Verity thought the other passengers looked like they were sleepwalking. They shuffled and yawned gormlessly in the aisles as they moved past her seat. She watched impatiently out of the window as they filed out onto the yellowed concrete outside. Buses trundled up and whisked the waiting passengers away. Much to her annoyance, Verity was still trapped in her seat. The rough landing had proved too much for the old lady a few seats down. The superannuated rabbit had promptly fainted. Now she was stubbornly resisting all efforts to revive her. When she finally came to she stirred and sat up sharply. She took a deep breath as she prepared to let fly with a rather hearty attack of hysterics. Thankfully the old dear was cut off in this endeavour. Her vigilant husband swiftly stuck his nose in her ear and snorted loudly. She squeaked, flinched and then slapped him. This selfless act made sure that her bosom heaving tantrum was averted.
With the white furred blockage cleared from the row of seats Verity was finally able to get up. With her bag slung over her shoulder she took a moment to stretch luxuriously. A stewardess stood by the door grinned at her as she passed. Verity thanked the lady for looking after her and stepped out of the door. A blast of heat washed over her. The outside world was uncomfortably humid. The sticky air clung to her. It felt as like warm water against her fur and flesh. When she breathed it, she felt like coughing. After the dry, cool cabin the shocking heat and muggy damp made her feel heavy and sluggish. The pup tottered slightly and had to put her paw on the guide rail to steady herself. Gathering her wits she headed down the metal stairs to the concrete below.
High above the sun was trying to scorch its way through the haze. The blur of yellow in the sky forced Verity to squint. As there was no bus in sight she retreated into the shade cast by the jumbo's wing. Her bag that seemed light as a feather when she left London now felt as if it was packed with cannon balls. She threw it off. The air reeked of jet fuel. As she was one of the last passengers the cabin crew soon joined her on the concrete. Verity looked up at the underside of the wing. All of a sudden she felt very small and alone. She distracted herself by counting the rivets on the wing. She gave up somewhere after five hundred and sighed. Had the buses forgotten to come back?
Verity fretted. Her paws toyed over the shoulder strap of the bag at her feet as her tail tucked itself neatly between her legs. One of the stewardesses stepped up and put a hand gently upon her shoulder.
"Don't worry. We'll see you right." the white cat promised. Verity immediately felt better. She smiled and nodded to the crew-member. She thought to herself that the stewardesses were all very pretty. Did all cabin crew need to be pretty girls or handsome men? Was it in the terms of employment? The arrival of the bus quickly derailed this train of thought.
The heat within the bus was stifling. It was so stuffy that it felt like the inside of a greenhouse. Verity struggled to keep her tongue behind her teeth. Ladies did not pant. Mercifully it was only a five minute drive to the airport. When they arrived the cabin crew had almost dashed through the doors. Verity was not far behind them. As the doors slid shut behind her she entered air conditioned bliss. The building was deliciously cool and bright with clean white walls. The floor was well polished and gleaming. The airport swarmed with people. Huge numbers queued or huddled together in groups while others hurried back and forth.
The babble of voices in the crowds blended together into a steady cacophonous din. Verity could almost taste the stress and tension from all the people. As she descended into the chaos Verity was glad to be with the crew. They were with her every step of the way. Making sure she passed through the gates safely and guiding her through the bewildering array of queues and checkpoints. They even waited as Verity had her passport stamped and handed back to her. For the pup it all passed in a terrifying blur. Before long she was hauling her suitcases from a funny kind of metal conveyor. She had to tell the captain that she wanted to do it herself. He grinned at her and let her be, even when she was very nearly tugged onto the belt itself by the stubborn, heavy suitcases. She struggled to heft them onto a trolley. Verity insisted on pushing the contraption herself. It was big and heavy. Not the most manoeuvrable of things. It had a bar under the handle that one squeezed to release the brake. If you let go of the handle the brake locked the wheels. She thought it was rather clever.
At the top of a gentle sloping ramp the crew said their goodbyes to her. They needed to go elsewhere before they could leave the airport. They ruffled her hair, patted her shoulders and the white cat even knelt down to give her a warm hug before she left. Now alone Verity guided her trolley down the slope and through the big double doors marked 'Arrivals'. On the other side people wheeled trolleys and suitcases past and around her.
Verity scanned about for her parents. There was no sign of them. On either side of the ramp friends and relatives waited. Hugs, kisses and handshakes were exchanged as the passengers slowly filtered away through automatic glass doors. The young dog realised she would be getting in the way if she stopped too long where she was. Not wanting to go out of the big exit doors Verity wheeled her trolley off to the right. She strained and navigated it over to a little cluster of red metal benches that were bolted to a the wall near a bank of telephones. The benches were all occupied so she scampered up onto the trolley itself to perch atop her bags. Her parents were late. They would definitely find her in such an obvious place when they finally arrived.
A huge glass window was on the other side of the waiting relatives. The view over the harbour was spectacular. The grey waters were plied by a bewildering variety of craft. She saw ferries, junks, sampans, cruise ships, freighters and tankers. Verity particularly liked the junks. Many of the exotically shaped little wooden ships were brightly painted, with their often red sails stretched over bamboo sticks. Slung along their sides were black rubber tyres. It made her think that perhaps they were trundled out of the water somehow at the end of the day.
When Verity had asked a teacher at her school about Hong Kong he had replied irritably that it was an island near China. She now discovered that the island itself was only a tiny part of the colony which comprised of some two hundred islands, islets and the Kowloon peninsula. At least that is what a 'Welcome to Hong Kong' brochure claimed. She looked out at the skyline over the water in awe. Sky kissing towers of glass, steel and concrete vied with one another for altitude. She wondered which of those colossal buildings she was going to be living in.
Two hours passed. There were little surges of passengers down the ramp as arriving flights disgorged their living cargoes. Verity shifted atop her luggage and checked her watch. Biting her lip nervously the pup admired the fresh stamp in her otherwise barren passport. There were many, many blank pages. Just how much travelling did they expect her to get done before it expired? Her attempts to distract herself began to fail. Perhaps she had been waiting in the wrong place. Or had she come in the wrong entrance? Jumping down from her suitcases she gripped the handles of the trolley and heaved it through the doors at the end of the room.
On the other side of the doors the young canine froze. She was looking out over a huge, smooth floored lobby beyond which was the exit of the airport. Just beyond the big doors she was passing through was a small group of men in black suits. Each held a board with a name on it. She read the names and correctly guessed that they were chauffeurs. Her name was not on any of their boards.
Slowly Verity's nervous apprehension began to turn into genuine fear. Clenching her jaw she looked about. She had been forgotten! Even though she was scared stiff it would not do to panic. Verity saw a Chinese policeman off to her right and headed towards him. The tan dog wore a black peaked cap and a green short sleeved uniform. He had a wide black leather belt at his waist supported by a strap that went diagonally over his right shoulder. A radio was clipped to the belt as was a pistol in a holster. A piece of black string ran from the handle of the pistol back to the man's belt. Was that in case he dropped the gun or someone tried to steal it? His expression was so serious and his demeanour so alert that she assumed the stern faced, unsmiling man had better things to be looking out for than worried children.
Veering away from the policeman Verity came to a decision. Rather than look for help she resolved to help herself. She pushed her trolley towards the Bureau de Change. Standing on the tips of her toes she pulled out her purse. Her grandparents had given her a whole ten pounds before she set off. It was the most money she had ever handled and she had been guarding that crisp note well. Now she pushed it through the slot to the smiling rat in a white shirt who sat on the other side of the glass.
"Dorrah?" he asked gently with a tilt of his head. She nodded. She knew that they did not use pounds in Hong Kong, but dollars.
The rodent deftly put her note into a drawer. Opening another he licked a finger and counted out some different notes and coins. He slipped them into a brown envelope before sliding it to her through the slot.
"Thank you." she said awkwardly. The rat shook his head.
"Mh goi." He corrected.
"Pardon me?" Verity wondered if he spoke English at all. Maybe she had done something wrong. Was she in trouble? Did she have to do something else?
"Mh goi." he repeated and held up his right hand with the palm up. Then he raised his left hand and said "Thank-you." He slowly moved his hands up and down as if they were a set of scales and waggled his eyebrows at her. Verity brightened as she suddenly understood.
"Ahh! Mh goi!" she giggled. The man and girl grinned at each other. With the simple lesson over and understood the dog wagged her tail and trotted back to her bags. Opening the envelope she had been given she set about inspecting the contents while mouthing over and over her first words in this new language.
Her ten pounds had been replaced by three notes. The first was red and worth one hundred dollars. On one side was something that looked like a royal crest. Turning it over in her fingers she saw that on the other was a skyscraper flanked on either side by a roaring lion. Next there were two twenty dollar notes. They were the same as the one hundred dollar bill but a greeny grey rather than red. She also had a pair of silver coins with the queens head on one side and a big five on the other. There were also a small collection of various types of cent coins, but she did not bother too much with those. She slipped the money into her purse.
Heading towards a little shop near the exit Verity frowned. A pound was worth fifteen dollars. She needed to be careful with her money so she did not pay too much or waste it on silly things. Behind the counter a plump nanny goat smiled and watched her placidly. Taking her time Verity carefully selected a detailed map which also had a bus timetable on it. It had been printed by the 'Kowloon Motor Bus Co'. She was also thirsty so she took a green can of lime soda and a bottle of water from a fridge and took them to the lady at the till. The goat rang them through and waited patiently for her to hand over one of the twenty 'dorrah' bills and the two five dollar coins. Verity put the few cents change back into her purse.
"Mh goi." Verity said thankfully and turned to go. Suddenly the grey nanny goat spoke.
"When you born?" she called after her. Verity was so surprised, she turned back and answered without thinking.
"1979" she ventured, turning back to face the shopkeeper.
"What mumf?" the goat pressed.
"January 15th."
"You mah. Horse." Reaching behind her the nanny took a little pendant down from a hook. It was a little jade horse on a piece of delicate red string. The goat grinned wide showing off her remaining yellowed teeth. Leaning forward she handed the jade horse to Verity and delicately stroked her hair. The girl pulled out her purse to pay for the trinket but the old woman shook her head.
"Mh goi." Verity said happily as she tied the pendant about her neck. The goat shook her head again.
"For gift, say 'dor jeh'." Verity nodded.
"Dor jeh." The woman clapped her hands once and nodded to the young pup. Verity smiled before giving gave an odd little curtsy and fled back to her trolley with the goat laughing softly behind her.
Verity studied the map. She knew the address where her parents lived from the many letters she written them. They lived in a place called Sek-Kong. It took a while to find. Mainly because she had been looking in the wrong place. Sek-Kong was not on the main island. She felt fleeting disappointment to know that she was not going to be living in one of the big skyscrapers over the bay. Instead she had to go south-west. Away from Hong Kong island and into the Kowloon peninsula. Frowning she followed the roads back to the airport with a finger. It was too far to walk but there was a bus. She would have to change at a place called 'Tsuen Wan' a few miles up the road. She put the map in her pocket and the drinks in her bag before heading out to find the bus stop.
Shielding the sun from her eyes with an upraised paw Verity scanned the signs for where to catch the bus to Tsuen Wan. Thankfully the signs were printed in both Cantonese and English. She pulled her suitcases from the trolley which was promptly whisked away by an angry looking businessman who vanished inside the terminal. He must have been in a hurry. Or just rude. Tugging her suitcases along behind her on their little castor wheels Verity made her way into the shade of the correct bus shelter.
Verity pulled the can of soda from her bag. The container hissed as she opened it. She took a deep refreshing gulp and froze as the taste exploded onto her tongue. It was not lime soda. It was better. It was like a rich fruit juice but also deliciously creamy. Smacking her lips she took another sip. The soda practically glided to the back of her mouth in another rush of flavour. She tried to place it. It was like a hybrid of cherry and sweet berry. It had a delicious balance between sweet and tangy. The fizz and creamy after-taste buzzed on her tongue long after she swallowed the fluid. Turning the green can round and round she found that it was a type of cream soda. She had never liked cream soda before. This was different. She savoured it like a fine wine. Once she had finished the can she stuffed the end with a tissue and placed it back in her bag. She wanted to buy more of it and would need the can for reference.
Soon enough a big faded blue double decker arrived at the stop in a squeal of brakes. The doors swung open and a flurry of passengers headed towards the airport. Peering at the sign in front Verity saw that it was the 'Number 18' to Tsuen Wan. A burly, brown furred tomcat in queue saw her struggle with her bags and stepped forward. He heaved them easily into the bag store over the wheel arches for her.
"Mh goi!" she said brightly. With a chuckle and a few words in Cantonese he stroked her hair and flashed a bus-pass at the driver. As the feline then moved upstairs Verity stepped up to the driver.
"Tsuen Wan." she stated simply, pointing to the map. The driver nodded and printed her ticket.
After paying for her ticket Verity slipped into a seat near her suitcases so as to keep an eye on them. She set her shoulder-bag in her lap. The rest of the people in the queue steadily filed onto the bus. As she watched them pass more than a few smiled and gently stroked her hair. This left her slightly incredulous and a touch self conscious. She shifted over so an ancient looking white rat could sit down next to her. The wizened creature blinked at her short sightedly over the top of his little round spectacles. Then he smiled. A single lonely tooth jutted from his crusty gums. He reached out with delicate bony fingers to stroke her hair. Seeing her confusion he gave a gentle cackle. Sensing the reason for her apprehension it he tapped under one of his milky eyes. Then pointed to hers.
"Lare. Bruh eye ah velly rucky. Touch hair foh ruck." His voice was slow and quavering and he had to think hard over every word. Verity blushed a little as she understood and nodded to the old man. The rat patted her knee. "No wuree."
With a lurch the bus set off. The old rat spoke at her in broken English for a little while. She was amazed that he knew so much of her language. Then she felt ashamed. She felt that it looked very poor on her that she knew so little of their language and yet the Cantonese seemed to know much of hers. She would have to learn fast so she could be as polite to them as they were to her. She replied to the rats conversation as best she could to his but it was something of a mercy when he had drifted off to sleep. Lulled into slumber by the rocking of the bus.
Verity watched the buildings roll past. They were getting smaller and with fewer floors the further away from the bay she went. A lot of the buildings had little metal boxes bolted outside with fans and tiny round grilles in them. She wondered what they were. She also noticed that the roads were different to England. Though the cars and trucks drove on the left just as they did at home, the road itself was not dark tarmac but pale concrete. It made it a little harder to see the markings but she knew the bus driver knew what he was doing. All too soon they pulled into an orange fronted bus depot. The front said 'Tsuen Wan' in big silver letters so she gently shook the rat awake. He smiled again and let her slip past him.
The blue bus roared away kicking up a little white trail of dust. As the sound of the engine faded away Verity became aware of a strange sound. It was a loud, funny sort of repetitive hissing. The more she heard the noise the more it sounded less like a hiss and more like a high pitched buzzing. Thankfully she did not have to linger for too long under the baking sun for a number 51 bus hove into view. She was the only passenger this time and it took her a while to haul her suitcases on board and stow them.
"Sek-Kong." she said eventually to the waiting driver. The warthog grunted and printed her ticket. He did not smile or touch her hair.
Sitting near her suitcases again Verity hugged her shoulder-bag to her tummy. She was tired and this bus did not have air conditioning like the first one. It seemed older and broken. Everything inside it was tatty from the windows to the scuffed orange seats. As the bus trundled along the roads she watched the city begin to turn into green fields and marshy ground. The soil at the side of the road was like sand but the plants in the fields looked lush and verdant. The soil must be different to the dust in some way, or was the dust super good to grow plants in? Slowly the long straight roads began to change as the bus headed uphill. The bus driver did not slow as the bends became tighter and tighter. She would find out later that this was 'route twisk'. It was a fast, steep and tortuous dual-lane road that had been carved into the mountains. The bus lurched and leant alarmingly round the tight corners making her tummy leap in somersaults.
On a relatively straight stretch of road Verity tried to ask the driver to tell her when she was at Sek-Kong. He grunted and banged his palm against a little sign on the side of his booth. 'Do not talk to the driver while bus is in motion' the black capital lettering intoned. She did not try to do so again. She just looked out of the window at the green mountains and the thick jungle of trees that clung to them.
Verity had not realised she had fallen asleep until the warthog shook her shoulder. "Here." he said gruffly and pointed at a little white booth containing a bored looking collie. She rubbed her eyes and nodded. She tried to get her suitcases out but the driver did it for her and even set them on the road.
"Mh goi." she said to the warthog. He looked sharply at her. Then he stroked her hair.
"You welcome." he snorted. Then he boarded his bus and was gone in a roar of a diesel engine and a cloud of white dust.
Dragging her suitcases up the road and with her shoulder-bag bouncing at her side Verity could not help but pant now. She had never felt so hot before. The sun and damp heat was unrelenting. When she reached the gate, the collie shifted his rifle upon his shoulder and looked down at her with.
"Yes? What can I do for you, wee missie?" he asked in a gentle Scottish brogue.
Verity swayed gently and frowned. Her mouth was feeling so very dry. She could get her drink of water in a minute.
"Can I speak to Lieutenant Colonel Harris please?" Thanks to the few films she had seen she pronounced her fathers rank as 'lute-ennant in the American fashion.
"No." the dog said stiffly. Verity pinned her ears back and bit her bottom lip fretfully, her tail sneaking once more between her legs. "But...I can ask if Left-ennant Harris will talk to you." the older dog gave her a wink after his teasing correction. Verity giggled and nodded. She felt tired and a little sick. She must not have gotten enough sleep on the plane. The collie stepped back into the little white box and spoke into a grey telephone. Verity opened her shoulder-bag and pulled out the water bottle. It was warm in her paw. At least it would be wet. Her paws quaked madly as she struggled to unscrew the cap.
The collie dropped the telephone as the young pup dropped the water bottle. As she fell sideways he moved like greased lightning. The young solider managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Verity was dimly aware of the sound of shouting, worried voices and boots hitting concrete as she was laid onto a deliciously warm floor. Then she knew no more.
