Janice Lee - The Piano Teacher

Minna Comstock was in her early fifties and formidable. She had two children away at university, and lived her life with vigorous energy. She played tennis twice a week and golf on Ladies’ Day at Fanling. In the locker room, she stripped down to her underclothes without embarrassment. Her body was firm but wrinkles hung from her bosom, her arms, her stomach. It seemed as if she had too much skin for the body she had.

“I bought a nice bathing suit at Wing On,” Claire ventured. “They have quite a lot of merchandise.”

“Wear British,” Mrs. Comstock barked. “The items here are cut for the Chinese frame and aren’t suitable for us. Too small. I only buy at Marks and Spencer and I always bring back loads of things from home leave, good marmalade and proper knives and things like that. Have you seen what they call a knife around here? Barbaric implement called a chopper.” She hoisted a well-muscled leg onto a bench and started to oil it. “Have some lotion,” she said, handing the slippery bottle to Claire. “It’ll protect you from too much sun.” Mrs. Comstock was brown in the oddest places-on her calves between her sock line and where her short pants must have ended, and on her arms between her shirtsleeves and where her golf gloves began.

“Thank you,” Claire said. She smoothed some cream on her face. She didn’t enjoy the sun, thought the fashion of browning yourself like some animal on a spit was quite peculiar.

On the beach, the wooden cabanas were covered in white cotton broadcloth, large and airy with hooks for hanging up robes and compartments for bags.

“We’re number twenty-three,” Bruce said. “You can put your belongings there while we bathe.” Inside, there were beach chairs and an ice box. Bruce surreptitiously made them gin and Schweppes (“Highway robbery, what they charge you at the bar,” he whispered) and they sat down and sipped them.

“Isn’t this nice,” Claire said. “So relaxing.”

With a jolt of recognition, she suddenly spotted Locket running toward the sea in a white-and-red polka-dot bathing suit. When she followed her path back, her eyes fell upon the Chens drinking cocktails on the club terrace with a group of people. Melody Chen had on a wide-brimmed straw hat and sunglasses and looked like a film star.

“If you’ll excuse us,” she said to the Comstocks. “I just see some people I should say hello to.”

She brought Martin over to the Chens’ table.

“Hello,” Victor Chen said, as she stood over him. He squinted at her. “Oh, it’s…” He paused. “These are the Silvas,” he continued smoothly, gesturing to the couple sitting next to him. “Michael is Hong Kong ’s foremost obstetrician. And this is Dave Bradley, with the NBC. He’s from the United States, so he and Melody have been getting on a little too well for my taste.” He turned to the table. “And this is Locket’s piano teacher.” Claire nodded and smiled. Mrs. Chen gave out a little shriek. “Locket!” she cried, and was out of her chair and down to the beach where Locket was in danger of being enveloped by an enormous wave. The group watched her run down to her child.

“Victor,” Claire said. “My husband, Martin Pendleton.”

“Of course,” he said immediately.

“Pleased to meet you,” Martin said. He smiled, uncomfortable.

Melody Chen came back from scolding Locket. “I wish they’d let the help in the club. It’s such a stupid rule,” she said. “It’s just exhausting not to have Pai around. Oh, I mean Francesca.” She turned to Mrs. Silva with a confidential air. “Did I tell you what happened?” They started conversing in lowered tones. Claire couldn’t decide whether to attend Martin’s conversation with Victor Chen, or his wife’s conversation with her friend.

“… here with Bruce Comstock…”

“… Austrian crystal figures my mother gave me…”

“… very good banker…”

“… everyone’s trying out new girls from rural China but they’re awful with meals, can’t cook at all and their own food’s inedible, you have to teach them every single thing… I gave her a new name, of course, Francesca, because I want to go to Italy soon…”

Claire stood there, caught in one of those moments where everybody is having a conversation and one is excluded. She felt ill at ease, as if she had been forgotten.

“What a beautiful head scarf,” Mrs. Chen said to her suddenly. “I have one that’s a bit like it.” A strange expression glanced over her face.

“Thank you,” Claire said, with a cool she hadn’t known she possessed. She had forgotten about the scarf. She patted her head casually, trying not to panic. “Thank you very much.”

“Is it Hermès?” Melody Chen asked. “I love the colors-orange and brown are my favorite-autumn, you know.”

“Oh, no,” Claire said. “I got it here, actually. It’s just some inexpensive thing I got off a hawker. I can give you the exact location if you…”

“Well, it looks just as nice as the real thing,” Melody Chen interrupted. “You tall women can pull anything off.” She sipped at her martini.

“Well,” Mr. Chen said in the ensuing lull. “It was certainly nice to see you.”

Claire didn’t sleep that night. She got up after Martin’s breath deepened, and walked barefoot over to the window. Beneath her feet the lacquered wooden floor was smooth and cool, spotless from the mopping Yu Ling gave it every other day. Her body was still overheated from the sun she had received that day at the beach; her arms and legs felt as if the rays were still simmering beneath her skin. She cranked the window open slowly, the metal hinges creaking, and watched the pinpoints of light that were people with insomnia just like her. There was a breeze and the humid night air entered the room and cooled her body. Her head was abuzz. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything since their encounter with the Chens. She was sure she had behaved quite queerly to the Comstocks, as she had seen Minna give a look to Bruce after she had knocked over her drink for the second time. She hadn’t said anything to Martin because she hadn’t the slightest idea what she would have said. “Darling, I’ve been stealing from the Chens and I’m afraid I’ve been found out. I’ve stopped, though, don’t worry.” He would think her quite mad. And perhaps she had been. She rested her head against the cool pane of the window. She didn’t think Melody Chen had put two and two together. And she would never accuse Claire of stealing without concrete proof, would she? Claire looked out at the dark night and wondered if it looked the same back home in England.

SO, THIS IS WAR. Before, he would have called it driving. He’s taking a lorry full of cable drums to Causeway Bay, along with five or six Chinese workers squatting in the back. In the seat next to him is Kevin Evers, who apparently knows what to do with the cable, or what to tell the workers to do. It is now chaos back at HQ, phone and radio squawking endlessly. The airport was bombed just hours ago, with the loss of some twenty-five aircraft, and the tension is rising. Will has been told to deliver the drums and get back on the double. Evers is nervously jabbering away.

The roads at least are empty of vehicles, although there are plenty of people still on the streets. A woman beats a man with a large burlap bag, striking him with her small hands, screaming, as he shakes her off and runs. The looting has already begun.

And, hard to believe, a few days ago he was at a party in a dinner jacket, sipping champagne and exchanging barbed jokes with Trudy and her crowd.

In Causeway Bay, he finds the building where he’s to drop off the drums and they’re unloading the lorry when the siren wails again. Everyone scurries inside, the whiz of air and the loud reverberation of the explosion. The ground shudders. Evers breathes loudly next to him. When they ring back to HQ, they’re told to stay as bombing will probably intensify, park the lorry in a safe place, and billet at a flat on Montgomery Street. With a stubby pencil he writes down the number on a grimy piece of paper smudged with oil: 140. It sounds familiar.