Singapore Grip - J. G. Farrell [229]
Vera could now see that the mighty yang spirit which, a little earlier, had seized Matthew and held him up by the ears like a rabbit, was no longer gripping him so firmly. She decided to content herself with once more running over the names of the most important parts so there would be no misunderstanding. And it was lucky she did so because it turned out that there was a part she had forgotten to mention the first time, namely, the ‘chieh-shan-chu’ or ‘pearl on jade threshold’. Drawing up her knees to her chin she pointed it out with a magenta fingernail.
Matthew peered at her, blinking. He could not for the life of him think why all this elaborate ‘naming of parts’ should be necessary. However, he bent his head obediently to look for the ‘chieh-shan-chu’. After some moments of inspecting her closely he brought the oil-lamp a little closer and put his spectacles on again.
‘Oh yes, I think I see what you mean,’ he murmured politely.
‘Good,’ said Vera. ‘Now we can begin.’
Matthew brightened and after a moment’s hesitation took off his spectacles again. But what Vera meant was that she could now begin to explain what he would need to know in order to bring to a successful conclusion their first and relatively simple manoeuvre, known as ‘Bamboo Swaying in Spring Wind’. After that they might have a go at ‘Butterfly Hovering over Snow White Peony’ and then later, if all went well, she might wake up a girlfriend who slept in a neighbouring cubicle and invite her to join them for ‘Goldfish Mouthing in Crystal Tank’ if they were not too tired by then. But for the moment Matthew still had a few things to learn.
‘What is it you don’t understand, Matthew?’ she enquired with the monolithic patience she had so admired in her missionary teacher. Matthew sighed. It was clear that some more time would elapse before the rivers of yin and yang reached their confluence at last. All this time the sound of weary coughing had not ceased for a moment.
50
No doubt there were many unexpected developments in Singapore in the first two weeks of January but few can have been as unexpected as that which affected the Blacketts and the Langfields. How could it have come about that these two families which had hitherto held each other in such abhorrence and contempt should, after so many years, establish amicable social relations? Any close observer (Dr Brownley, for instance, who had made what amounted to a hobby of the mutual detestation of one family for the other) would have found it most unlikely that the Blacketts would ever issue an invitation and quite improbable that the Langfields would accept it. Nevertheless, it did come about. It came about under the pressure of circumstances, as the head of each family became concerned for the welfare of his women-folk.
Walter and Solomon Langfield, bumping into each other by chance at the Long Bar of the Singapore Club, as they had done, indeed, week in, week out, for the better part of thirty years, happened at last to recognize each other. Recognition led to a wary offer of a stengah, made in a manner so casual that it was almost not an offer at all, and an equally wary acceptance. In a little while they were patting each other on the back and bullying each other pleasantly for the privilege of signing the chit. And, although each time one of them cordially scribbled his signature on the pad which the barman handed to him he might secretly have been thinking: ‘I knew as much … The old blighter is “pencil shy” (the quintessence of meanness