Watching. Jeff Edwards

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СКАЧАТЬ was no Yee-Ling to make breakfast for her.

      There was no Yee-Ling. Her room was empty. She was gone.

      She found her father, dark rings under his eyes, preparing to leave for work. Jade grabbed the arm of his coat and asked, ‘Where is Yee-Ling?’

      John Taylor looked down at his daughter, a distraught look on his face. ‘She’s gone Jade, and won’t be back. I’m so sorry.’ Tears welled in his eyes, and he turned away quickly.

      Jade watched him go, tears flooding down her cheeks, and her shoulders shaking as sobs wracked her. Lost, she wandered into the dining room, where her mother sat in stony silence, sipping delicately at a cup of tea.

      Looking up, her mother saw Jade’s tears. ‘Sit down, Janice and wipe your eyes. Eat your breakfast.’

      Obeying, Jade sat opposite her mother, all thought of food gone. ‘I’m not hungry, Mother.’

      ‘Don’t be silly. Eat your breakfast.’

      Jade nibbled at the corner of a piece of toast, pretending to eat.

      ‘You’ll be leaving for England, just as soon as passage can be arranged for you. I’ve made arrangements for you to attend my former school. It will be the making of you.’

      ‘But I don’t want to go,’ whispered Jade.

      ‘Don’t argue. You are far too young to know what you want. You will do as you are told.’

      A fresh flood of tears coursed down Jade’s cheeks.

      ‘Tears will not do you any good, Janice. You will be leaving. That’s the end of it. Now get ready for school.’

      ‘But what about Yee-Ling?’

      Ann Taylor’s voice turned to ice. ‘You will never mention that person’s name again. Do you understand?’

      Jade felt the suppressed rage of her mother and nodded dumbly. She knew that she would never see Yee-Ling again, and what was worse, she would never know what happened to her.

      A month later, Jade, accompanied by her mother, boarded a liner headed into exile on the other side of the earth.

      

      During the long voyage, Jade tried to imagine what her new life would be like in England.

      She thought of herself as English, from the top of her head, to the tips of her toes, but she had never stepped foot in that country, and she didn’t even fully comprehend what being English meant. Her expectations were based on stories of home from her parents, other children in the European school who had lived in England, and school lessons from her teachers.

      A confusing amalgamation of images — cricket and rugby matches, afternoon teas in rose gardens, snowy Christmases, and most of all, the readings of Dickens, from her teachers, left an impressionable, nine year old Jade with images of her own. Poor waifs, crowding dirty-grey streets, begging for food, while the wealthy rode past on their fine horses, on their way to tea with the King. It was all very confusing to a young girl who had lived her entire life in hot and crowded China.

      Her mother was always in a tight-lipped mood, and in no way inclined to answer Jade’s many, and to her way of thinking, utterly foolish questions. Ann Green’s thoughts were on her errant husband, whom she had left behind while she escorted Jade to England. She did not trust him at all. Would he attempt to find that woman, and rekindle the relationship? He could try, she thought bitterly, but his chances of success would be slim. Ann knew that once an Asian person returned to their kind, they became lost, just one small person amongst the millions teeming there.

      She was sure that John Green would still be there when she returned, probably nursing a whiskey, and she’d be able to extract her revenge at that time. My fine husband will pay for his indiscretions, she thought bitterly. How dare he try to makea laughing stock of me.

      The man had even had the temerity to ask for a divorce, she recalled. Ann, of course, had simply scoffed at him. ‘We’re married. There will be no divorce. My family would simply not stand for the disgrace, nor would your superiors in the Foreign Office look kindly on such actions. No, John, you shall remain my husband ‘til death do us part. You have already made it perfectly obvious that you are incapable of making rational decisions on behalf of our family, so henceforth I will make them all. Is that understood?’

      John had glumly nodded in agreement, and retreated to his office.

      Jade’s gloomy impressions of England were not relieved as they disembarked at Southampton on a cold, bleak day in March. Grey, overcast skies, and misting rain greeted the travellers.

      In contrast, the welcome of her grandparents — Captain Aubrey Taylor, currently home on leave, and June Taylor — was both warm and loving.

      They had never met their granddaughter, and, other than the occasional photograph and their daughter’s letters, knew nothing about her. Jade too, was curious as to what sort of people her grandparents would be. She thought they would be somewhat cold and distant, like her mother, but older. However, the jovial Captain Aubrey, and the fussing June, were nothing like her mother. They tickled, cooed, and hugged Jade, making her feel quite overcome with emotion. She had never had so much love lavished on her in her entire life. It was all quite breathtaking.

      They were taken to her grandparents’ home overlooking the sea, and she was tucked into bed that evening, with another round of hugs and kisses. The following morning, Jade’s cases were repacked into the boot of the Captain’s car, and he drove them into the country.

      He took a variety of narrow roads, until they came to the village of Wilton, where, on a hill overlooking the town stood the once stately manor of Staunton Hall. This hall was now the Staunton College for Young Ladies.

      The last lord of the hall, Sir Frederick Staunton had squandered the family’s fortunes at the gambling tables, and then taken the easy way out of his financial dilemma, by committing suicide, leaving his grieving widow to fend off the creditors as best she could. The creation of the school had been Lady Emily Staunton’s means of doing just that.

      Lady Staunton’s eminent position in society had ensured the school’s early success, and the subsequent headmistresses had maintained the high status of the institute, by turning out generations of very ‘marriageable’ young women. Now, in the more ‘enlightened’ times of the post-Great War era, the school, and many of its sister institutions, were beginning to become somewhat of an anachronism. Feminism’s early flowering was beginning to erode upon the concepts upon which the school was based. However, the school still maintained its vital place in society, and its demise, in the present form, was still some decades away.

      Jade looked with wonder at the school, as they drove up the stately drive to the impressive double front doors. Its age, and the continuing wet, cold weather, made the place look totally uninviting, and brought to Jade’s mind those decrepit piles as described in Dickens’ novels.

      They stopped in the front forecourt, where one of the groundsmen unloaded Jade’s small amount of luggage and took it inside, whilst Jade and the adults were ushered into the office of the headmistress, Mrs McLean.

      Jade СКАЧАТЬ