Alice-Miranda in China

by Jacqueline Harvey

  ‘No, you go. I insist.’ Josiah reached out to hold her hands, his face pink with excitement.

  Livinia took a deep breath. ‘There are shelves and shelves of first editions and original manuscripts. The Brontës and Orwell and Dickens.’ Just verbalising what she had seen brought a tear to the woman’s eye. ‘And they have a writer-in-residence. This year,’ she said, lowering her voice, ‘it’s our favourite.’

  ‘It’s not,’ Josiah breathed, his jowls quivering. ‘Did you see her?’

  Livinia shook her head. ‘She’s teaching at the moment, but Miss O’Reilly said that she’d arrange for us to have a cup of tea.’

  ‘Well, you’re never going to believe this,’ Josiah said. ‘They have their own fully fledged research facility and an operating theatre with robotic patients that are so lifelike I had to look twice – more than once!’

  The pair stared into each other’s eyes.

  ‘I wonder if we’ll ever teach in a place like this,’ Josiah sighed. Livinia was thinking the exact same thing when a door marked ‘Computer Science’ opened into the hallway and a tall man with a mop of closely cropped brown curls walked out.

  ‘Good morning, sir,’ the children sang as he turned and gave them a wave.

  ‘Hello,’ he greeted Josiah and Livinia in a Californian accent.

  The woman’s eyes spun and she promptly fainted into her husband’s arms.

  The school day sped past, and before long the last bell echoed through the building.

  ‘Your Science teacher is a genius,’ Millie said as the girls poured out into the corridor. ‘Her experiments were awesome. I hope Mr Plumpton was taking notes.’

  ‘Yes, I believe I did pick up a few useful things in there,’ Josiah Plumpton said from behind the girl. ‘Perhaps my investigations will be more successful in the future.’

  Millie cringed and turned around. ‘I didn’t mean it like that, sir. I just …’

  ‘It’s all right, Millie. I know my limitations, but at the heart of teaching is a willingness to learn. I might be an old dog, but I think I could master a few new tricks,’ the man said. ‘And honestly, I’ve been quite overawed by the things I’ve seen here at Bright Star. I’m feeling absolutely inspired, to say the least.’

  ‘Good for you, Mr Plumpton,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘My granny says that we should keep learning no matter how old we get, and you’re not terribly old at all – well, not compared to my granny.’

  ‘I couldn’t agree more.’ The man grinned. ‘Have a good afternoon, everyone. Miss Reedy and I are off to meet the parents for a lesson on how to make dumplings.’

  There was a chorus of yums from the students.

  Jacinta could feel the excitement rising inside her already. There would only be two more rehearsals before the show tomorrow night and she really wanted to be included in the stilt stunt.

  As the girls collected their bags and walked to the front doors, they spotted Caprice and Susannah with Felicity and a very glamorous-looking woman. She wore oversized sunglasses with a beautifully tailored white dress. The bodice was long-sleeved and fitted with a perfect circle skirt landing just above the knee. Her long hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, partially hiding a small telephone earpiece in her right ear.

  ‘Who’s that?’ Sloane asked.

  ‘That’s Felicity’s mother. I don’t remember her ever setting foot on the school grounds before,’ Selina said. ‘I’ve seen her on television sometimes – always on boring business shows.’

  ‘She’s gorgeous,’ Millie said. She could see where Felicity got her model looks from.

  Alice-Miranda waved and walked over to them. ‘Hello, I’m Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones. It’s very nice to meet you.’

  The woman stared at her, wondering if all the overseas guests were as forthright as this impertinent child. Coco and Selina greeted the woman shyly too.

  ‘It’s nice to meet you all too. I’m Barbie Fang,’ the woman said. ‘Tell me, are any of your parents famous like Caprice’s mother?’

  Caprice rolled her eyes. She was becoming increasingly annoyed with the woman. Last night, when they had met Mrs Fang, she hadn’t been remotely interested in either Caprice or Susannah until Susannah spilled the beans that Caprice’s mother was Venetia Baldini. Apparently, Venetia was something of an idol to Mrs Fang and her friends, who not only wanted to cook like her (or at least for their chefs to) but to look like her as well. Mrs Fang hadn’t actually asked Caprice or Susannah a single thing about themselves. While Caprice was proud of her mother, she didn’t feel the need to talk about her all the time. She had a sinking feeling the only reason Mrs Fang had accompanied the driver to school was in the hope that she would meet Venetia in person.

  Millie shook her head. ‘Not mine.’

  Jacinta shrugged. ‘My mother writes for fashion magazines.’

  ‘Oh?’ Mrs Fang turned on the girl. ‘What’s her name?’

  ‘Ambrosia Headlington-Bear,’ the child replied. When Mrs Fang looked at her blankly, she added, ‘But she writes under the name Rosie Hunter.’

  A flicker of recognition passed over the woman’s face. ‘She writes for the Highton’s magazine. I like to study the publications of successful businesses, and although car manufacturing and retail are quite different, Highton’s is one of the best companies in their field. Her stories in their magazines are always interesting and on trend. That being said, I would much prefer to meet Cecelia Highton-Smith and pick her brains about their strategies.’

  Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘I’ll mention that to Mummy,’ she said.

  ‘I knew your name was familiar! Is Cecelia Highton-Smith your mother?’ Mrs Fang demanded.

  ‘Yes, she is,’ the child said. ‘And Hugh Kennington-Jones is my father.’

  ‘So that means Charlotte Highton-Smith is your aunt and Lawrence Ridley is your uncle!’ Mrs Fang was getting incredibly excited.

  Lucas, Sep and Sunny reached the group just as the woman finished her exclamations.

  ‘What did you say about Dad?’ Lucas smiled and looked around. ‘Is he here? I thought we weren’t seeing our parents again until tomorrow morning.’

  ‘No, Mrs Fang was just asking, that’s all,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘If you’d bothered to come to dinner on Tuesday night, Mama, you would have met lots of them there,’ Felicity sniped.

  The woman shrugged. ‘You know I was busy at work.’

  ‘I mean, of course you couldn’t possibly miss seeing another new car roll off the production line to be with your only child,’ Felicity said, wrinkling her nose.

  The woman turned back to the others. ‘We must have you and your parents over for dinner,’ she said to the children.

  ‘I’m afraid they have plans this evening and then tomorrow night we’re all going to see Eternity,’ Alice-Miranda explained. ‘We’re leaving on Saturday.’

  The headmistress of Bright Star was surprised to see Mrs Fang and decided to walk over to greet the woman. ‘Hello Mrs Fang, it’s such a pleasure to see you,’ she said.

  For the second time in as many minutes, the woman looked completely blank.

  ‘It’s my headmistress, Mama,’ Felicity hissed.

  Barbie Fang laughed. ‘Of course, Miss O’Grady, I didn’t recognise you with your new hairdo.’

  Shauna O’Reilly felt a smile tickle her lips, but she managed to keep it from settling there. She hadn’t changed her hair in years, nor her name for that matter. ‘Are you and Mr Fang coming to see the show with us tomorrow night?’ she asked. ‘I’m sure Felicity would love for you to be there.’

  ‘I don’t think we can manage it,’ Barbie replied, clearly scrounging for an excuse, ‘but I would like to host the visitors for dinner beforehand at our home.’

  ‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Mrs Fang. There’s not enough time and, as you know, the traffic is a nightmare, but we are having a special farewell reception for everyone afterwards. It will be a little late, but the Won
gs have insisted. It was in the letter I sent to the host families – in fact, I’m sure that you replied to say that you and your husband were coming.’

  Barbie Fang’s mouth twitched. Her husband was due home in the morning and she knew he would be furious if she didn’t tell him that there was a chance to meet Lawrence Ridley – his favourite actor in the world.

  Felicity looked at her mother. She could tell that the woman was still trying to come up with reasons not to attend.

  ‘I’m so pleased you’ll be joining us, Mrs Fang,’ Shauna said sweetly. ‘And it will be lovely to finally meet your husband too.’

  ‘Yes, of course. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ Barbie Fang’s lips turned upwards, but you’d have hardly called it a smile.

  As Jacinta and Coco set off for the showers after another intense rehearsal, Alice-Miranda sat down on her bed and pulled out the small bag of gifts she had bought for everyone back home. There was a fan each for her mother and grandmother, a tiny cloisonné vase she thought she might give to Mrs Greening, and a little plate for Daisy. She still had to find something for her father and Mr Greening and she was keen to get a gift for Jasper and Poppy and their parents too. Up until now she’d completely forgotten about Max and Cyril. She hoped there would be some time to hunt for souvenirs during their excursion to the Great Wall tomorrow.

  Alice-Miranda was just about to take a look at the cups she’d bought at the Shanghai Museum when she heard a faint knocking. She hurried to the front door and opened it to a rather frazzled-looking delivery driver.

  ‘Ni hao,’ the child said.

  When the man replied in frantic gestures, Alice-Miranda shrugged apologetically. ‘Would you like me to go and get someone?’

  He tapped his pen on the clipboard, clearly in a hurry.

  ‘Do you want me to sign for it?’ she asked, scribbling in the air.

  He nodded and tapped his watch.

  Alice-Miranda read the label and saw that the small package was addressed to Cherry Wong. She marvelled at how hard it must be to find residents in the hutongs, with the houses boasting very few identifying features. As she accepted the parcel, Alice-Miranda noticed that one end of the box was crushed and there was a section of cardboard missing. The man realised her look of concern and indicated that she should give the box a shake. There were no sounds of anything broken, so the girl thanked the man and bid him farewell.

  Alice-Miranda passed Wai Po preparing dinner in the kitchen, and poked her head into the sitting room, but it was empty. So was the dining room. She decided to try Cherry’s bedroom next and knocked gently on the door.

  Cherry opened it just a little. Her face was blotchy and it looked as if she’d been crying.

  ‘I’m so sorry to disturb you, but are you all right?’ the child asked with concern.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Cherry said, forcing a smile to her lips.

  ‘A parcel just came for you,’ Alice-Miranda explained, holding up the box. ‘I’m afraid it’s a little damaged, but the delivery man assured me that the contents are still in one piece.’

  A deep frown line appeared across the top of Cherry’s nose. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You didn’t hurt yourself at training, did you?’

  ‘No, I am fine,’ Cherry said. She reached out to take the parcel, brushing Alice-Miranda’s hand. Suddenly, Cherry’s face drained of all colour. She wobbled and looked as if she was about to fall over.

  ‘Here, you should sit down.’ Alice-Miranda took the woman by the arm and guided her to the bed. The package fell from Cherry’s hand and landed on the floor with a thud and a crack.

  ‘Oh no!’ the woman sobbed. ‘No, no, no. What have I done?’

  ‘Goodness,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘I’m sure that whatever is broken can be replaced.’

  Cherry shook her head. ‘You don’t understand. They are in danger.’ She clasped a hand over her mouth, realising that she had already said too much.

  ‘Who is in danger?’ Alice-Miranda looked at the woman, whose face was marked with fear. ‘Mrs Wong, please tell me. I’ll do whatever I can to help.’

  Cherry gulped. ‘I don’t know what to do. There are eyes everywhere, and if I don’t do as I’m asked terrible things will happen.’

  Alice-Miranda grasped the woman’s hands. ‘What are you talking about?’

  Cherry sat up and opened the box. Inside it were four cups, just as she had expected when the second letter had arrived this morning. But now one of them was broken.

  ‘These are replicas of the cup that was stolen from the Shanghai Museum,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘You told me about the article in the newspaper yesterday.’ Her brow wrinkled. ‘I have two as well, remember? I’ll show you.’

  Alice-Miranda fled from the room and across the courtyard to Coco’s bedroom, where Coco and Jacinta had just arrived back from the shower.

  ‘You’re in a hurry,’ Jacinta said as she stuffed her dirty clothes into her suitcase.

  ‘I was just going to show Sunny’s mother the gifts I’ve bought everyone,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  ‘Do you want to come for a walk to the shop with us?’ Coco asked. ‘Wai Po needs some things for dinner.’

  ‘No, you go ahead. I’ll see you when you get back,’ Alice-Miranda said. She quickly gathered up the bag and hurried to Cherry’s bedroom, where the woman was still sitting in the same spot. Alice-Miranda pulled out the package and was surprised to find there was only one cup. ‘Oh dear, I know I bought two of these,’ she said, unwrapping it carefully. ‘I wonder what happened.’

  Cherry turned one of the cups that had just been delivered over in her hands. On the bottom were three words: Made in China.

  ‘That’s funny,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Mine is different. It almost looks as if it could be …’

  Cherry stared at Alice-Miranda, then slowly took the cup from her hand. The two of them gasped and at that moment they both knew: they’d inadvertently become a part of something big, much bigger than they could handle on their own.

  Fuchsia Lee looked at the clock on the wall and decided she might as well do some tidying up. It would be at least a couple of hours until her boss was safely on his flight to Beijing and she could leave for her appointment at the hairdresser. She had been glad to see him go. Now she could turn the air-conditioning back to a reasonable temperature instead of the arctic climate he’d insisted on that morning. Even then the man had had to change his shirt twice before he left. That reminded her – she needed to drop off his washing at the laundromat downstairs. Whatever Benny was doing, it was certainly making him sweat more than usual.

  Fuchsia walked into Benny’s office and surveyed his desk. She was sorting through the mass of papers when a nut-brown leather notebook fell out of the middle. Fuchsia reached down to pick it up. It wasn’t one she’d seen before. Benny was quite adamant that only black notebooks be used, all of which were lined up along the bookshelf on the back wall of his office. Fuchsia flipped open the cover.

  At first it just looked to contain a series of numbers and a few names, but then she turned one more page and stopped. Tucked inside was an itinerary for plane tickets to Shanghai for Summer Tan and a second person whose name she didn’t recognise, for earlier in the week. Her mind quickly turned to the little girl she’d spoken to on the phone the other day and began imagining all sorts of scenarios. Perhaps Summer needed medical treatments they couldn’t risk anyone knowing about, or maybe a member of her family was in prison! Each thought grew more far-fetched than the one before it, so much so that Fuchsia began entertaining the idea of trying her hand at writing one of those soap operas she loved to watch. She had enough time to while working for Benny.

  Fuchsia sat down in her boss’s chair and turned the page. This time there were diagrams and more names and times. ‘What are you up to, Mr Choo?’ she mumbled to herself, and returned to the beginning to pore over every page.

  By the time she’d finished, her heart was pounding. Benny Choo was not the man s
he’d thought he was. The phone at her desk outside began its shrill ring, and she set the notebook down and walked out to pick it up.

  ‘Hello, Fuchsia Lee speaking,’ she said. The woman’s forehead puckered as she listened. ‘Please, Alice-Miranda, you must slow down.’

  Caprice Radford pushed open the door she thought would take her back to the games room where she and Susannah had been playing air hockey. They were waiting for Felicity’s massage to finish, although now that they’d been shown some of the more audacious rooms in the house, Caprice didn’t really mind if the girl showed up or not. Apparently, like her manicurist, the chiropractor and masseuse visited weekly. And on top of the French teacher from Paris and the ice-skating coach, Felicity also had lessons in robotics and English, violin, piano and pipa, which was a pear-shaped Chinese guitar. Susannah had asked Felicity how many extra activities she undertook each week but Caprice had tuned out by the time the girl had reached fifteen.

  When Mrs Fang had arrived the evening before, she’d insisted on taking the girls on a tour of the house, but Caprice suspected they’d still only seen a fraction of the estate as it seemed to go on and on forever and they hadn’t yet spotted the ice rink. This afternoon Caprice and Susannah had enjoyed a swim in the heated pool, which had a waterslide to rival any theme park and came complete with an on-duty lifeguard. When it got dark, a maid introduced the girls to the games room, bowling alley and movie theatre. Unfortunately, Caprice had neglected to ask her where the toilet was and now she was completely lost.

  The room she was in looked a bit like an art gallery. Paintings lined the walls and several bronze busts of important-looking men stood on tall plinths, each with an accompanying description.

  ‘Probably Felicity’s ancestors,’ the girl scoffed, as she leaned in to inspect one gentleman wearing a funny squashed hat.

  She moved to the end of the room, wondering if there was a secret door somewhere. Surely there was a toilet – or twenty – on this level of the mansion. There seemed to be an abundance of bathrooms everywhere else, including in the pool house that was about half the size of their boarding house.