into shelter.
'Yes, you did.'
'Don't be down.'
'I'm no gambler,' I said.
'You wouldn't have come here if you weren't.' Typically Eva: so aphoristic, so Noel Coward.
'I was invited,' I said. 'You invited me.'
Her smile was shy and adult and I felt as though I was falling into it. 'I'm talking about Hong Kong,' she said.
The rain came to nothing, so we went back to the rail. It was deserted now. Unlit. We were alone. She said, 'We're always wandering off into the dark.'
'It does seem that way.'
Her hand was tiny and strong. Not a child's hand at all.
'One more race,' she said.
'Not again.'
'Forget your plastic?' The rain glistened in her hair.
'I like it here,' I said.
'In the dark?'
'With you,' I said. 'I thought I wasn't going to see you again.'
She glanced around. Her father was standing behind us, in a pool of light, yards away. Rainwater drizzled from the balconies. It was like a curtain, cutting him off. I made to raise a hand but Eva stopped me with a touch. He hadn't seen us. We turned back towards the track.
She said, 'I wasn't pregnant, incidentally, if that's what you're thinking.'
I shrugged.
'Sorry. That was a rotten thing to say.'
'No it wasn't.'
She leaned against the wet rail, her hands clasped, very earnest. She said, 'I wouldn't have minded.'
'What?'
'You can fuck me as much as you want. I love you. I've been a cow.'
'What was that about'
'I want to be your girl,' she said.
I glanced round, nervous as hell. Pang was still standing there, still looking in the wrong direction. It couldn't last. 'Can't we do this somewhere else?'
She led me into the shadow of the stewards' social club, and down a covered alley, out of the rain. It was very dark. I had to touch her just to figure out where she was. There was a sweet refuse smell coming from somewhere. Above us, cheap cigarette smoke and muffled Cantonese wafted from a kitchen window.
'I'm going to tell them,' she said. 'Everybody. Friends, parents. I want you to come to lots of parties with me. I want to show you off. I don't know why I was so afraid. It wasn't you, it was me'
I shut her up with a kiss. Big lower-middle-class brute that I was.
'Your dad'll think I've buggered off,' I said, when we were done.
'Don't be so nervous of him.'
An unpleasant thought struck me. 'God, you don't want me to ask him for permission or anything, do you?'
She laughed and kissed my nose.
'He thinks I'm a wuss as it is.'
'Let me choose you a winner then.' Out in the middle of the track, the big video monitor was screening odds for the next race. She tried to read them over my shoulder. 'Get your hand out my knickersthere.'
She bobbed up on tiptoe and squinted. 'Who do you fancy?'
'I daren't look.'
'It's only a race.' She led me out of the alley and back into the Jockey Club building. 'Pride of Asia?'
'Sounds like a fruit company.'
'Lucky Jim?'
'Too Kingsley Amis.'
'Hmm?'
I picked blindly.
'Oh Adam,' she cried, despairing of me, 'It's forty to one.'
'Double Happiness or nothing.'
'Adam, why?' Victor Pang cried, drawing level with us in the queue. I practically had a heart attack. Pang, on the other hand, seemed quite unsurprised, finding Eva and I with our arms round each other. She must have told him about us. Or had he seen her unhappy these past weeks, and set this up himself?
I thought about Pang's notoriously snobbish wife, Eva's motherhow he had arranged it so that she was still blithely ensconced with her Vanderbildt/Stepford mob...
'Yes, Adam,' Eva chipped in, 'why?'
The worst chip shop in the world is the Double Happiness in Mile EndI was hardly going to tell her that.
'Okay,' Eva sighed, admitting defeat. She reached into her purse and pulled out her plastic. Dad contained himselfjust. 'I'll match you,' she said.
It was a big wedding; even the Hong Kong Tatler said so. Our winnings barely paid for the reception. ICAC's choice of offices - above a fortress-like multi-storey car park on Garden Road - might indeed have been
'Yes, you did.'
'Don't be down.'
'I'm no gambler,' I said.
'You wouldn't have come here if you weren't.' Typically Eva: so aphoristic, so Noel Coward.
'I was invited,' I said. 'You invited me.'
Her smile was shy and adult and I felt as though I was falling into it. 'I'm talking about Hong Kong,' she said.
The rain came to nothing, so we went back to the rail. It was deserted now. Unlit. We were alone. She said, 'We're always wandering off into the dark.'
'It does seem that way.'
Her hand was tiny and strong. Not a child's hand at all.
'One more race,' she said.
'Not again.'
'Forget your plastic?' The rain glistened in her hair.
'I like it here,' I said.
'In the dark?'
'With you,' I said. 'I thought I wasn't going to see you again.'
She glanced around. Her father was standing behind us, in a pool of light, yards away. Rainwater drizzled from the balconies. It was like a curtain, cutting him off. I made to raise a hand but Eva stopped me with a touch. He hadn't seen us. We turned back towards the track.
She said, 'I wasn't pregnant, incidentally, if that's what you're thinking.'
I shrugged.
'Sorry. That was a rotten thing to say.'
'No it wasn't.'
She leaned against the wet rail, her hands clasped, very earnest. She said, 'I wouldn't have minded.'
'What?'
'You can fuck me as much as you want. I love you. I've been a cow.'
'What was that about'
'I want to be your girl,' she said.
I glanced round, nervous as hell. Pang was still standing there, still looking in the wrong direction. It couldn't last. 'Can't we do this somewhere else?'
She led me into the shadow of the stewards' social club, and down a covered alley, out of the rain. It was very dark. I had to touch her just to figure out where she was. There was a sweet refuse smell coming from somewhere. Above us, cheap cigarette smoke and muffled Cantonese wafted from a kitchen window.
'I'm going to tell them,' she said. 'Everybody. Friends, parents. I want you to come to lots of parties with me. I want to show you off. I don't know why I was so afraid. It wasn't you, it was me'
I shut her up with a kiss. Big lower-middle-class brute that I was.
'Your dad'll think I've buggered off,' I said, when we were done.
'Don't be so nervous of him.'
An unpleasant thought struck me. 'God, you don't want me to ask him for permission or anything, do you?'
She laughed and kissed my nose.
'He thinks I'm a wuss as it is.'
'Let me choose you a winner then.' Out in the middle of the track, the big video monitor was screening odds for the next race. She tried to read them over my shoulder. 'Get your hand out my knickersthere.'
She bobbed up on tiptoe and squinted. 'Who do you fancy?'
'I daren't look.'
'It's only a race.' She led me out of the alley and back into the Jockey Club building. 'Pride of Asia?'
'Sounds like a fruit company.'
'Lucky Jim?'
'Too Kingsley Amis.'
'Hmm?'
I picked blindly.
'Oh Adam,' she cried, despairing of me, 'It's forty to one.'
'Double Happiness or nothing.'
'Adam, why?' Victor Pang cried, drawing level with us in the queue. I practically had a heart attack. Pang, on the other hand, seemed quite unsurprised, finding Eva and I with our arms round each other. She must have told him about us. Or had he seen her unhappy these past weeks, and set this up himself?
I thought about Pang's notoriously snobbish wife, Eva's motherhow he had arranged it so that she was still blithely ensconced with her Vanderbildt/Stepford mob...
'Yes, Adam,' Eva chipped in, 'why?'
The worst chip shop in the world is the Double Happiness in Mile EndI was hardly going to tell her that.
'Okay,' Eva sighed, admitting defeat. She reached into her purse and pulled out her plastic. Dad contained himselfjust. 'I'll match you,' she said.
It was a big wedding; even the Hong Kong Tatler said so. Our winnings barely paid for the reception. ICAC's choice of offices - above a fortress-like multi-storey car park on Garden Road - might indeed have been
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