He considered sending a messenger to his mother at Wong Nai Chung, but decided against it. He didn’t want to risk drawing attention to the fact that he came from a family that had opposed the British presence. Though he bore them no great love, they were kind enough to him, so he didn’t hate them either. It seemed best not to rock the boat, especially when Tin Hau was in such a capricious mood in her bestowal of fortune. There was spinach cream soup to make, but the spinach supplier still hadn’t shown up and Cheung needed to figure out a substitute before lunchtime. There were lots of potatoes left, but he’d served potato cream soup just yesterday. What he wouldn’t have given for a good supply of oxtail. He eyed his supplies. There was curry powder, a couple of imported apples, and assorted vegetables both fresh and canned for a reasonable facsimile of mulligatawny. He didn’t want to give the cricketers any reason to think him incompetent, especially before he’d taken up stewardship of the club officially. He would go see his mother later.

The week proved a hectic one. In addition to keeping the kitchen running and making the finer dishes, Cheung had to learn everything that Colville wanted to pass on before the old head steward went back to Australia. There were suppliers of sporting goods to meet. There were posh toffs to whom one must learn to speak in the proper way. There was china to inventory, silverware to count, and order forms to master that required the use of English words Cheung didn’t yet know. There were uniform standards to understand down to the last buttonhole and eyelet. There were locks, bolts, and keys.

The board of the cricket club promoted Tak-Tam to head cook. But if he was to move to Chek Keng, he would have to leave the club. Cheung wondered if Tak-Wing could rise to the occasion. Or descend to it. Tak-Wing was excellent at cricket and tennis, imagined himself one of the toffs. Though technically Chinese were not permitted to be club members, the young cricketers allowed Tak-Wing to play with them when the older, more conservative ones were not around because he was so good. Even if he did agree to step into his father’s shoes, would he have the constancy and perseverance to do it? Probably not, thought Cheung. Still, he would do his best to teach the young man how to make soups and sauces whenever he got the chance.

CHAPTER 13FRAMED

119 Lai Chi Kok Road

Mong Kok, Hong Kong

July 12, 1937

Dear Morgan,

Tanaka says he got your letter. I told him to hold off spending your money on that ticket though. Something happened to us recently that you’ll want to think hard on. It might make you change your mind about coming.