“There are different kinds of love.”

“Yes, that’s right. There are. Could you be content with the kind I have to offer you?” She was finally beginning to see the situation from his point of view and felt bad for him.

“I don’t know. All I wanted was for you to love me back. Which now you say you do. It should be enough.”

“Well,” she said, “I won’t force you to marry me if the kind of love I have to offer is not the kind you want. But I thought your love for me was the kind you’d feel no matter what.”

“It is.”

“Okay,” she said, “then, shall we give it a try?”

He reached up and took her hand. But then he let go of it. She reached down and took his hand. He pulled her toward him. She gazed into his brown eyes, so like her own. His lips brushed her cheek and found her mouth. The kiss was a nervy thing for a young man more accustomed to thinking and longing than seeing and acting. He was astonished by how soft she was. As the sun set down the western end of the harbour it poured a pale pink light over them, washing them clean of the day’s discomforts.

They pulled apart to watch it descend into the ocean. As they did, that lone fish that had escaped the afternoon’s carnage gave a mighty kick, flipped over the edge of the breakwater, and tumbled back into the sea.

At long last she spoke. “I cursed them.”

“I was there,” he said. “I heard you. It was very bad.”

She laughed, a little darkly. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“Pretty bad, yeah,” he said.

“I don’t know what got hold of me,” she said. “I was so angry I wasn’t myself.”

“I understand you,” he said.

She looked at him and kissed his cheek softly. “You know, I really believe that you do.”

The evening grew darker and the moon began to rise over the Sai Kung hills. A faint star came out, and twinkled at them through the rich, damp sea air. “I should undo the curses. I did more stuff than you witnessed. I should go look for Granny Kwok.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said.

“That would be nice,” she said. “But I think I need to do this alone. Besides, didn’t your father just move house today? You should go to the clubhouse and help him.”

“Are you sure?” he said. “I’d like to come with you.”

“I created this trouble on my own. I need to fix it on my own. Don’t worry, I’ll be all right.”

He rode the tram with her right over the Goose Neck Bridge. She alighted at the next stop, while he rode on to the cricket club.