I opened the door, and Miss Una regally entered. While she moved calmly toward her food and water, I spoke my mind.
“I don’t know whether to scold you or hug you. I certainly did not appreciate the forced exercise, but without your shenanigans, I would never have learned what I did.”
Looking at the clock on the stove, I realized I had only a short amount of time to prepare for my date with Pearl Wong. If we were not having cocktails, I would definitely have had a glass of wine. As it was, I settled for a tall glass of ice water. Then, after checking Miss Una’s refreshments, I disappeared into the bathroom for a hasty redo of me.
CHAPTER 17
Every new beginning comes from
some other beginning’s end.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca [4 BCE-65 CE]
I began walking back downstairs at fifteen minutes before five p.m. Unlike an hour previously, there was now a lot of activity in the courtyard. I found Ashley and Cory, as well as several other residents, sitting on worn white patio chairs set along the perimeter of the grass. Evidently they were the cheering section for an Army vs. Navy challenge taking place in the volleyball court.
I had seen most of the young sportsmen around the property before. With the ball caps of two Navy ships and an Army unit, it looked like they were having a friendly semi-final competition in preparation for the annual TGIF celebration tournament I had heard about. Since Ariel’s death had also occurred on a Friday, I wondered if any of them had been in the courtyard that day.
I still had a few minutes so I continued on to my mailbox. As I had expected, there was nothing personal. I have hoped that if someone else’s mail lands in mine by mistake, I will be able add to my growing list of residents. Although there was nothing addressed to me by name, I grabbed a fistful of items addressed to “Occupant.” In addition to the usual coupons, there was a flier promoting a sunset dinner cruise in the waters off Waikīkī.
As I tossed the junk mail in a nearby recycle bin, I thought about the other ways I could identify and connect with the people who lived here. If only this were a condo. Then I would be able to volunteer to serve on the Board of Directors or some committee and receive a complete list of every owner and tenant, as well as anyone providing services to the complex.
Walking up the left side row of pavers to Miss Wong’s, I saluted the young men with U.S. Naval Academy ball caps, to show my support for the blue and gold. They grinned and turned back to the battle before them. Approaching Pearl Wong’s apartment, I saw that the door was open. Fanning her face with the evening paper, she was taking a peek at the sporting event of the day.
“Sometimes it makes me feel youthful, watching the young people enjoying life out on their own,” she commented, gesturing for me to enter.
“I so agree with you,” I replied, thinking of Ariel. There was no one who had savored life more than she did. I managed to keep a smile on my face, like I did not have a care in the world.
“It seems like most of the tenants are either students or are in the military,” I observed.
“You are correct. We’re well-located for both categories. Come in from the heat, Natalie. I have simplified tonight and asked my favorite caterer to provide a few items for our cocktail hour. Although it is traditional to have yum cha, tea tasting, with dim sum, I felt we would forego that and enjoy some Western libation.” Gesturing to her dining table filled with an assortment of Chinese delicacies, she asked, “You did say you like Chinese food?”
The fragrance alone reminded me I had not had much lunch. “Oh, yes. It looks heavenly. You shouldn’t have gone to this much trouble,” I said.
Pearl passed me a plate and waved her hand toward the food. “Well, it isn’t often that I get a chance to visit with a woman over the age of fifty with a professional background like yours and an interest in history. It has been a delight to meet you. And knowing you will not be with us very long, I want to make the most of your company.”
“The pleasure is mine. I’m also pleased whenever I meet someone with whom I can discuss history—especially the intersection of Hawai`i and China. My Bachelor’s degree was a double major in history and journalism, from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.”
“That is an excellent school. Several of my Priory classmates graduated from there. Please, come and try a few of these samples of dim sum. As you may know, this specialty originated in my mother’s home province of Guǎngdōng. My favorites are the char siu bao, buns stuffed with barbecue pork and ha gao, shrimp dumplings. Since I do not know your taste in drinks, I offer you a choice between champagne and margaritas.”
“Miss Wong, you’ve presented me with a difficult decision.”
“I believe we have gotten past the formal phase of our acquaintanceship. As I said before, please call me Pearl.”
“I am honored to do so. And, please call me Natalie.”
“Very good. Regarding our beverage selection, may I suggest we begin with the pitcher of margaritas. Later we can move on to the bottle I have chilling in the ice bucket. I think there’s something special about sparkling wine, especially at week’s end, or during a trying time.”
“I concur, Pearl. Although I also adore margaritas.”
“I hope you will like my special recipe. It is iced, but not blended. Will that be with or without salt,” asked Pearl.
“Without, please. And I’m pleased there’s no blender in sight. It’s rather like a martini. Like James Bond, I believe that to merit the name, it should be stirred and never shaken.”
We laughed and while she poured me a drink, I followed her instructions and filled my plate with some of the eye-catching delights set before me. We then moved to the living room where we sat as before, with Pearl again on a beautifully upholstered rosewood wingback chair and me on the sofa.
“And where did you attend college?” I asked, thinking this topic might keep us in the mid-twentieth century.
“Like Jade, I attended the University of Hawai`i. Her degree was in education, mine was in English, with a few business courses added for good measure. This was in spite of fact that in my day, women were not encouraged to enter into careers in commerce. That is, unless it was their family’s business, which usually meant a career in retail sales. But even if it was through the stories of our amah, I had my mother as a role model of a woman who had broken with the tradition of a stay-at-home-mother.
“Jade was embarking on her teaching career as I entered the University. It was logical for me to care for our small home when I was not studying. As life rolled on, this remained our pattern. Jade had her teaching career. After college, I continued to maintain our home and supervised our daily business concerns. Through the years, some of the financial opportunities we had (such as our investments in real estate) were linked to the offspring of the original members of our father’s hui.”
“It sounds like the two of you achieved a balance that’s worked well for you throughout the years.” I declared.
My hostess laughed in response. “Yes, it has been ideal in many respects. Of course, Jade has always led the way, being the elder sister. And before her hand was at the helm, there was our amah, who behaved more like our grandmother than a family servant.”
Pausing, Pearl gestured with her own empty glass toward the table of drinks and goodies. We rose and refilled our glasses and plates before settling again for another chapter of her tale. Tonight I hoped to learn of the Wong sisters coming to America, and eventually to these apartments.
“This char siu bao, is delicious, I wish I knew how to make barbecue pork like the filling in this bun, Pearl. It is so gracious of you to welcome me to your beautiful home. I feel as though I’m in a villa on a hill overlooking Hong Kong.”
Looking across the room, my hostess glowed with pride. “You are most complimentary. I must again say that I am so grateful to my parents for this wonderful life I live.” Sh
e paused momentarily. “And it was our father who was the consummate host. Regardless of the occasion or menu, he entertained family and friends with stories of his travels or his home in far-off Hawai`i in a way that made the listener feel they were sharing the experience with him.
Glancing at the painting of her mother, sister and herself in the dining room, she continued. “It was truly amazing that no matter what the narrative was, our Father managed to insert us into the story he was telling. And at the end of each tale, he shared his vision of a future glowing with opportunities for his own lustrous pearls.
“I was still a toddler when our personal world crashed around us fully. You see, our mother died trying to bring a son into the world. With no relatives in the city, our father and Chú Huā arranged a quiet funeral for Yùyīng and the son who never took a breath.”
I nearly choked on a rice cracker with duck pâté. I almost thought I had misunderstood her, as she spoke calmly of the deaths and the desolation that overwhelmed her family.
“I do not know if she had formally become a Christian, but because she had lived among her missionary teachers for so long, they insisted she be buried in their cemetery. I remember holding hands with Jade as we stood beside our father. His face was awash with streaming tears. It was the only time we saw him ravaged by sorrow.
“For our sakes, Father controlled his grief and bravely set about organizing our daily lives. Although his business was a fraction of what it had been, he had appointments beyond the walls of our personal world. Sometimes late in the night, we would hear the outer gate open and our father whisper greetings to unseen guests. As always, we heard a mixture of many languages, with an increasing prevalence of English. Later, we often found new objects for playtime when we ventured out to buildings that had become storerooms for the downsized Pearl of the Orient Trading Company.”
As I finished eating a shrimp dumpling, I thought of the joy Nathan and I had felt when our father brought us toys from the countries he had visited overseas. “I can imagine how fun that must have been for the two of you…to have your own private playground…even in a time of war,” I said.
“You are right, Natalie. As little children, we were not aware of the wrenching turmoil in the larger world. In 1930, while Europe moved toward war, China’s civil war intensified. Warlords, who had fought in alliance with the Guómíndăng government of China during the Northern Expedition, turned and began fighting Jiǎng Jièshí’s central government. Almost simultaneously, the communists rose in retaliation for the General’s purging them from government.
“Making the most of these struggles, the Japanese gave aid to the warlords while flexing their own military strength. In September of 1931, they fabricated what is called the Mukden Incident in English. By staging the bombing of a section of railway line to seem like an attack on their Army in Guǎngdōng, the Japanese had designed a nearly plausible excuse for their invasion of Manchuria, which they renamed Manchukuo and held from 1932 to 1945.
“Many Americans do not realize that warfare in the Pacific began long before December 7, 1941. Despite cries of non-observance of international treaties and pacts, appeals to the United States, the League of Nations, and the world in general, nothing was done to halt Japanese aggression in my homeland.”
“I remember holding debates in history seminars about which country should have attempted to halt which aggressor in the march toward the Second World War,” I interjected.
My story teller nodded. “What happened was tragic. While much of the larger turmoil could not have been prevented, many of the individual incidents could have been contained, if there had been a strong international body to intervene. Sadly, despite the hopes of President Woodrow Wilson, and most of the world, the League of Nations had no authority or power.
“For us, the escalating chaos soon brought the end to our family life in China. Overnight, the world arrived on our doorstep. After months of fighting the Chinese Army elsewhere, the Japanese Air Force attacked Shànghăi on January 28, 1932. Claiming a need to protect Japanese residents in the Hongkou district, the Japanese seized the northern part of the city and declared martial law. In response to the rioting mobs of looters and murderers, American, British, and French troops put bayonets on their rifles and prepared to defend their peoples.”
“I’ve seen footage from newsreels shown in movie houses at the time,” I recalled. “Even though the scenes were from another era and country, the horrific scenes made even the most callous person view war in a personal way—especially as you watched little children crying and clutching the hands of whatever adults were near to them.”
“Indeed. And although few people were killed, the Shànghăi Incident was reported around the world, complete with such terrible photos that our Hawaiian cousins were terrified for our safety and feared that they would never get to meet us. A bomb did land near our compound, but we were unaware of how close death had come. Despite the terrifying noise, our father, amah and servants remained outwardly calm and assured us we would be safe.
“Seemingly overnight, our father decided that Jade and I would leave China on the 1932 premier winter world cruise of the RMS Empress of Britain. While I was in college, I chanced upon some mementos from the voyage in our attic. There were menus and announcements of special events, and a ticket for some items put in storage for the crossing. It was all so interesting that I did some research and wrote a paper about my memories.
“I learned that the Empress was owned by the Canadian Pacific Trading Company. The royal mail ship was the largest and fastest luxury cruise ship England had ever produced. She was 760 feet long and weighed over 42,000 tons. Passage for the full 128-day cruise cost up to $16,000. Given the increases in monetary value, you can imagine what it cost our father to send Chú Huā, Jade and me to Hawai`i.
“The cruise was nearly thirty thousand miles and included stops in eighty-one countries. By the time the ship had arrived in Asia, she had passed through the Suez Canal and visited the Indian subcontinent, Java and Bali. Because of the fighting, the Empress could not make a port call in Shànghăi. We had to be taken from our home in the cover of night to escape to the British colony of Hong Kong where we boarded the ship. I often wonder what bribes our father paid in order to get us to that distant pier.”
“Being a time of war, I’m sure it was a sizable sum,” I said.
She nodded. “We did not understand the implications of the journey, nor the reality that we would never again see the face of our father. We only knew that we were very tired. Our feet were so sore by the time we arrived at the ship that we paid little attention to what was happening around us. After our father secured our belongings in our stateroom, he left us playing with two new Parisian dolls that had miraculously appeared. Long after we had outgrown playing with them, those dolls remained on our beds as reminders of our father’s love.”
Sipping our drinks, I was sure we were both immersed in the warmth of remembered gifts from childhood.
“At some point Father gestured for Chú Huā to join him in the hallway. After a while, he returned to the stateroom and knelt to hug us. For the last time, he called us his Zhū lián bì hé, his perfect strand of jade and pearl gems. Everything was so exciting that we did not notice the moment of his departure. For some time, our amah kept us busy, putting our clothing and toys away. By the time we realized Father was gone, she was preparing us to go on deck to watch the ship’s festive departure. There were flags flying and streamers floating on the air, and a band. Best of all, when we pulled away from the pier, the ship’s whistle sounded to announce we were departing.”
“There certainly is a lot of excitement that accompanies the arrival and departure of cruise ships,” I recalled from my own experiences.
“Yes. Anticipation and exhilaration are apt descriptors of the entire cruise. For the short expanse of their lives aboard the Empress, guests and even staff lived as though there w
as no Depression.”
Pearl’s eyes grew misty. “You should have seen the Empress, Natalie. In her coat of shiny white paint, the huge ship rode the waves like a queen majestically in her carriage. Her interiors were a layering of classic design styles, crowned with the hard-edged glamour of art deco. The Mayfair Lounge was especially grand, with silver accented walnut paneling. The vaulted ceiling had amber glass and strange signs I later learned were the twelve signs of the zodiac. And, the Greek columns were ideal for two little girls to zigzag around.
“We were only allowed to peek into the beautiful gymnasium filled with exercise devices. But we enjoyed watching the adults play shuffleboard and table tennis. And Chú Huā had trouble getting us out of the swimming pool that replaced a cargo hatch when the ship moved into warm waters.”
“It’s almost like you were preparing for life in Hawai`i.”
“I think you are right. Even the friendliness of the staff helped prepare us for the warm personalities of the people we would meet in the Islands. We especially liked Captain R. G. Latta, who was like a dashing uncle in a handsome uniform. It seemed like there was always an assistant at his side, ready to reveal pockets containing troves of candy that served to calm the fears of any child who might cry aboard their wonderful ship.”
I laughed, thinking of the few times I had needed to pacify Ariel or Brianna.
Pearl continued sharing the sojourn that had brought her to Hawai`i.
“And the food and beverages? We barely asked for anything before it would appear with a flourish. Being little children, we usually ate in our stateroom. One evening, however, we joined Chú Huā in the dining room. We were amazed by the huge portions of roast beef. Our favorite delight was the praline ice cream. I do not believe I have ever had a dessert to equal it.”
Prospect for Murder (Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Cozy Mystery 1) Page 21