by Ciaran Nagle
Down on the street, traffic was almost stationary and the air was thicker than usual with smoke and fumes.
'Come on,' said Nancy, 'I had a big night last night so I'll treat you to dim sum at the Ho Fook. It will be more comfortable indoors.'
They entered and took their table in the middle of the big salon which was already filling up with hungry shoppers and textile businessmen. Kippah-capped Jews talked gold with smiths out of Shanghai while German investors mulled casino interiors with Macau architects. Red streamers decorated the walls and papier maché dragon's heads blessed the diners and warned evil spirits to depart this world. Or at least go next door to a rival eatery and curse them instead.
While they were eating, Nancy related the events at the Blue Diamond and how it seemed that hostilities had been set aside and Golden Horse were now clear to join Brother, all reputations and honour restored. She played down her role in the affair but Jenny could guess her performance had been pivotal.
As they were talking Ko-yee, Fatty Lo's messenger and office administrator, entered the restaurant and stood near the door peering around. Spotting Nancy he came over, nodded to Jenny and then with great courtesy addressed himself directly to the westerner.
'Miss Nancy, Mr Lo would be pleased if you would have dinner with him tonight at the Furama Hotel on Hong Kong Island. He will send a car for you at seven.'
'Miss Nancy,' exclaimed Jenny after he had gone. 'And the Furama! You've gone up in the world, my dear.'
But even more surprising, a few minutes later the dapper, moustachioed figure of Frenchy appeared in person and presented himself before the pair. After greeting Jenny with a peck on the cheek he turned to Nancy.
'Miss Nancy, may I congratulate you on your diplomacy last night. You rescued victory from a very difficult situation. You have become a person of stature in our fraternal order. Would you do me the honour of joining me for dinner tomorrow night at the Peninsula Hotel so we can discuss your rightful place in the company?'
After he had left the two women were so engrossed in their conversation they didn't notice the young western man who sat down at the next table with an elderly, shabbily dressed beggar woman.
'Nancy, do you realise what's happened?' asked Jenny, her eyes wide in astonishment. 'Fatty is trying to reassert himself as Brother leader again and Frenchy is also pitching to take over. They're both trying to get you to endorse them. Nancy, you've become...' Jenny couldn't think of the word.
'King-maker,' said Nancy in English. 'I don't know the Cantonese for that.'
'Yes, I understand that word,' said Jenny, excitedly. 'But the king-maker also becomes the second most important person in the organisation. You will be the power behind the throne. Nancy, in due course you might become the..well, Brother of Brothers isn't quite right. They'll have to make up a new title for you. You could be the next Dragon Head of Brother.'
Nancy considered this for a moment. 'You know, I'm not sure that's really what I want. I don't know that I want to go that high in the organisation.'
As Jenny frowned, Nancy continued. 'Don't get me wrong, I like Brother and I want to build my career here. I think I can help them become more professional and outward-looking. But I'm not sure I want to be leader. I'm just not that ambitious.'
'Poor child,' said Jenny only half-mockingly. 'There must be something in the soy sauce that's turned your brains into minced pork today. You have leadership and ability gushing out of every pore in your tough-as-dragon-scale skin. You have all these hard men eating out of your hand and you want to be a passenger in the car and not the driver. Don't worry. Your madness will pass, Nancy. You'll be better by dinner time.' And Jenny squeezed Nancy's hand before adding in a whisper, 'And when you are Dragon Head, you will need a secretary. Someone you can trust and throw pillows at when you get stressed. I think I know someone who can do that job very well.'
As Nancy laughed Jenny suddenly looked down at her watch. 'I have to be at work, I'm late,' she said, jumping up. 'See you later.' And with a kiss on the cheek she was gone.
Nancy sat back and found herself gazing up at the chandelier. It's hundred pendant crystals reflected the reds and yellows and whites from all around the crowded room. They twirled gently this way and that as the door opened and customers went in or out, letting in a draught. Two of the crystals detached themselves from their holders. They reshaped themselves into the letters t and e and then journeyed around the rest of the chandelier like a slow train, threading, looping, swooping, circling and porpoising in and out, around and around. Always t followed by e, never the other way around.
Nancy wasn't frightened. There was already so much drama in her life that a little weirdness wasn't going to make a great deal of difference. Who was afraid of the alphabet?
Red Siste
Pretty obvious what was coming next. Been obvious since the second s really. Calm though she was, a slight shiver ran through Nancy's body as she spoke the two words to herself. But no-one in Brother had ever used those words together before. Well, whatever was going on it was out of her hands. Anyway, time to think about more important things. Can I afford to buy a new dress for my dinner dates?
'Hello,' said a male voice beside her, in English.
Dan looked down at the diminutive figure of the old woman beggar.
Damn it. He was dog-tired and his nerves were frazzled and he had just arrested a senior officer of the most powerful criminal organisation in Hong Kong. He wanted sleep and he wanted a drink. Not necessarily in that order.
Yet here on the busy streets of the richest area of Kowloon was an old, frail woman who just wanted a hot meal. Dan fished in his pocket and found a $HK100 note. That was a week's spending money. He couldn't afford to part with that. The woman looked at him, her expectations raised, the gratitude already in her eye. He couldn't walk away now.
The Ho Fook restaurant they were standing beside wasn't one Dan had used before. Detectives were creatures of habit like everyone else and Dan's squad tended to stick to the places they trusted. Maybe it was better he took her somewhere he wouldn't be seen by anyone he knew.
'Yap lei ah,' he said, trying to hide his lack of enthusiasm. 'Sik faan.' Come in. Let's have a bite.
'Doh je, nei yau sam.' Thank you, you are so kind, said Ruth.
She turned suddenly, more nimbly than he expected and led the way into the restaurant to a table near the middle of the room leaving him in her wake. How did she walk so fast, an old lady like that? She must be really hungry.
'Thank you, sir, you will be much blessed,' said Ruth, laying a hand on Dan's arm after he'd sat down. Dan was nervous of the bedraggled, hunched old lady but tried not to show it. He hoped she would not embarrass him by calling out to other diners or slopping her food.
A waitress appeared an instant later. Crikey, thought Dan, I've never been served that quickly before. The woman ordered a dish of Singapore noodles with a plate of choi sum and oyster sauce. Dan ordered tea and a beer. He looked about him. Mixture of Chinese and westerners. Odd for Yaumati, not that many white faces came this far north of the Star Ferry usually. Beside him, two young women were engaged in earnest conversation, oblivious of everyone else.
The waitress returned with the food and drinks - fast again! - and set them down on the table. The beggar woman tucked in and ate noisily, looking up and smiling at Dan from time to time.
Dan tried to drink his beer slowly. He looked at the two women again. The western one looked English by complexion but was speaking not bad Cantonese. Not seen her around here before. A light went on in his head. No, couldn't be. She looks much too nice to be the mysterious western newcomer making headlines at Brother.
He turned back to his guest. The old woman had finished her meal. She burped loudly and smiled at him, dabbing the corner of her mouth. 'Thank you, sir,' she said, then rose, bowed and headed straight for the door. Gratitude! Another diner walked into her path and bumped into her. A bluish-white feather fell to the floor as she continued her journey
and left the restaurant without looking back.
Dan looked down at his glass which was empty in a seriously unfunny way. Another beer or home to bed?
Beside him, the Chinese girl had left and the westerner was staring at the chandelier with a curious mixture of concentration and calmness.
Always worth a shot.
'Hello,' he said. 'My name's Dan. Do you speak English?'
The girl turned and looked at him as if she'd been dragged from another galaxy.
'Yes,' said Nancy, guardedly.
'Oh, well I was just going to have another beer. I see you're alone. Can I join you and buy you a drink?'
'Actually I was just about to…'
She stopped and stared. Dan's neck chain dangled forward. A little silver ingot fell out in front of his shirt and settled at a slight angle over his top button. 1.11
Dan noticed the surprise on Nancy's face. 'Are you, OK?' he asked, looking down and fingering the ingot which had clearly caught her attention.
Nancy looked back at Dan's face and then down to his ingot again.
'That number,' she said, 'what does it mean?'
'Oh that,' said Dan, suddenly embarrassed. 'Er, well.'
He was still sitting at the adjacent table with his body half-twisted round to face her. A waitress passed and asked if he would like anything else.
'Er, well,' said Dan looking down at his glass and back at Nancy. 'Erm.'
Nancy pulled back a chair beside her. Dan slid across, suddenly feeling both pleased and out of control at the same time.
'Get him a beer please and I'll have some tea,' she said commandingly to the waitress.
Dan looked at Nancy anew. She was attractive certainly. But there was something about her that seemed quite high powered, forceful even. She'd spot any bullshit instantly for sure.
'Thank you, don't worry. I'll pay,' he said, trying to regain the initiative.
'It's on me,' said Nancy decisively. Bloomin' hec, this woman was a force.
'The number,' she reminded him. 'You were going to tell me about it.'
'Oh yes, the number.' Dan wanted to talk about anything but the number.
'What's in a number?' he laughed.
'I don't know, what's in a number?'
Jiggered.
'Well it's something I had made. When I came here. To Hong Kong, that is. I'd forgotten I was wearing it actually.' Dan fingered the silver ingot for a moment before tucking it back inside his shirt.
'So, is it a lucky charm?'
'No, that wouldn't be right, not a charm,' Dan blurted. 'Well if you must know, it symbolises, I mean it means, I mean it represents the Trinity.'
'The Trinity?'
'Yes.'
'And what's that?'
'Er..God.'
'God?'
'Yes. All three.'
'There are three Gods?'
'No. Just one.' He laughed weakly.
'One God. But three of him. Fascinating. Explain.'
Dan shrugged his shoulders helplessly. 'I can't. It's a mystery. It's just one of those things. You can't explain it.'
'Try harder.'
Dan's smile was becoming increasingly forced. He wanted to romance this woman. But she had him on the ropes and wouldn't let him off.
'OK, let me think for a moment. Right. There's one God. But three persons.'
'Is it Jesus, Mary and Joseph?'
'No. They're the Holy Family.'
'Oh. Is it Peter, Paul and Mary?'
'No. They're a singing group. But they had a great hit with Puff the Magic Dragon. What sort of music do you like?'
Escape. Off and running. He looked down and noticed Nancy's legs in their black tights.
Nancy seemed about to answer. Then her expression changed back.
'Three persons. Who are they?'
He felt like he'd walked out of gaol and then been re-arrested.
'OK, I've got it now.' He'd get through this bit quickly and then move on to some witty chatlines. 'They're God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus.'
'I've heard of Jesus. Good, we're making progress. So why is he God? And who's the other one?'
'The other one?'
'The middle man. I mean the middle God. The Holy Spirit. Where does he come in?'
Dan drew a deep breath. Only a few hours before he'd conducted a brilliant bust. He'd arrested a major drugs dealer from Hong Kong's biggest crime organisation. As a result his name was all around headquarters. It was the kind of fame every policeman wanted. Yet now he was involved in trying to explain the unexplainable to a complete stranger. It wasn't fair. He was also very tired and slightly woozy with the beer.
But she wasn't going to let him go. 'Come on, you're doing so well. Are you OK for time?'
Dan could see Nancy was enjoying herself. She had crossed her arms and there was a semi-smile on her lips.
'Er, yeah, I suppose.'
The beer and tea arrived. Dan took a large glug of Dutch courage and wiped his lips with his hand. His expression became more serious as his chat-up brain stood down and his logical brain reluctantly stood up.
He looked the curious female stranger in the eye.
'OK, here goes. God', he said, 'the first of the 'ones', is the bloke who made the Universe. But he's too big to fit into it. If he appeared here right now it would be like an elephant in a matchbox.' Dan made the sound of an explosion and opened his arms out wide. Nancy's expression didn't change.
'Then there's the Holy Spirit.' He looked down again. Such nice legs. 'Since God would cause a massive explosion if he came here, the Spirit's a bit like having God on the phone. He's not really there with you, not properly, but he sort of is, in your ear.'
Dan took a big breath, 'And then there's Jesus.'
He looked at Nancy with a triumphant smile as though he'd finished.
'Mm hmm?'
'Well you know about him, don't you?'
'Not really.'
'You don't? You never heard about him? Even at school?'
'Maybe I wasn't paying attention. My childhood was a bit..fraught.'
'Oh.'
'So go on.'
'Oh, OK.' Dan swallowed and looked around the room. Against the wall a lobster in a fish tank was clawing at the glass, trying to escape. A plaster mermaid in a sunken ship behind it regarded its flailing efforts but made no move to help. Above them, sea bass window-shopped the diners, flicking their tails lazily and waiting for dinner.
His mouth was dry again. When his eyes eventually came back to Nancy she was still looking at him, waiting.
'Well, he was a teacher.'
He paused and smiled thinly, waiting for Nancy to respond.
'A teacher.'
'Yes, well, a rabbi. It means teacher.' He stared at his beer glass, searching for inspiration. 'It's a Jewish word. I mean Hebrew. It's a Hebrew word.' He cocked his head on one side, looking up. 'Or was it Aramaic?'
'I don't know. Was it?'
'One or the other. Anyway he was in Israel. Well, I mean, it's Israel, now. But it was different then. It all moves around.' Dan smiled nervously and rolled his hands in the air, forefingers protruding.
'Oh?'
'Well, it was part of Rome. I mean, the empire. The Roman Empire, that is. Not the city. It wasn't part of Rome itself.'
Tiny beads of sweat emerged on Dan's forehead.
'Sure? Not the British Empire?'
'No, of course not.' He gasped out a laugh and looked back into her eyes like a grateful dog.
'Judea, that was it.' He clicked his fingers. 'It's all coming back.' He snatched at his beer and swigged it, wetting his parched lips before replacing the glass on the table.
'So he was a teacher in Judea. What sort? Maths? English?' Nancy permitted herself the ghost of a smile.
'No. Not that sort of teacher.' Dan's eyes searched Nancy's face again. Uncertainty had returned to his expression. She was teasing him. 'He taught about…being good and stuff. He was a preacher.'
'A preacher teacher.
'
'Yes, I suppose. Good way of putting it.' His breath was coming shorter and shorter. He flashed his eyes at the door.
'So what did he do? Why is he one of the 'ones' on your necklace?'
'Well he died and then came back.' Dan stared at Nancy, nervousness in his eyes, waiting for her reaction. His upper lip shivered a little. 'So they say.' He picked up his beer glass again and held it close to his chest.
Nancy crossed her legs slowly. Dan knew fairly certainly that she was torturing him.
'So they say? You don't sound very certain.' Her eyes reached out like tractor beams on a rabbit at night, pinning him.
Dan breathed in deeply. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came. Nancy stepped in to break the silence. 'Didn't it all get a bit messy at the end?'
Dan stared down at his glass and then back at her. 'Well, I suppose saving the world you're bound to make some enemies.' He rested his arm momentarily on the table before replacing it in his lap. 'Anyway, it's a matter of faith. Either you believe or you don't.' His eyes wrenched themselves away from her face and made a Z across her body. The snug breasts. The flat stomach. Those legs.