Red Phoenix

standing at one of the windows in the faint glow of the city lights, watching the typhoon.
    I moved to stand in front of Leo. He threw his massive arm over my shoulder and I leaned back into him. He was like a black boulder behind me, solid and unmoving.
    ‘You are my rock,’ I said quietly. ‘I can always rely on you.’
    He squeezed me gently but didn’t say anything. The building directly below us on the hill had lights on the roof, illuminating the roof garden. The rain hitthe building horizontally and then flew directly up in the wind. The roar was even louder on this side of the apartment.
    John stood silently on the other side of Leo, wearing his black pyjama pants with an old black T-shirt over the top. He had his arms folded in front of him; dark, sullen and dour.
    I leaned around Leo to speak to John. ‘How far away is the eye?’
    He shifted slightly, but didn’t uncross his arms. ‘About three hours away. Still not the worst.’
    I turned back to the window. ‘Any windows leaking?’
    John went still and concentrated. ‘No.’ He shifted slightly again. ‘I had the windows resealed after the last one. They did a good job.’
    I leaned back into the silent Leo. ‘Is it really that unpleasant?’
    John’s voice was very soft and mild. ‘Yes.’ He uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips. ‘Like a strong current. Pulling. All directions at once. Very unpleasant.’
    ‘You used to move them all away, didn’t you?’
    He didn’t say anything.
    ‘If Michelle or me caught him at it, his shell would be in serious trouble,’ Leo said, his voice rumbling through my back.
    ‘I have made some very serious mistakes in my life, and employing you was one of the biggest,’ John said mildly, still looking out the window.
    ‘Michelle employed me. You never did,’ Leo said. ‘By the time she was gone I wasn’t an employee any more, anyway.’
    John crossed his arms over his chest again. ‘Employing Emma was absolutely the biggest mistake.’
    ‘Coming to work for you was a huge mistake for me too,’ I said.
    ‘And here we are,’ Leo lisped softly.
    Simone appeared in the doorway, and stopped when she saw us. The three of us turned to look at her. She hesitated. She didn’t know which of us to go to. She loved us all.
    Nobody needed to say anything.
    The storm went quiet as the eye went over. Michael made a fourth leg and we played mah jong in the living room. Over the period of an hour, the roaring slowed, and then stopped. The wind didn’t stop completely, but it was greatly reduced. The clouds thinned, but they were still there. The rain eased. John visibly relaxed.
    ‘Eye. Interesting. Double-walled eye,’ John said. He grabbed the tile I had just discarded and banged it hard on the table. ‘ Seung .’
    ‘Damn,’ Leo said.
    ‘You’re silly to go for bamboo when Mr Chen is, Leo,’ I said. ‘It’s like it’s blown itself out on the coast. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that it had passed over and finished.’
    John nodded as he sorted his tiles. ‘This will be interesting to watch. In about half an hour, the eye will pass over and the wind will pick up to the fierceness it was before. The change will be dramatic.’
    ‘You think people will be stupid enough to go out?’ Leo said.
    John glanced sideways at him without smiling. ‘We have a saying on the Celestial: if there’s a stupid thing that can be done, then there’s always a human who’s stupid enough to do it. Where’s Simone?’
    ‘Last time I checked on her, she was in her room playing,’ I said. ‘She’s fine.’
    ‘When the eye passes over and the wind picks up, I will go into the training room for a while and I do notwish to be disturbed,’ John said quietly. ‘It will be very unpleasant for me when the eye passes over. It will go from calm to furious very quickly. I won’t be able to concentrate on anything.’
    ‘What did you do before?’ I said softly, wondering if maybe we should have let him move this typhoon after all.
    ‘Go to the Mountain,’ he said. Michael listened but didn’t say a word.
    ‘Here it comes,’ John said a short while later. ‘Give me about an hour. Now that it’s hit land it will dissipate quickly. The wind will only stay strong for two or three more hours.’ His face went strange. ‘Stay away from me. Don’t come in.’
    He gracefully hoisted himself to his feet and strode out. Leo and I shared a look.
    ‘I agree,’ Leo said. ‘Next time we let