Dragon Land (31 page)

Lorna-May waited until Ping Li had disappeared through the garden before sitting down. ‘I’m having a birthday party next Saturday at the racecourse and I would like you and Jonas to come.’

‘A birthday party?’ I was surprised she had come here to ask us, as I was sure we weren’t in her social circle.

‘Yes, it’s my twenty-eighth birthday and Conrad wants to celebrate it with our friends, so please tell me you’ll both come.’

I wasn’t sure what Jonas’s plans were for that day, so I said I would ask him and let her know.

‘Just drop me a letter if you can come, and please call me Lorna-May.’ She leaned forward in her seat. ‘Can I give you a bit of advice, Lizzie?’

I nodded.

‘I couldn’t help but see you’ve become friendly with the native servants.’

I was confused. ‘The native servants?’

‘Yes, that Chinese woman who was sitting here. I personally never get friendly with my servants and I don’t even know their names. I have girl one and girl two, plus the cook, who is just called the cook.’

‘Madame Zheng isn’t my servant; she’s my good friend and neighbour.’

‘Well, we must keep ourselves to ourselves here in the International Settlement and not consort with the Chinese population.’

I was furious at this attitude. ‘Lorna-May, has it never occurred to you that it’s us who are living in their country and not the other way round?’

Her eyes narrowed and she clamped her scarlet lips together. ‘I hope you’re not a Communist, Lizzie.’

I was speechless.

‘It’s just that here in China there is the National Army under Chiang Kai-shek and the rebel army led by the Communist Mao Zedong. Conrad and I have met Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Meiling. She is part of the powerful Soong family.’ After that statement she stood up. ‘Well, I must get away as I have an appointment with my hairdresser, but let me know if you can come to the party.’

That night I mentioned the visit to Jonas.

‘I’ve never gone to any of her parties,’ he said, ‘but maybe we should go to this one, as you’ll meet lots of people. And another thing: as far as I know Lorna-May has been twenty-eight for the last five years, so it should be a laugh.’

‘She called me a Communist, Jonas, because I’m friendly with Ping Li.’

Jonas laughed. ‘Well, you’d better watch out she doesn’t set Chiang Kai-shek onto you, as she keeps peppering her talk with his name. It’s almost as if they are old friends.’ He became serious. ‘I want you to meet as many people as possible because when I have to go away I want you to have friends you can call on if you need any help.’

So it was arranged that we would go to the birthday bash at the racecourse. Jonas said it was the place where the rich and powerful members of Shanghai society gathered. ‘They go there to the races, or to play cricket or join the swimming club. It’s the social hub of Shanghai.’

Personally I didn’t want to be part of the social set, but if it meant meeting as many people as possible, I thought, then perhaps I should make the effort. The only thing was I didn’t own a suitable wardrobe of fashionable clothes. Ping Li came to my aid, however, and made me a lovely evening dress of purple shantung silk.

‘I bought the material at the department store and you will look wonderful at the party,’ she said. When I went to pay for it, she shook her head and held her hands together as if in prayer. ‘No, no, it is a gift from me to you because you are my neighbour and my friend.’

I mentioned to Jonas the dilemma over payment, but he said I should accept the gift. ‘You can always repay her some other time with a favour or something of the kind.’

With that in mind, I gladly accepted the dress. It fitted me perfectly. Ping Li had to make a slight adjustment to the waistband, but everything else was fine. I bought a pair of purple suede ankle-strap sandals from the store and I looked forward to Lorna-May’s party.

On the Friday, I asked Elsie what she was going to wear on the night, but she shook her head. ‘We’ve not been invited, Lizzie.’

I was puzzled. ‘But Lorna-May said it was her friends and neighbours who were going, and surely you and Ronnie are neighbours.’

‘I really don’t mind not being asked. We went to one party when I first arrived, but Ronnie became so drunk that I was embarrassed and we’ve never been asked to another one.’

‘Maybe Ronnie will take you out for the evening instead, Elsie.’

She looked evasive and said, ‘Maybe he will.’

On the Saturday night, Alex picked us up in his car. He looked despondent. ‘Sue Lin can’t make it, as she is away following up a story for the paper.’

Jonas was in a joking mood when he said not to worry, we would sit together with me in the middle, but Alex didn’t laugh or even smile.

I thought it would be an informal party with guests mixing with each other, but when we arrived at the club we found a huge dining table set out. There were place names on the table, and after we were handed a drink by the white-coated waiters we sat down at our allotted places.

To my surprise, I found out I wouldn’t be sitting between Jonas and Alex but was placed next to Conrad Hamilton. I looked at Jonas when I sat down, and he shrugged his shoulders, as if to say he had nothing to do with it.

Lorna-May made her entrance like a film star. She was wearing a figure-hugging silver dress and high-heeled sandals. Her face was perfectly made up, with red lips and thin pencilled eyebrows. I don’t know about the rest of the women at the table, but she made me feel like a country bumpkin, with my hair curling around my ears and wearing no make-up.

Jonas was sitting next to Lorna-May and Alex was placed beside a plump woman in a puce-coloured dress. I had only met Conrad once that night at the hotel and I had no idea what to say to him. However, by the time the first course was served I found he was a modest, charming man and very easy to talk to.

‘Lorna-May tells me you’ve come here from Scotland?’

‘Well, I left Dundee to work in Hong Kong, but after I married Jonas we came here.’

Conrad looked at me with surprise. ‘I don’t believe it. My great-grandfather came from Dundee originally. He was called Robert Conrad Hamilton and he worked in a bank there before emigrating to America as a young man. He was the one who made the family banking dynasty as it is now. Well, would you believe it, what a surprise.’

I had to tell him all about my life there and my family history, and before I knew it the meal was over and the company moved into the large room where a small band was playing for dancing.

As Jonas swept me across the floor, he said, ‘You were having a great conversation with Conrad. I think Lorna-May was jealous, not only because of Conrad’s attention but you were easily the most beautiful woman in the room.’

I said he was biased, but added, ‘You won’t believe this, Jonas, but his great-grandfather was a Dundee man who emigrated to America and founded the family fortune.’

‘I always said if one stood on the street in Shanghai you would meet people from every corner of the world, and that goes to show how true it is.’

I noticed Alex sitting alone and we went to join him. When he mentioned he was going home, we also thanked our hosts and made our way back to the house. Alex dropped us off, but said he was tired and just wanted to get home. I knew he had a small apartment above his photography workshop and that Sue Lin often spent the night there, but she wouldn’t tonight, obviously, and Alex must have felt depressed by her absence. I wished they could get together as a married couple, but Sue Lin seemingly put her career first, or maybe she had an aversion to marriage.

The next morning while Jonas shut himself away with his typewriter, I sat on the veranda with Ping Li and Elsie and told them everything about the previous night.

‘Your dress was admired, Ping Li, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you get loads of orders for dresses’.

‘I wouldn’t make them, Lizzie. I just make things for my good friends and the customers at the department store.’

A fortnight later, at the beginning of July, Jonas and Alex set off to cover a story about Japanese activity in Manchuria, now called Manchukuo, but before he left he said he would be back in time to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in August.

I watched as the car set off, with Alex’s camera and tripod in the back, and I suddenly felt so alone. Jonas had warned me that he would be going away from time to time, as it was his job as a freelance journalist to write the stories while Alex captured the scenes on his camera.

Ping Li had gone to the store with a box of her dresses, so I decided to go into town and look around the shops. It was late afternoon when I dropped into one of the cafés for a cup of tea and was surprised to see Lorna-May sitting at one of the tables. She waved me over.

‘I’ve had such a hard day with shopping,’ she said, pointing to the pile of packages at her feet, ‘so I just dropped into the nearest place for a cool drink.’

I was also feeling the heat, as it was an unusually warm autumn day, but Lorna-May looked cool and unruffled and not in the least hot and bothered.

‘I should have brought the car with me, but I find the streets so crowded with people and carts and rickshaws that it’s too much of a bother. I’m waiting for Conrad to come and pick me up.’

I ordered tea when the waitress came for my order, but was surprised when Lorna-May ordered a gin and tonic with lime juice.

She saw my face and she said, ‘I’m just worn out, so I need a reviving drink.’ She lit up one of her cigarettes and sipped her drink while I finished my tea.

‘Will Conrad be coming soon for you?’

She shrugged her slim shoulders and blew smoke out from her cigarette. Just then I spotted Elsie as she stood hesitantly at the door. I waved, and she walked past the tables to where we were sitting, but came to a stop when she noticed I wasn’t alone.

Lorna-May looked annoyed and whispered, ‘Oh, don’t let that wishy-washy woman come over here. She never looks after herself and it looks like she has been wearing that dress in her bed, and as for her hair …’ She made a little moue.

Determined to ignore her, I called Elsie over. ‘Come and have a cup of tea, Elsie.’

Elsie sat down on the edge of her seat.

I gave her a smile. ‘I was going to come to see you later today, as Jonas is away for a week or two.’

Lorna-May had nodded to Elsie when she sat down, but she now ignored her as she took out her powder compact and touched up her lipstick, which, in my opinion, needed touched up judging by the bright-red lipstick ring on her glass.

Thankfully a car drew up and Lorna-May stood, gathering her packages, and went out of the door.

I let out a sigh of relief, and Elsie laughed. ‘She’s the kind of woman you’re always ready to see the back of.’

I asked her if she was all right. ‘Were you looking for someone, Elsie?’

Her face went bright red. ‘I was hoping to catch Ronnie after his work and before he goes into the bar of the American Café, but he didn’t show up, so I’ll just go home on my own.’

‘Why don’t you come back with me and have a meal, then maybe we can go to the cinema. What do you think?’

‘Normally I would love to do that, but I usually go to the Mission church school this evening. I help out with the refugee children once a week.’

‘Why don’t I come with you?’ I said, and she nodded eagerly.

I had heard of the Mission church and school, but had never been there. Elsie explained as we walked along the busy street, dodging hand carts and the pyjama-clad Chinamen with their loads on the bamboo poles.

‘The two women who run it come from Edinburgh and the minister is their brother. I got to know them when I first arrived here, as my mother said she knew them. Their names are Betsy and Jeannie Miller, and the brother is David.’

When we reached the Mission, it was crowded with children and families who were lined up waiting for some food. Elsie put on her apron and handed one to me, and we dished out portions of rice into the waiting bowls.

Betsy introduced herself and said, ‘There are a lot of people coming from the north where the Japanese have set up their new territory.’

I asked her where all these people would end up.

‘They’ll have relatives here in Shanghai or else they’ll move further south to some of the other cities, but it’s a tragedy that they’ve had to leave their homes behind.’

Afterwards as we walked home, I said, ‘I knew there was a problem with refugees, Elsie, but I never imagined it was this bad until I saw it at the Mission. It’s a terrible world.’

‘A lot of them will disappear into the back streets here, and hopefully they’ll get work and food and somewhere to stay. If not, they have the Mission to help them.’

When we reached my house, Elsie said she wouldn’t come in. ‘Maybe Ronnie is at home,’ she said, but I noticed there was no enthusiasm in her voice.

I spent a sleepless night without Jonas lying beside me, and in the early morning I was sitting on the veranda with my tea when Elsie came to the gate.

‘I thought we could maybe spend some time going round the Yu Garden,’ she said. I got dressed, and by the time we were ready to leave Ping Li appeared and we asked her to come with us. Looking back years later I was to remember that happy time as we explored the garden and the temples, and then the little side streets where Ping Li knew the best places to shop.

‘I grew up around these streets,’ she said, ‘but sadly my parents are dead and as I was an only child I have no relatives living here.’

Elsie and I looked at her with sympathy.

‘I know how it feels, Ping Li, to have no parents, as mine are also dead, but I do have a wonderful aunt,’ I said.

Elsie screwed up her face. ‘I still have my mother, but she can be a right menace at times.’

Ping Li sounded shocked. ‘No, Elsie, you must be grateful you still have her to cherish and look after you.’

Elsie muttered that she was grateful, but as it was lunchtime we stopped being morbid and made our way to a tiny restaurant that I would have passed if Ping Li hadn’t mentioned going inside. The interior was dim and cave-like, but the tables all looked clean. The owner came to greet us and she welcomed Ping Li as an old friend. We had bowls of soup with tiny dumplings and it was delicious.