Blue Dragon

absolutely. Should be clean enough.’
    ‘Excellent!’ I said. ‘You can do both!’ I grinned at the Dragon. ‘Lord Qing Long, thank you so very much. You have no idea how much we appreciate this.’
    ‘Good,’ the Dragon said with a small smile. ‘I’m losing a lot of income giving you the Presidential Suite and providing you with demon staff.’
    ‘I’ll give you a pile of gold to sit on,’ John said.
    ‘Ah Wu! That was uncalled for,’ Ms Kwan said.
    John and the Dragon flashed each other a quick smile.
    ‘Will we take everybody?’ I said.
    ‘Michael is to go to the Western Palace and spend time with his family,’ John said. ‘So are you.’
    I shot to my feet, ready to shout. Then I changed my mind and sat down again. ‘I should spend this holiday time with my family,’ I said softly.
    ‘Exactly,’ John said.
    ‘So I will spend it with you. And Simone, and Leo. And Ms Kwan. My family.’
    He opened his mouth to protest.
    ‘I don’t have much longer with you. Every second counts.’
    He closed his mouth with a snap.
    ‘Good,’ I said. ‘Can we take the jet to the airport there?’
    ‘Yes,’ Qing Long said. ‘I will arrange it. Leave it to me. Enjoy. The resort is quite new and very elegant. I think you will like it.’
    ‘What are the chances of us being attacked while we’re there?’ I said.
    ‘Minute,’ the Dragon said. ‘I have placed extensive seals on the resort. I will be there. You will be undisturbed.’
    ‘Dragon, thank you so much,’ I said.
    ‘You are most welcome, my Lady,’ he said with a small blue smile.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    I t was coming to the end of term in late March. Michael, Simone and I went up to Simone’s classroom together, Simone prattling about her schoolwork and Michael silent. I dropped Simone at her classroom and gave her a hug and a kiss. She waved cheerfully to us as we left.
    Michael and I threaded our way through the parents and children on the first floor to get to the uniform shop. I was rostered to help out that day, and he needed some new trousers. I kept threatening that if he didn’t stop growing I’d chop his legs off. He didn’t think it was funny at all.
    Michael would be as tall as his father when he was fully grown. He already towered over me. The Tiger was delighted.
    Despite the fact that he looked ridiculous in his too-small uniform, Michael still didn’t want to go into the shop and buy new pants. He had given me an extremely hard time about me doing it myself, but I wanted to be sure that the pants would fit.
    We entered the uniform shop together and he immediately slouched into Sullen Teenager mode. I glared at him. He glared back.
    I greeted the two women behind the counter, and they both smiled and waved back. Jessie was a tall, slim Chinese lady who’d been born and raised in the UK, then married an Australian engineer and moved around the world with him, latest stop Hong Kong. Short, blonde Bridget was the wife of an Australian airline pilot and had been in the Territory for many years.
    ‘Michael’s getting some new trousers,’ I said.
    ‘Sure, Emma,’ Bridget said. ‘Looks like he needs them. Need to put a brick on his head.’
    Michael scowled but didn’t say anything.
    ‘Turn around,’ I said, and he obliged. ‘What size are these ones?’
    I lifted his shirt to check the size and laughed. Like most of the boys in his year, he had the trousers pulled down over his hips with a pair of silk boxers from Temple Street showing above them.
    ‘You look ridiculous like that,’ I said, and pulled at the waistband of the trousers to check the size.
    ‘Cut it out, Emma!’ Michael dragged my hand off and jumped away. ‘Let me check the size myself!’ He dropped his voice. ‘You’re as embarrassing as my mother sometimes.’
    ‘That’s a compliment, Emma,’ Bridget called from the other side of the shop, where she was watching us with amusement.
    ‘Go and check the size then,’ I said, gesturing towards the changing booths. ‘I’ll find you some to try that are two or three sizes bigger.’
    Michael slunk into the changing room.
    Bridget and I shared a smile. Jessie looked confused; she didn’t know about the Chen family.
    There were some rustles and grunts in the changing room, then Michael called, ‘Twenty-nine.’
    ‘Way too small,’ Bridget said. ‘Thirty-three or thirty-five at least.’
    I pulled some larger sizes off the sample rack and handed them through the curtain to him. He grabbed the