White Tiger

on his desk and glowered at him.
    ‘Don’t tell me—you were attacked,’ he said.
    ‘No,’ I said, ‘I was followed. Why didn’t you tell me?’
    He just watched me silently.
    ‘You are scared of me.’
    He smiled slightly.
    ‘You’re a god , John,’ I said, exasperated. ‘What the hell can I possibly do that you could be so scared of?’ He didn’t say a word. I spun and opened the door. ‘You could leave us,’ he said softly as I went out.
    The next day at noon I didn’t see Jade arrive; it was as if she had been there all the time. She smiled and quickly embraced me. ‘Where would you like to go for lunch?’
    ‘How about yum cha?’ I said. ‘I haven’t had any in a long time. Mr Chen doesn’t go; nothing vegetarian. Are you vegetarian?’
    ‘Absolutely not,’ she said. ‘I know a good place nearby, excellent yum cha. Come with me.’
    After lunch we dodged through the taxis and cars and went into the Landmark.
    ‘I bought that gold dress here,’ I said. ‘It cost a fortune. Since we’re doing these charity things all the time now, having something more comfortable would be good.’
    Jade stopped and looked at me. ‘You go out with him all the time?’
    I stopped as well. It had never occurred to me that she might be jealous. ‘As friends. That’s all.’
    ‘Good.’
    She walked to the escalators and we rode them past the enormous Christmas tree that had been set up in the atrium.
    ‘What do you do for Christmas?’ I said. ‘What does Mr Chen do?’
    ‘Christmas?’ Jade looked at me blankly. ‘Christmas is about the same time as Winter Solstice, so we get together with family. But for Christmas?’ She shook her head as we stepped off the escalator at the top. ‘No. Nothing.’
    ‘It’s a big thing in Australia. It’s different, because it’s in the middle of summer, but we have a lot of traditions.’
    ‘It is a big festival?’
    That stopped me dead. I’d never thought of Christmas as a festival. ‘I guess you’re right. It would be fun to share it with you.’
    ‘You are very generous, Emma—willing to share your family time with me.’
    ‘We’re all family. You, Gold, Mr Chen, Monica, Simone, Leo, everybody. We’re all family.’
    She took my hand and squeezed it. ‘You’re right.’
    She stopped in front of a tiny tailor’s shop with a couple of faded mannequins wearing tuxedos in the window. ‘This is it.’
    She led me inside. The shop had bolts of cloth along the walls and a desk against the back corner. A door next to the desk opened and a tiny wizened old Chinese man came out. He grinned broadly and approached us. ‘Princess Jade. Welcome.’
    ‘Princess?’ I said, glancing at Jade.
    She smiled and waved him down. ‘I am very low in precedence, Mr Li. Just Jade.’ ‘How is your father?’
    ‘My father is well, thank you.’ Jade touched my arm. ‘This is my friend, Emma. Cheongsam, please.’
    ‘May I have your hand, please, miss?’
    I held my hand out and Mr Li took it. He turned it over so that it was palm up and stroked it with the other hand. He didn’t stop grinning at me the entire time. It began to feel creepy, him holding my hand like that.
    ‘No need, Mr Li, Emma is human,’ Jade said. ‘The Dark Lord’s human nanny.’
    ‘I see,’ Mr Li said, the grin not shifting. ‘But she is trained. She has been trained by the Dark Lord himself.’ He gave me my hand back and gestured towards the back of the shop.
    ‘That’s right, she asked to learn,’ Jade said, smiling sideways at me.
    ‘Excellent,’ Mr Li said, grinning over his shoulder. ‘This way.’
    He led us through the door at the back of the shop and I stopped dead.
    We were in an enormous factory room. The far wall was so far away it was almost invisible. Rows and rows of young women worked on old-fashioned industrial sewing machines. Sunlight streamed in from windows set high on the walls. Outside, it had been a grey and miserable day.
    ‘Jade, this room is bigger than the whole shopping centre. Where the hell are we?’
    ‘This is the back room,’ Jade said. ‘Come. The silk is at the end.’
    Some of the girls smiled up at us as we passed them. When we reached the far wall Mr Li sat us at a large high work table covered with books of fabric. Hegestured towards the bolts of silk covering the entire wall behind us. ‘I will let you take your time and choose. Tea?’
    ‘Bo lei,’ Jade said. ‘We just had yum cha.’
    Mr Li barked orders to the staff in