“She didn’t say much. He was so busy screaming at her, the poor woman could hardly get a word in. Apparently Eddie has held a grudge against his mother for a very long time because she won’t massage his buttocks.”
“Whaaaat?” Ah Ling made a face.
Vikram couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Yes, I know, strange family. What can you expect—they’re Hong Kongers. Anyway, Alix tried to reason with Eddie, but he’s determined to make sure Nicky doesn’t get to see Mrs. Young at all. He’s gotten it into his fat head that he alone will inherit Tyersall Park—that’s why he’s been planting himself outside her bedroom for the past two days like a Doberman. He’s not letting anyone in who will ruin his plan!”
“Sek si gau!”* Ah Ling muttered angrily.
Vikram peeked out of the larder door for a moment to see if there was anyone within earshot before continuing in a lower voice. “Now, from what I understand, Mrs. Young thinks that Nicky had to cancel his trip because of the Intergalactic Wars. She has been kept completely in the dark, and has no idea he’s even back on the island. Astrid is being kept away too, and you know none of those daughters are going to tell her anything. We need to do something about this!”
Ah Ling let out a long sigh. “I don’t know if we can interfere. This is a family matter. I don’t like to get mixed up in their quarrels. And I especially don’t want either of us to get in trouble for this…after Su Yi is gone.”
“Mrs. Young isn’t…going anywhere!” Vikram sputtered.
“Vikram, we both have to face it…I don’t think Su Yi is going to last much longer. I see her waning day by day. And we have no idea who’s going to get control of Tyersall Park. God forbid, it could be Eddie. We need to be extra careful, especially now. I’ve seen what has happened before in this family. You weren’t around when T’sien Tsai Tay passed away. My God, the drama!”
“I think there’s going to be drama no matter what. But you practically raised Nicky—don’t you want to see him get the house?”
Ah Ling gestured for Vikram to follow her to the back of the larder. “Of course I do,” she whispered.
“We both know it would be ideal if Nicky is the new master of Tyersall Park. He is our best hope to keep things just the way they are. That’s why we have to do what we can to make sure he gets to see Mrs. Young.”
“But what can we do? How are we going to get Nicky into the house and into her bedroom without the whole family knowing about it? Without losing our jobs?”
Vikram felt a lump in his throat, but he continued to speak. “Ah Ling, I swore an oath—a Gurkha’s oath—to protect and serve Mrs. Young with my life. I feel like I would be betraying her if I didn’t see that her wishes are followed. You just confirmed that she wants to see Nicky, right?”
Ah Ling nodded. “I have a feeling she’s hanging on to see him.”
“Well, it’s my duty to make sure that happens. Even if I lose my job.”
“You are an honorable man,
” Ah Ling said as she sat down on a wooden stool, momentarily lost in a thought. She gazed up at the rows and rows of glass bottles containing the world’s rarest foods—wild mountain ginseng, preserved abalone, caterpillar fungus—precious herbs that had been stored here since before World War II, suddenly remembering one afternoon back in the early eighties…
Su Yi had taken out a leather box from the vault filled with old medals that she wanted Ah Ling to polish with extra care. Most of them were honors given over the years to Su Yi’s husband—his Order of the British Empire badge, a medal from the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, various decorations from Malay royals—but one medal stood out: an eight-point Maltese cross made of pewter, and at its center was a large amethyst.
“What did Dr. Young receive this medal for?” Ah Ling asked, holding up the translucent gemstone to the light.
“Oh, that wasn’t his. This was given to me after the war by the queen. Don’t bother to polish that,” Su Yi answered.
“How come I never knew you were honored by the queen?”
Su Yi huffed dismissively. “It wasn’t very significant to me. Why would I care what the Queen of England thinks? The British abandoned us during World War II. Instead of sending more troops to defend the colony that helped to make them rich, they retreated like cowards and wouldn’t even leave us with real weapons. So many young men—my cousins, my half brothers—died trying to hold back the Japanese.”
Ah Ling nodded her head gravely. “So what did you get this medal for?”
Su Yi gave her a wry smile. “One night during the height of the occupation, I got careless. I was in the Botanic Gardens with a small group of friends, and none of us should have been there. The island was under curfew, and the gardens were locked up in the evenings—they were especially out of bounds. A patrol of Kempeitai—the vicious Japanese military police—came out of nowhere and surprised us. Now, a few of my friends couldn’t risk getting caught by the Japanese—they were already on the wanted list—so I let them flee and allowed myself to be caught. I had protection papers, you see. Our family friend Lim Boon Keng had gotten me a special badge that was marked ‘Overseas Chinese Liaison Officer,’ and this meant that I could go about the island unmolested by the soldiers.
“But these soldiers didn’t buy my story—I told them that we were all just good friends out on a lark, but they still arrested me and took me to their commanding officer. When I saw I was being taken to a certain house on Dalvey Estate, I remember getting very anxious—this colonel was known for his brutality. He once shot a young boy on the street just because the boy didn’t salute him in the correct manner. And here I was about to face him after committing a big offense.
“When we got to the front door, some soldiers were coming out carrying a body that was covered by a bloody sheet. I thought it was all over for me then, that I was about to be raped or shot, or maybe both. My heart was racing a mile a minute. They dragged me into this sitting room, where I came upon the most unexpected sight. The colonel was this tall, elegant man sitting at the grand piano playing Beethoven. I stood there just watching him perform the entire piece, and when he had finished, for some reason I decided to speak first, something you were never supposed to do. I said to him, ‘The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major is one of my favorites.’
“The colonel turned and gave me this piercing stare and said in perfect English, ‘You’re familiar with this piece? You know the piano? Play something for me.’
“He got up from the stool, and I sat down at the piano absolutely petrified, knowing what I chose to play could mean the difference between life and death. So I took a deep breath and thought, if I’m about to die, this is what I want to play. Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune.’
“I played my heart out, and when I finished, I looked up from the piano and saw that there were tears in his eyes. It turns out that before the war, he had been in the diplomatic corps in Paris. Debussy was his favorite. He let me go, and twice a week for the next year, he made me come over to his house and play the piano for him.”
Ah Ling shook her head incredulously at the story. “You were very lucky to get away like that. How did you and your friends get in to the Botanic Gardens in the first place?”