design a range for the smaller woman, it’s a corner of the market I’ve not yet touched. Perhaps with an Oriental influence.’ He looked at the silk wallpaper with its Chinese figures, at the Coromandel screen with its herons in flight above beautiful foliage. ‘The Chinese have something. I shall call it my Hong Kong collection.’
His enthusiasm was infectious and Debra could not help agreeing. ‘It would be marvellous, Vane. I always have difficulty in finding dresses the right size. I even had to alter this one.’
‘You’ve certainly made a good job of it,’ he said admiringly. ‘I could stand here all night looking at you, but if we want to eat we’d best get moving.’
Their drive took them out of the city and across the island, past huge resettlement blocks with lines of washing hung over balconies, past hill cemeteries and squalid shacks, into the fishing town of Aberdeen with its incredible clutter of junks and sampans and stilt houses.
Gaudy neon lights blazed from the floating restaurants with their several piers and curving roofs, and Debra laughingly let Vane take her hand as he helped her into a waiting sampan.
A grinning Cantonese woman in wide black cotton trousers and a matching black jacket ferried them across to the Sea Palace, one of Aberdeen’s vast floating restaurants.
Light bulbs like pearl necklaces decked each pier, there was an air of festivity and cheerful vulgarity. Debra loved every moment of it and was glad they were alone, resolutely pushing Liz’s illness to the back of her mind, knowing that Vane would not have insisted on them going out if her friend had been really ill.
While they waited to be served they admired the view from the restaurant windows. Junks glided slowly past, motors chugging, patched sails spread on the night breeze.
‘I once heard that ninety-five per cent of Hong Kong’s population lives on the water,’ she remarked.
‘I can well believe it,’ he said. ‘It’s truly amazing. It’s like a complete town out there.’ The harbour was laden with junks and sampans strung with washing. It was a fascinating glimpse into how other people live.
‘They even have junks coming round selling their wares so that they need never leave their boats unless they want to,’ she continued. ‘It’s fascinating, don’t you think?’
‘Interesting,’ he demurred, ‘but their life style wouldn’t suit me.’
Conversation stopped when their meal was served. They ate Peking duck, the skin, the most prized part, cut into thin slices, dipped in chilli sauce and then wrapped in wafer-thin pancakes.
Their table was loaded with an endless variety of dishes—crabmeat and sweetcorn soup, fried prawns and sweet and sour sauce, and a host of other equally exciting foods.
Vane tried a little of everything, insisted that Debra do the same, and they finished with large glasses of jasmine tea with huge black tealeaves and the odd jasmine bud floating in it.
Revolving fans on the gilded ceiling kept them cool, young girls performed dances with long, whirling scarves, and then it was all over and they were driving along the coast, despite Debra’s insistence that she wanted to go home and check on Liz.
Vane stopped at Repulse Bay, one of the most picturesque beaches on the island. A crescent of pale sand was backed by hills covered in green shrub, tall white hotel blocks that had not been there the last time Debra was in Hong Kong.
‘I used to swim here when I was a little girl,’ she said.
‘We can swim now if you like,’ he laughed, preparing to take off his jacket.
Debra put out a hand to stop him. ‘One of these days,’ she said, ‘when I’m prepared for it.’
He caught her hand, pulling her against him. She felt the rapid stirrings of his heart, and her own echoed in response.
It was a magical moment with a full moon overhead, the special tang of the Orient teasing their nostrils, and the gentle whisper of the sea curling across the pale
Joe McGinniss
JUDY DUARTE
Lawrence Sanders
Win Blevins
Katherine Vickery
Jettie Woodruff
Brian Thacker
Eve Vaughn
Kristin Cross
Meg Muldoon