Blue Dragon. Kylie Chan

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      ‘Tendon?’ my mother said. ‘Yes, please,’ Simone said. ‘Tendon’s good.’

      ‘Tendon?’ my mother said. ‘Like, gristle tendon?’

      ‘When it’s been boiled for a few hours it turns to jelly,’ I said. ‘It’s actually very good. You should try some.’

      ‘Could you choose something suitable for us, Emma?’ my father said. ‘You know what we like. Something . . . something normal.’

      ‘Beef stir fry ho fan,’ John said. ‘Gwang chau ngau ho.’

      ‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘Vegetarian for us?’

      ‘Of course. Roland?’

      ‘Fishing boat congee,’ Roland said. He pulled out the video camera and turned it on with a musical ping. ‘I have to see this again.’

      ‘Don’t show it to anybody, please, Roland,’ I said.

      He nodded as he flipped open the LCD screen to view the video. The sound of us talking came through the speakers on the camera as he played it back. Then he went completely rigid and his mouth dropped open. ‘Wah!’

      I bent around to see, then quickly put my hand over the screen to hide it from the people at the next table. ‘Turn it off! For God’s sake, Roland, turn it off!’ I grabbed the camera and pressed the button to turn off the playback. ‘Really don’t let anybody see that!’

      Roland stared at John with his mouth still open. I placed the camera on the table.

      ‘Was it me?’ John said.

      I nodded silently.

      ‘What?’ my father said.

      ‘It was him,’ I said. ‘Really him. What he really looks like. I thought you were taping us, Roland.’

      ‘You should show your parents,’ John said. ‘I think they should see.’

      I leaned over the table to speak softly to him. ‘Yeah, let’s just rub it in for the poor people that their daughter is engaged to a goddamn animal.’

      ‘Shen,’ John said.

      ‘I want to see. Can I see?’ Simone said. ‘I want to see, Daddy.’

      I looked around. Nobody else in the restaurant had noticed, and if Simone was next to me I could hide the screen. Roland picked up the camera and handed it back to me. ‘Show her.’

      ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Just don’t say anything too loud, okay?’ I gestured. ‘Next to me.’

      Simone moved next to me, leaning over my shoulder. My mother bent around to see as well. I turned on the video camera and pressed the playback button.

      There we were. Leo and Michael readied themselves. I had my back to the camera, preparing as well. The camera panned to the side wall and my parents appeared. Next to them was the Turtle. It appeared about a metre and a half long, with a massive, gleaming black shell. Its face had the wise expression of a natural turtle, but its eyes were John’s and full of amusement as it watched us. John’s human form was there as well, a transparent image over the top of the Turtle, holding Simone in his lap.

      I froze the image so that Simone could look properly.

      ‘I look really weird like that,’ she said.

      ‘What do you see?’ John said.

      ‘Both of you,’ I said. ‘Haven’t you seen it before?’

      ‘Nope,’ John said. ‘Never played it back to watch it.’

      We shared a look. He’d made tapes for me, and I’d done the same for him, but we never looked at ourselves, we only watched each other.

      His eyes crinkled up when he saw my face. ‘Often wondered what I’d look like. In still photos you only see the human form, and I thought it’d be the same in videos as well. I was wrong.’

      ‘It depends how drained you are,’ I said. ‘You must be running on empty right now. Usually it’s just a very faint shadow, almost invisible. This is the clearest I’ve ever seen it.’ He didn’t make tapes for me when he was very drained, as well, but neither of us mentioned it. ‘How long before you need to see the Lady again?’

      ‘I still have a while. Let me see,’ he said.

      I passed the video camera to him and he studied it with the same amusement that was visible in the Turtle’s eyes. ‘Damn, but I’m ugly.’ He passed the camera to my father who viewed the image, his face rigid with control.

      ‘The Turtle’s not pretty either,’ I said, and Simone giggled.

      ‘You really are a turtle,’ Roland said with awe.

      My father passed the camera to my mother. She stared at it with her eyes wide. She glanced up at John, then back at the image. She didn’t say anything.

      I took the camera from her and passed it back to Roland. ‘Could you do me a favour, Roland?’

      ‘Of course, anything, Lady Emma,’ he said, without looking away from the image on the camera.

      ‘Could you make a copy of this for me, my friend?’

      Roland glanced up at me, then at John. ‘Of course.’

       Chapter Four

       O h, good, you’re out. After breakfast, come into my office.

      I didn’t wait; I made myself a cup of tea and went straight into the study. Gold and John sat on either side of the desk.

      ‘Your parents are still asleep,’ John said.

      ‘Probably the time difference screwing them up,’ I said. ‘They’ve never been overseas before.’

      ‘It’s only two hours,’ Gold said.

      ‘They’re worn out,’ John said. ‘You’ve been dragging them around too much. Take them for a drive today, rest their feet.’

      ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll take them out to the New Territories, away from the concrete and pollution for a day. We might go to the riding stables — the Country Club’s gardens would probably be a nice change for them.’

      ‘Good idea,’ John said. ‘I thought you should know about this — Gold just told me. He’s been cultivating a senior police officer and heard some interesting information about the investigation into Kitty Kwok.’

      ‘That’s not a very honourable thing to do,’ I said. ‘I’m surprised at both of you.’

      ‘I didn’t know he was involved in the investigation until we’d been going out for a while,’ Gold said. ‘Purely a happy coincidence.’

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