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air slide around her legs. With her tribal toe rings contrasting against the dark carpeting, she assessed the first-class suite. She marvelled at the luxurious sheer sea-green curtains, the marble-topped tables and the vases of pale pink coral.
    â€˜â€˜Welcome aboard the MS Jutlandia . We will be calling at the Nicobar Islands, Colombo, Bombay, Aden, Tobruk, Lisbon and Felixstowe before heading for our final destination Copenhagen. And if you come this way, Miss Apricot,’’ said the Chinese cabin boy, ‘‘your bedroom adjoins your cousin’s room. Queen beds as requested.’’
    â€˜â€˜ Cousin? ’’ Sum Sum exclaimed, looking directly at the cabin boy. ‘‘I’m not her-’’
    â€˜â€˜Yes, thank you!’’ Lu See interjected, pressing a Straits dollar into the young man’s hand. ‘‘Just leave the trunk by the window. We’ll sort it out later.’’
    â€˜â€˜Enjoy the rest of your journey,’’ the cabin boy said, shutting the door with a soft click.
    When they were alone Lu See fluttered her eyelashes at Sum Sum – little moth wings of amusement. ‘‘What? You actually expected me to stick you in steerage, sharing bathrooms and breathing space with all those pimply-arsed men? You should be so lucky.’’
    Sum Sum did a little victory jig across the carpeted floor. She felt the air escape her lungs in a wheeze of laughter and instinctively she reached out and touched Lu See’s face, whose cheekbones were so high and angular they often threatened to break free from beneath the skin. ‘‘Seven years! Seven years and you never surprised me like this before!’’
    Lu See smiled. ‘‘Has it really been seven years?’’
    â€˜â€˜Almost, lah. March 1929. Same year my father died.’’ Sum Sum recalled the first day they’d met, when they were both only twelve years old. ‘‘Your mother shepherded me into breakfast room and announced that I was to be the new laundry amah, remember?’’
    â€˜â€˜You avoided everybody’s eyes and turned your face away.’’
    â€˜â€˜Towards the door, to hide my tears.’’ She nodded. ‘‘I was so homesick. I felt like an imposter in your house. Fresh off the train, lah. I remember the long journey in that iron coffin. I came via Assam, Mandalay and Siam. Tickety-tak, tickety-tak , all night long. And you, I remember this skinny, cheeky little girl with your hair cut above the collar.’’
    â€˜â€˜School regulations. All hair had to be cut above the collar.’’
    â€˜â€˜Your mother said, Sit up straight, Lu See! You were always being warned by your parents, no? Always same thing: no more biting your nails, stop slouching at dinner table, never forget to wash hands after pee-peeing.’’
    â€˜â€˜Which I never did!’’
    â€˜â€˜And then you took me by the hand, no?’’
    â€˜â€˜And I led you through the house.’’
    â€˜â€˜ Aiyoo! So many dark corridors! It was still gas-lit in those days.’’
    They tripped over each other’s words, laughing.
    â€˜â€˜We both sat down in the back, at the servants’ table to share a bowl of mee hoon noodles.’’
    â€˜â€˜And you told me not to chew with my mouth open!’’
    â€˜â€˜Did I really?’’
    â€˜â€˜Yes, lah.’’
    â€˜â€˜We played a round of Chinese chequers. Then I went to throw small stones on to the roof to chase the monkeys away, but all you wanted to do was read your letter.’’
    â€˜â€˜You know, for weeks and weeks I carried that letter from my mother in my tunic pocket.’’
    There was a long pause. Sum Sum remembered every word of the letter. It said now that she was a fatherless daughter she had to be respectful and clean, to live a decent life, to honour the memory of her