you’ll tell me that I’ll be in the way of the servants’ cleaning,’ he said gruffly to her.
‘Oh no,’ she cried, linking her arm in his as they went up the stairs and into the house. ‘Quite the opposite. I’ve patted them on the behinds and told them to do the work in the kitchen that they have been putting off for oh-so-long.’ They went down the hall and into his study where she poured him a drink.
‘Ah,’ he said, taking the chill glass from her. ‘Have they done anything for which they should be punished?’
‘Oh no.’ She put her small hand to her mouth as if shocked by the notion.
He nodded, happy inside himself. ‘Of course you’d tell me if that were the case, wouldn’t you?’
‘Not at all.’ She indicated that he should sit in his favourite chair and when he was comfortably settled within its soft embrace, his long legs stretched out on the carpet before him, one boot set over the other, she knelt at his side. She wore a deep blue brocaded silk robe with a mandarin collar and wide bell sleeves. Where she had obtained this rather remarkable garment the Colonel could not imagine and he had not the bad taste to ask her. ‘That is none of your concern,’ she continued. ‘I am the mistress of this house. Discipline is here my concern as it is yours downtown.’ She meant at the garrison house. ‘You must trust me to maintain a perfect aura within our house. Tranquility is all-important to the health of one’s spirit, do you not agree?’ And when he nodded, watching her eyes, she continued. ‘The tranquility of one’s house is not only confined as to its location and the servants therein but also to its major occupants.’ She paused and the Colonel, who had been calmly sipping his drink through all of this discourse, now sat up, placing his glass on the side table by the chair. The Westerner in him longed to take her delicate, capable hands in his, lean towards her and say, ‘What is the matter, darling? What’s troubling you?’ This, he knew, he could not do, for in doing so he would shame her. She had obviously spent much time in the preparation of her presentation. He must honour that by allowing her to come to the point as she might. If there was anything the Colonel had learned by being in the Far East for six years, it was patience, for to fail to learn that lesson swiftly was to court peremptory disaster out here where life was so different, seeming only to float upon the bosom of the eternal Pacific.
‘You know, Denis, that tranquility is only one aspect of the harmony of life. And harmony is what all people strive to achieve. Harmony is the basis of a clear mind, of a good and powerful karma.” She put her fingers along the back of his hand, which lay along the smooth worn wood of one armrest. ‘You have such a karma. It is very strong, like the thrown net of a master fisherman.’ Her eyes looked down at her hands, one atop the other, flashed upwards to his face. ‘I am afraid to do anything to destroy that. But now there is more than one to think of. Our karma have meshed and, intertwined, may be all the more powerful for it, yes?’ He nodded again and, satisfied that she had both his attention and his agreement, she said, ‘Now I must ask something of you.’
‘You know that you have only to ask me,’ the Colonel said sincerely. ‘You, who of all people in this world make me the most happy, can have anything that is mine.’
Yet this heartfelt speech appeared to have little effect on Cheong. ‘This thing I must ask you is very large.’
He nodded.
‘We must go away from Singapore,’ she said boldly. Then, seeing that he did not stop her, she went on in a rush. ‘I know that your work means a great deal to you but this is’ - she searched for the proper words that would convey her thoughts -‘most imperative for all of us. For you, for me and for the baby.’ She placed one palm against her lower belly. ‘We must go to Japan. To Tokyo.’
He laughed,
‘Oh no,’ she cried, linking her arm in his as they went up the stairs and into the house. ‘Quite the opposite. I’ve patted them on the behinds and told them to do the work in the kitchen that they have been putting off for oh-so-long.’ They went down the hall and into his study where she poured him a drink.
‘Ah,’ he said, taking the chill glass from her. ‘Have they done anything for which they should be punished?’
‘Oh no.’ She put her small hand to her mouth as if shocked by the notion.
He nodded, happy inside himself. ‘Of course you’d tell me if that were the case, wouldn’t you?’
‘Not at all.’ She indicated that he should sit in his favourite chair and when he was comfortably settled within its soft embrace, his long legs stretched out on the carpet before him, one boot set over the other, she knelt at his side. She wore a deep blue brocaded silk robe with a mandarin collar and wide bell sleeves. Where she had obtained this rather remarkable garment the Colonel could not imagine and he had not the bad taste to ask her. ‘That is none of your concern,’ she continued. ‘I am the mistress of this house. Discipline is here my concern as it is yours downtown.’ She meant at the garrison house. ‘You must trust me to maintain a perfect aura within our house. Tranquility is all-important to the health of one’s spirit, do you not agree?’ And when he nodded, watching her eyes, she continued. ‘The tranquility of one’s house is not only confined as to its location and the servants therein but also to its major occupants.’ She paused and the Colonel, who had been calmly sipping his drink through all of this discourse, now sat up, placing his glass on the side table by the chair. The Westerner in him longed to take her delicate, capable hands in his, lean towards her and say, ‘What is the matter, darling? What’s troubling you?’ This, he knew, he could not do, for in doing so he would shame her. She had obviously spent much time in the preparation of her presentation. He must honour that by allowing her to come to the point as she might. If there was anything the Colonel had learned by being in the Far East for six years, it was patience, for to fail to learn that lesson swiftly was to court peremptory disaster out here where life was so different, seeming only to float upon the bosom of the eternal Pacific.
‘You know, Denis, that tranquility is only one aspect of the harmony of life. And harmony is what all people strive to achieve. Harmony is the basis of a clear mind, of a good and powerful karma.” She put her fingers along the back of his hand, which lay along the smooth worn wood of one armrest. ‘You have such a karma. It is very strong, like the thrown net of a master fisherman.’ Her eyes looked down at her hands, one atop the other, flashed upwards to his face. ‘I am afraid to do anything to destroy that. But now there is more than one to think of. Our karma have meshed and, intertwined, may be all the more powerful for it, yes?’ He nodded again and, satisfied that she had both his attention and his agreement, she said, ‘Now I must ask something of you.’
‘You know that you have only to ask me,’ the Colonel said sincerely. ‘You, who of all people in this world make me the most happy, can have anything that is mine.’
Yet this heartfelt speech appeared to have little effect on Cheong. ‘This thing I must ask you is very large.’
He nodded.
‘We must go away from Singapore,’ she said boldly. Then, seeing that he did not stop her, she went on in a rush. ‘I know that your work means a great deal to you but this is’ - she searched for the proper words that would convey her thoughts -‘most imperative for all of us. For you, for me and for the baby.’ She placed one palm against her lower belly. ‘We must go to Japan. To Tokyo.’
He laughed,
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