White Tiger

sand beside us. Simone squealed, ran to him and threw herself on top of him. He grunted and grimaced, and she quickly moved off. ‘Sorry, Daddy, I hurt you.’
    He sat up and put his arms around his knees. ‘I’m fine.’
    ‘Let me see,’ I said.
    He moved his legs down so that we could see his abdomen. ‘I’m okay.’
    Simone sat in his lap and he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head. ‘Did you build that?’
    ‘Leo and Emma helped me. The funny men should have taken a picture of it. It’s really good.’
    Mr Chen glanced sharply at me. ‘What funny men?’
    ‘Some Mainland tourists.’ I shrugged. ‘Wanted to take our photo. All of us, even Leo.’
    Mr Chen shook his head.
    ‘Uh-oh,’ I said.
    ‘What?’ Leo said, concerned. He sat next to me. ‘Simone was sure they were just people.’
    ‘Did we do something wrong, Daddy? They were people, not…’ Simone dropped her voice. ‘Demons.’
    Mr Chen spoke softly and we all moved closer to hear. ‘Sometimes they have humans working for them. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s been known.’ He pulled Simone tighter. ‘Don’t ever let anybody take yourphoto, Simone. If they do, they can show other people what you look like.’
    Simone’s mouth flopped open and her eyes went wide. Then she turned to Leo and me. ‘That’s why they wanted your photo too, Leo.’
    Leo thumped the sand with his fist. ‘Damn!’
    Simone turned back to her father, very serious. ‘Don’t worry, Daddy. Leo will look after me.’
    ‘They could have been tourists, it’s possible it was all innocent,’ Mr Chen said. He shrugged. ‘Don’t worry about it. The reason they use humans here is because they are far from their Centre and very weak. An attack here is highly unlikely.’
    ‘Are you okay so far from your Centre?’ I said. ‘It applies to you as well, doesn’t it?’
    ‘Is that right, Daddy?’ Simone said. ‘You can’t leave China for very long?’
    He held her in his lap. ‘That’s right, sweetheart. Because I’m very big, I can travel and stay away from China, but I could never live permanently anywhere else.’
    He smiled. ‘Let me show you something. Do you want to come with me?’ She brightened. ‘Sure!’
    He rose, picked her up and put her on his hip. He turned to Leo and me. ‘Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. We’ll be in the water.’ He strode away towards the waves, with Simone talking excitedly into his face.
    ‘He’d better not waste any of his energy,’ Leo grumbled.
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘He’ll be in serious trouble.’
    Leo and I laughed softly together.
    Mr Chen carried Simone into the breakers until he was chest deep, then dropped straight into the water and they disappeared.
    ‘Whoa,’ Leo whispered.
    ‘Just when I thought he couldn’t astonish me any more,’ I said. ‘Me too.’
    They returned about half an hour later. Mr Chen carried Simone out of the water as if they’d been wading together. He sat on his towel, and Simone fell into the sand and dug a hole.
    ‘Where did you go, Simone?’ I said.
    Simone pointed. ‘Out there.’
    ‘What did you see?’
    She shared a smile with her father, then grinned at me. ‘Big fish.’ ‘How big?’
    Her eyes widened and she became serious. ‘Really, really big. Big enough to eat Leo.’
    Leo laughed. ‘Don’t be silly, Simone.’
    ‘Oh no, Simone’s quite right,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Some of them were big enough to eat you, Leo.’
    ‘You shouldn’t take her out if it’s dangerous,’ Leo growled.
    ‘She was in absolutely no danger. We were in the water .’
    Leo looked embarrassed. ‘Sorry.’
    The next morning Leo was so sunburned he could barely see through his swollen face.
    We went to the shops and left him at home to harass Monica. Mr Chen didn’t even offer to heal him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
    S imone shrieked when we entered the theme park. ‘I wanna go on that one!’ ‘I’ll take you,’ Leo said. ‘The roller coaster?’ I said. Both Simone and Leo nodded enthusiastically. ‘That’s as good as some in the States,’ Leo said. ‘Oh, thank you very much. Nice to know my homeland passes the Leo Alexander Roller Coaster Test of Civilisation.’
    ‘Yep.’ Leo grinned down at Simone. ‘You sure, sweetheart? It’s awfully fast.’
    ‘I’ll be okay if you go with me,’ Simone said. ‘Mr Chen, sir?’
    ‘You go,’ Mr Chen said. ‘I’ll stay on the ground and guard.’
    Leo grimaced. ‘That’s my job. You