.’
‘We will take it from the top, but only up to where Lucille and Cherry mount Winnie’s bicycle,’ Lionel instructed.
‘Wow, that was scary,’ Lucas said. ‘I wonder if there are many injuries.’
Alice-Miranda looked down and realised that her finger was bleeding. ‘Oh dear.’
‘What happened?’ Jacinta asked, looking over at her.
Alice-Miranda clucked her tongue. ‘I don’t know, but it’s just a tiny cut. Maybe one of the plate pieces hit me. I might try to rustle up a bandaid,’ she said.
‘Would you like me to come with you?’ Jacinta asked.
Alice-Miranda shook her head. ‘No, stay here and watch. I’m sure I saw a first-aid room in the hall.’
She walked into the tunnel that led to the rooms backstage. Alice-Miranda located the door with the red cross and was about to knock when she heard voices coming from inside. One sounded like Lucille. The two women were speaking in Mandarin. Alice-Miranda knocked gently and the door opened. The old woman they had seen leaving Lionel’s office, the one called Rou, answered it.
‘Excuse me, would I be able to get a bandaid?’ the child asked. ‘I seem to have cut my finger.’ She waved it in the air.
Rou looked at her blankly, but after a few sharp words from Lucille, she fetched a plaster from a cupboard on the far wall.
‘Are you all right, Mrs Wong?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘Yes, I am fine,’ the woman replied.
Rou began to speak in Mandarin again. She handed the plaster to Alice-Miranda, her words flowing.
Alice-Miranda frowned. Her knowledge of Mandarin was elementary at best, but what she’d heard had seemed a very strange thing to say. ‘Thank you very much. I feel better already,’ she said, and walked back to join the others.
From a very early hour, the Bright Star Academy was buzzing with activity. Students were busy swapping stories amid others rushing to their before-school activities. Somewhere in the building an orchestra was rehearsing; the sounds of their symphony filtering through the halls. Alice-Miranda, Millie, Coco and the boys headed straight to the hall, where they were met by Miss Grimm and Miss O’Reilly, the two headmistresses firing questions like bullets, eager to ensure that everyone had enjoyed their first evening together. As the rest of the visitors and their hosts arrived, Millie and Sloane raced up to Alice-Miranda with Selina in tow.
‘We’ve had the most wonderful morning,’ Alice-Miranda blurted. ‘We went to training with the Wongs and they taught us how to walk on stilts and Jacinta is going to be in the show on Friday.’
Miss Grimm beamed. ‘Oh, Jacinta, that’s fantastic news!’
‘Ophelia, you won’t believe your eyes. The whole family is extraordinary,’ Shauna O’Reilly chimed in.
Jacinta’s smile couldn’t have been any bigger.
‘You must be really good,’ Selina said.
Coco nodded and gave Jacinta a nudge. ‘She is.’
Lucas caught Jacinta’s eye and winked. She shivered with happiness. It was good to feel like they were back to normal again, and being able to train with the Wongs was the icing on the cake.
‘What did you do last night?’ Alice-Miranda asked Millie.
The girl’s face lit up. ‘Selina’s parents took us to a market and I ate a scorpion on a stick!’
‘Seriously?’ Lucas grimaced.
‘Yup, it was crunchy and a bit nutty,’ Millie said. ‘It honestly wasn’t that bad once you got over the thought of it.’
‘You’re much braver than me, Millie,’ Sep said admiringly.
‘It was disgusting.’ Sloane poked out her tongue. ‘I couldn’t even watch but I bought this.’ The girl produced a cute little toy panda from her pocket. ‘Isn’t he adorable? And we’re going to see the pandas at the zoo after school today.’
‘Selina’s apartment has the best view. You can see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City,’ Millie added.
Selina smiled shyly, thrilled that her guests were having such a good time.
Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton arrived with the other parents.
Lawrence stuffed a half-eaten chocolate bar into his pocket and gave a wave. ‘Good morning, kids.’
‘Hey, Dad, you’re never going to believe what we were doing this morning,’ Lucas said. He and Sep rushed up to the man to share tales of walking on stilts.
‘Aren’t you going to say hello to your mother?’ Millie asked Sloane, who was doing her best to pretend that the woman wearing the sky-high boots and what looked like silk Chinese pyjamas tucked into them was not related to her in any way. September was standing on her own looking a little down in the mouth.
‘Not if I can help it,’ Sloane mumbled.
Alice-Miranda took the girl by the arm and steered her towards the woman. ‘I’m sure your mother would love to know what you did with Selina.’
September looked up and smiled as the girls approached.
‘Good morning, Mrs Sykes,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Did you have a nice evening?’
‘Yes, it was surprisingly good,’ the woman replied. ‘I even got to do a little bit of shopping.’
Sloane rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you did.’
‘Actually, Sloane, I got something for you,’ September said, pulling a small white box tied up with a jade-green bow from her pocket. ‘I saw it last night and thought you might like it.’ She passed the gift to her daughter.
Sloane held it gingerly, as if she was expecting something to jump out and bite her.
September looked at her anxiously. ‘Aren’t you going to open it?’
‘Oh, Caprice and Susannah have arrived. I should go and say hello. I’ll see both of you later,’ Alice-Miranda said, and hurried away.
Sloane untied the ribbon and flipped open the lid. ‘Wow!’ she whispered. ‘Is this really for me?’ She looked up at her mother, who nodded eagerly. ‘I love it,’ Sloane said, wondering how her mother even knew that she had admired a very similar bracelet in a shop in Shanghai. She lunged forward and briefly hugged September around the middle, working hard to stop the fog that was inconveniently clouding her eyes. ‘Thank you.’
Sep glanced over at the pair and almost did a double take. Then he caught a look across the room between Alice-Miranda and his mother and shook his head. That girl never ceased to amaze him.
Alice-Miranda grabbed Millie and the pair wandered over to talk to Susannah and Caprice. ‘So how was last night?’ Millie asked.
Susannah shrugged. ‘It was okay.’
‘It was weird,’ Caprice said.
‘Why?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘When we got home, Felicity took us to our seriously ginormous bedrooms. We both have ensuites with solid gold taps and sitting rooms the size of a tennis court. Her house is like a palace. Felicity showed us how everything worked and told us which number to call if we wanted to order food or needed someone to draw the bath or help with anything and then she disappeared,’ Caprice explained.
‘So what did you do?’ Millie asked. It didn’t sound all that bad to her.
‘We hung out in my room,’ Caprice said. ‘Felicity never came back. A maid turned down our beds and brought warm milk and choc-chip cookies, but that was it. We got up this morning and had breakfast in the dining room on our own and another maid told us that the driver would take us to school in one of Mrs Fang’s Wangfang concept cars – which has to be the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.’
‘W
here are Felicity’s parents?’ Alice-Miranda asked.
‘They’re both away for work,’ Susannah replied.
Millie looked around. ‘I think a better question is, where’s Felicity?’
‘We haven’t seen her today,’ Susannah said, just as the girl appeared in the doorway.
‘Speak of the devil,’ Millie said.
Miss O’Reilly clapped her hands and called the group to attention. ‘Good morning, girls and boys, parents and staff, what a wonderful feeling of excitement there is in the room. It’s been such a treat to hear your stories and I am thrilled that everyone’s been getting on so well.’ Shauna smiled. ‘We’ll be leaving in just over an hour to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, followed by the Summer Palace. In a moment, though, you’ll all be off to Mandarin lessons. Parents, you’re most welcome to join the students or have a coffee in the staffroom. Our barista makes a lovely latte. Tomorrow the children will be at school all day, so I understand you’ve got the day off to explore our fine city.’
‘Actually, I have something special planned for us,’ Venetia said.
‘Hopefully it involves food,’ Lawrence chimed in, patting his belly.
Venetia smiled. ‘You’ll just have to wait and see, Mr Ridley.’
‘Will there be shopping?’ September trilled.
‘Yes, I’ve got a few things lined up for us in that department,’ Ambrosia piped up. ‘I’m writing an article on cutting-edge Chinese designers, so I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.’
‘Excellent.’ September smiled and gave her daughter a squeeze.
Sloane fidgeted. ‘Too much too soon, Mummy,’ she mumbled, and September loosened her grip.
‘Do we have to go to school on Friday too?’ Figgy groaned.
Ophelia Grimm glared at the lad. ‘That’s George,’ she whispered behind her hand to Shauna. ‘He of the goldfish-smuggling incident.’
Shauna O’Reilly suppressed a smile. When Ophelia and Aldous had regaled her with the tale the evening before, she’d nearly choked on her dinner. It was the funniest thing she’d heard in years.
‘No, Master Figworth. On Friday we’re heading up to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. In the evening we’re off to see Eternity, the most exciting acrobatic troupe in China,’ Shauna explained.
The boy pumped his fist and jostled with Rufus and their billet, Hero, a rotund lad with a quick wit and an extreme love of dumplings.
‘Now that that’s sorted, could the Bright Star students please take their billets off to class and meet back here promptly at quarter past nine?’ Miss O’Reilly instructed. ‘Felicity, may I see you for a moment? Caprice and Susannah, would you mind going with Coco and the others? Felicity will be along soon.’
The woman hadn’t missed that the girl had arrived quite a while after her guests and wanted to ensure that everything was all right.
The children moved off to class while Ophelia Grimm led the other teachers and parents to the staff-room. She was dying for another cup of tea and would pay a visit to the classroom once she’d got the parents settled. Besides, Miss Reedy and Mr Plumpton could pull their weight a little more.
‘I wonder if Miss O’Reilly’s going to tell Felicity off for being such a terrible host,’ Caprice griped.
Coco frowned. ‘I don’t think so. She never gets into trouble.’
‘Well, she should. She’s horrible,’ Caprice sighed. So far she didn’t think much of her host at all.
‘Uh, pot, kettle … hello?’ Millie whispered, but Sloane heard and was trying not to smile.
‘Come on, play nicely, you lot,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Let’s just go and enjoy ourselves.’
Cherry Wong wove in and out of the traffic on her scooter, hoping to get home before the children. She balanced a huge box of pastries on her lap – a special treat for their afternoon tea. As she turned into the entrance to the hutongs, another rider shot across and blocked her path. She tooted the horn and tried to get around him, but he move d from side to side, preventing her from going anywhere.
‘What are you doing?’ Cherry yelled. She tried to catch a glimpse of the rider’s face, but he wore a helmet with the visor down.
The rider turned sharply and pulled up beside her. She was about to move off when the man thrust an envelope at her. He then revved the bike and sped away, leaving Cherry completely confused. She turned the envelope over in her hand and found her name typed across it. It was all very odd. How would he have even known who she was? Perhaps he was a fan. She had received a few odd letters over the years from people who had seen the show. One man had even proposed marriage, which her husband, Charles, had thought very funny. But Cherry had felt quite unnerved by the brazen display of affection from a stranger. She tucked the envelope inside her jacket and hurried home.
When she arrived, the compound was eerily quiet. Cherry quickly deposited the cakes on the dining-room table and took out the envelope. She slipped her finger under the flap and opened the letter. Her heart began to beat faster and faster as she read on. Could this be a joke? As she reached the final sentences, her blood ran cold.
‘Hello, daughter,’ Wai Po said, shuffling into the room. ‘Is everything all right? You look as if you have seen a ghost.’
Cherry tucked the letter back into its envelope with shaky hands. ‘Of course, Mama. I bought cakes for the children,’ she said, and quickly left to go to her bedroom.
She unlocked her camphor chest and hid the envelope in the secret compartment at the bottom. Cherry fought a wave of nausea as she fled through the courtyard and along the alley to the bathroom block, where she reached the toilet just in time.
‘Today was so much fun,’ Susannah said as she and Caprice rode home with Felicity in yet another state-of-the-art vehicle. This one had doors that opened like wings and seats that felt more like they belonged in a spaceship than a car. Felicity’s grandmother had come to school to pick them up but, as was the case the previous evening, she hadn’t uttered a single word. ‘What did you like best?’
‘The Summer Palace,’ Caprice said. ‘Which was your favourite, Felicity?’ She looked over at the girl, who was engrossed in a Sudoku puzzle.
Felicity wrinkled her nose but didn’t bother to look up. ‘None of it.’
‘I suppose you’ve probably seen it before,’ Susannah said. She was beginning to wonder if there was anything the girl did like. Between her and Caprice, they weren’t exactly what you’d call doyennes of positivity.
‘We have a holiday house bigger than both the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City put together,’ Felicity said.
‘Where is it?’ Caprice asked.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Felicity snapped. ‘You’re never going there.’
‘I was only asking,’ Caprice huffed. ‘You don’t have to be rude.’
Felicity flung her book of brain teasers across the vehicle, narrowly missing her grandmother’s nose.
‘It’s all right. Caprice didn’t mean that,’ Susannah said, desperately trying to maintain a semblance of peace amid the developing cold war. Caprice shot Susannah a look that said she absolutely did. ‘So what are we doing tonight?’ Susannah asked in a weak attempt at diverting their attention.
‘Whatever you want,’ Felicity said.
‘I thought you might want to show us around a bit,’ Susannah said hopefully.
Felicity shook her head. ‘Pierre will be waiting for me, then Brian is due at five and Soo-Lin is coming at six o’clock, so I will be busy until at least seven o’clock. If you really insist on spending time with me, we can eat dinner together.’
Thankfully, no one noticed Caprice pretending to gag.
‘Are they your tutors?’ Susannah asked. She’d heard a few of the children at school this morning talking about their after-school tuition.
‘Pierre is my French teacher. He lives in Paris but flies in once a week for our lesson. Il me dit que je suis si intelligente. Brian is my ice-skating coach and Soo-Lin is my manicurist.’ The gi
rl inspected her perfect nails and frowned.
‘An ice-skating coach?’ Caprice blanched. ‘But where do you practise?’
‘In our rink, of course,’ Felicity said, rolling her eyes.
Susannah and Caprice looked at each other. They both had a funny feeling that they had only seen the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Fangs’ estate.
The car pulled up at the gates just as a helicopter came into view, hovering over the front lawn. Felicity shouted at her grandmother, who turned her palms in the air and shrugged.
‘What’s the matter now?’ Caprice asked.
‘My mother is home,’ Felicity spat. A dark look swept across the girl’s face.
Susannah smiled. ‘That’s great! It would be lovely to meet her.’
‘Don’t be so sure about that,’ Felicity sniped as the car sped along the driveway and descended into the parking garage below.
Susannah shot Caprice a worried look. Surely Felicity’s mother couldn’t be any less hospitable than her daughter.
Thursday came as something of a relief to the visiting students. After a whole day of intensive sightseeing, they were all ready for the less harried pace of school lessons. Bright Star Academy was one of those schools where fun went hand in hand with learning and there were surprises around every corner. Spread over three storeys, the building’s traditional exterior housed the most futuristic of spaces. With wide hallways and classrooms that resembled high-tech play centres, the visiting students and staff were savouring each new experience.
Livinia Reedy stepped out of the library, a look of pure bliss on her face. Her husband was walking towards her, having just spent the past hour touring the Science laboratories. ‘Josiah,’ she gasped, ‘you’re simply not going to believe this.’
At the very same time, he exclaimed, ‘Darling, I’ve just seen the most extraordinary things!’
They met in the middle of the corridor.
‘You go first,’ Livinia said.
Alice-Miranda in China Page 16