Colette surveyed the cabin, looking rather displeased. She glanced at Roxanne and said, “Send for Fernando right now.”

The man arrived momentarily, and Colette gave him a lethal glare. “Where’s the tea? There should always be cups of steaming-hot Bird’s Tongue Longjing tea^*2 waiting for my mother and grandmother the minute they get on board! And little plates of hua mei^*3 to suck on during takeoff! Hasn’t anyone read the Aircraft Standards Manual?”

“I apologize, Miss Bing. We only landed a little over an hour ago and haven’t had time to turn around the plane properly.”

“What do you mean you just landed? Wasn’t Trenta here all weekend?”

“No, Miss Bing. Your father just returned from Los Angeles.”

“Really? I had no idea. Well, get us the tea and tell the captain we’re ready for takeoff.”

“Right away, Miss Bing,” the chief purser said, turning to leave.

“One more thing…”

“Yes, Miss Bing?”

“There is something in the air tonight, Fernando.”

“We’ll readjust the cabin climate right away.”

“No, that’s not it. Can you smell the air, Fernando? It’s nothing like Frédéric Malle’s Jurassic Flower. Who changed the cabin scent without my permission?”

“I’m not sure, Miss Bing.”

After Fernando left the room, Colette turned to Roxanne again. “When we get to Paris, I want new copies of the Aircraft Standards Manual printed and bound for every member of the flight crew. I want them to memorize every page, and then we’re going to give them a pop quiz during the return flight.”

*1 The passenger list included Rachel, Nick, Carlton, Colette Bing, Mrs. Bing, Grandma Bing, Auntie Pan Di, Stephanie Shi, Mrs. Shi, Adele Deng, Wen Pi Fang, Mrs. Wen, Perrineum Wang, Tiffany Yap, Roxanne Ma, and six maids (every one of Colette’s girlfriends brought along a personal maid).

*2 The mountains of Hangzhou are famed for Longjing tea, also known as Dragon Well tea. It is said that 600,000 fresh tea leaves are required to produce one kilogram of this precious tea that is prized above all else by Chinese tea connoisseurs.

*3 Salted dried plums, fervently sucked on by generations of Chinese like martini olives. Supposedly great for combating nausea but has the reverse effect on me.

15

28 CLUNY PARK ROAD

SINGAPORE

Carmen Loh had just stretched into sarvangasana pose in the middle of her living room when she heard her answering machine kick in.

“Carmen, ah. Mummy here. Geik Choo just called to tell me that Uncle C.K. has been checked in to Dover Park Hospice. They say if he makes it through the night, he can probably last through the week. I’m going to pay a visit today. I think you should come with me. Can you come and pick me up at Lillian May Tan’s around six? We should be finished with mah-jongg by then, unless Mrs. Lee Yong Chien shows up. In that case the game will take longer. Visiting hours at Dover Park end at eight, so I want to make sure we have ample time. Also, I ran into Keng Lien today at NTUC, and she said she heard from Paula that you are selling your Churchill Club membership to fund some new scuba-diving venture. I said ‘What rubbish, there is no way my daughter would ever do a thing like…’ ”