Part 13 (1/2)

He disguised the awkwardness of the moment by digging around in his pipe and rapping its bowl with his forefinger. From the lawn came the crack of one ball against another and a cry of 'I say, Corky, that's a bit rum.'

Suddenly Theo shook himself. Like a dog shakes off water. His eyes half closed, he looked down at his companion. 'Alfred, if I believed you were right, I'd leave Junchow tomorrow. But I have faith in these people, in what you call this ”cruel and heathen country.”' He sat down again, stretching out his long legs in an imitation of relaxation, and waved a hand at the Chinese servant with the tray. In perfect Mandarin he said, 'A whisky, please.' He turned back to Alfred and smiled. 'Let us agree to differ. You know I'm what Mason calls a c.h.i.n.k lover.'

Alfred was meant to laugh. But he didn't.

'You can't have it both ways, Theo. Neither fish nor fowl. You want the Establishment to send you their children to educate, yet you go out of your way to parade your disdain for their parents. How can it . . . ?' He stopped. Stared at the retreating figure of the servant as he crossed the veranda. 'Boy, come back here immediately.'

'What's up, Alfred?'

But Parker was on his feet.

The servant was standing looking at them but came no nearer. Alfred strode over to him.

'What do you think you're doing here?' he demanded.

The Chinese said nothing.

Theo went over to them. What the h.e.l.l had got into Alfred?

'Something is not right here,' Parker said, prodding his pipe toward the servant. 'Look at him.'

Theo looked. Neat white tunic and tray in hand. 'Seems fine to me.'

'Don't talk rubbish. His face is beaten up.'

'So?'

'And his trousers are all wrong. Black but not the regulation uniform. And the bandaged foot, shoes a mess. The club would never let someone looking like that serve the members here. This boy is an intruder.'

'I work.' The servant held up the tray. 'Drinks.'

But now that Theo considered it, he could see what Alfred meant. He was right, this boy was not like the others. His eyes were not a servant's eyes. They stared straight back at you, as if he wanted to strike out at you, to hang your head in one of those cursed bamboo cages.

'Who are you?' Theo asked in Mandarin.

But Alfred was pointing at the boy's trouser pocket, which bulged at his side. 'Empty that out. Right now.'

The boy flicked his gaze insolently from Parker's panama hat to his polished brogue shoes and didn't move.

'Do as you are told,' Theo said in Mandarin. 'Empty your pockets or you'll be whipped like a gutter dog.'

'Fetch the security guards,' Parker shouted. 'We had a robbery here last night. This person is . . .'

'Empty your pockets,' Theo repeated sharply.

For a moment he thought the boy was going to strike. Something in his eyes seemed to struggle free, something wild and angry, but then it was caged once more and the boy lowered his gaze. Without a word he tipped his pocket inside out, spilling its contents onto the tiled floor of the veranda. A large handful of salted peanuts skidded around their feet.

Theo laughed. 'So much for your jewel thief, Alfred. The boy's just hungry.'

But Parker was not ready to let go so easily. 'And your other pockets.'

The boy did as he was told. A length of bamboo twine, a fis.h.i.+ng hook wrapped in clay, and a folded sheet of paper covered in Chinese character writing. Theo picked it up and scanned it briefly.

'What is it?' Parker asked.

'Nothing much. A poster for a gathering of some sort.'

But as the boy bent to retrieve his belongings, Theo caught a glimpse of the bone handle of a knife tucked into his belt, and suddenly he was frightened for his friend.

'Let him go, Alfred. This is nothing to us. The boy was hungry. Most of China is hungry.'

'A thief is a thief, Theo. Be it peanuts or jewels. Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not steal, remember?' But he was no longer angry. His face looked sad, his spectacles sliding halfway down his nose. 'We owe them that much, Theo. To teach them right from wrong, not just how to lay rail tracks and build factories.'

He reached out to take hold of the boy's arm, but Theo intervened. He seized Parker's wrist.

'Don't, Alfred. Not this time.' He turned to the silent figure with the black eyes full of hatred. 'Go,' he said quickly in Chinese. 'And don't come back.'

The boy set off around the lawn, loping with an uneven stride into the trees that skirted the grounds, then he was gone. To Theo the image was of a creature returning to its jungle, and he wondered what had tempted it out into the open. Certainly not peanuts.

'You might regret that,' Parker said with an annoyed little shake of his head.

'Mercy droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven,' Theo said cynically and glanced again at the sheet of paper still in his hand. It was actually a Communist pamphlet.

'Sha! Sha!' it said. 'Kill! Kill! Kill the hated imperialists. Kill the traitor Chiang Kai-shek. Long live the Chinese people.' it said. 'Kill! Kill! Kill the hated imperialists. Kill the traitor Chiang Kai-shek. Long live the Chinese people.'

The words worried Theo more than he cared to admit. Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang Nationalists had seized control and deserved now to be given a chance, if only the Western powers would back him against these troublemakers. The Communists would only do to China what Stalin was doing to Russia - turn it into a barren wasteland. China possessed too much beauty and too much soul to be stripped bare like a common wh.o.r.e. G.o.d preserve us from Communists. G.o.d and Chiang Kai-shek's army. G.o.d preserve us from Communists. G.o.d and Chiang Kai-shek's army.

'Did he say yes?'

'Yes.'

Li Mei kissed the nape of his neck. 'I am happy for you, Tiyo. Parker is a good friend to you.'

She laid her cheek against his naked back, but her fingers did not cease their firm circular motion on each side of his spine, digging deep into the muscles. Theo was facedown flat on the floor in the bedroom while Li Mei ma.s.saged the tension from his body. He was always amazed at the strength of her fingers and how she knew just where to press the heel of her hand to release another demon from under his skin.

'Yes, Alfred is a good friend, though some of his views are so narrow they would sit well on Oliver Cromwell.'

'Oliver Cromwell? Tell me, who is this Oliver? Another friend?'

Theo laughed and felt her pound his shoulder blade with her knuckles.