“Hmm. I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Come on. What’d she say?”
“All right, I’ll tell you. She said that she hopes we’re similarly blessed.”
“That’s a nice thought.”
The second-class seats on the Star Ferry had the wooden slats that made Jake fidget. Yesterday the water had been dark, but today it was blue-green and sparkled. Jake enjoyed the breeze, although it some times carried a smell of fish. He marveled at how these slow-moving junks and other small craft managed to avoid colliding with the ferry. Callie sat next to him on the open side of the ferry, and her yellow dropped earrings danced.
When Jake put his arm around her she put her hand on his leg.
As it neared the pier, the ferry vibrated from backing engines. Callie said, “Let’s take a cab. Unless you want to hike uphill.”
“I left my mountain-climbing shoes at home.”
They waited at the Peak Tram station on Garden Road, passing up opportunities to board until Callie could be sure of getting seats at the rear of the tram on the right side, where the view would be best.
Pulled on rails by a thick steel cable, the rumbling packed train rose steeply toward the Peak, and the city fell away behind. The L-shaped Hong Kong Hilton and other high rises seemed to be shrinking. Across the street from the tram station was the American consulate, an attractive, balconied building that Callie pointed out to Jake after they had left the cab. She had also pointed out Estoril Courts, her apartment house a tan concrete building two blocks from the consulate Most of Callie’s neighbors had put out flowers and plants on their balconies; Callie had told him that from her balcony you could see the harbor, but new construction was blocking the view.
The tram stopped a third time, with a gentle rocking back and forth. Jake said, “How many more stops before we get to the top?”
“Who cares? It’s such a beautiful day!”
The tram rose even more sharply and Jake felt that he was more lying on his back than sitting down. He said to Callie, “If this tram moved eighty times faster, you’d have an idea of what it’s like to zoom-climb in an A-6.”
“Sounds like great fun,” she said. “Will you take me flying someday?”
Jake looked at her closely. Putting his arm around her shoulder, he said, “You can count on it.”
At the Peak, hawkers selling photographic transparencies and other souvenirs aggressively worked the crowds spilling out of the tram station.
Callie took Jake’s hand and led him across the street where there was an outdoor restaurant.
Jake stopped. “I hope you’re not going to suggest we have tea again.”
“Not at this tourist trap. But what would be wrong with having tea?”
“Sammy gave me a lot of flak about meeting you for tea. He calls you my tea-and-crumpets girl.”
She laughed. “I’ve been called worse. Well, you can tell Sammy that I think he’s a nice guy but a bit presumptuous.
“Presumptuous?”
“Don’t you think so? Calling me ‘your girl’?”
“Well, I don’t know,” said Jake with a grin. “Sammy’s not a guy who jumps to conclusions.”
Reflecting, Callie pursed her lips. “I’m nobody’s ‘girl,” actually. But I suppose that I could be somebody’s…… She gave a laugh. “No! That wasn’t coming out the way I intended it to.” Callie paused, and said, “Maybe I should try saying it in Chinese.”
“No, don’t do that,” he laughed. “Then I’d never understand you. Look, let’s try this. Why don’t we see what we can do to not make a liar out of Sammy. Hell we’ve got to protect his honor.”
Callie shook her head slowly. “Jake Grafton, your a tricky SOB. But all right. I’m willing to explore, for today anyway, how we can preserve Sammy’s honor.”
“Time’s awastin’,” Jake said. He put his hand around her arms and gave her a brief kiss. Then he drew her close to him, and watched her dark eye slowly close; he felt her relax in his arms. He kissed her again, and this time her body pressed against his.
Their tongues touched once, surprising him, and something electric jumped in his body. He didn’t want to stop, but she eased them apart. Jake became aware that he was breathing heavily, and he noticed Callie was too.
Running her hand through her hair, Callie said “We’ve got to stop doing this in public.”
“I don’t think the public gives a damn. But I’m easy. I’ll do it wherever you want.”
“Come on, smart ass,” she said, taking his hand.
“Let’s see what we came here to see.”
They stood together near a rusty coin-operated telescope, to which a young Chinese man wearing aviatortype sunglasses held up his gesticulating, noisy, chubby-legged son. Jake was watching them when Callie spoke. “It’s so clear I can’t believe it. This is really unusual. The pollution is getting so bad that very often you can’t see much.”
“The visibility is terrific. It’d be a great day for flying.” He looked at the harbor, and at the disorderly congestion of sailing craft and motorboats. Only the Star ferries seemed to have destinations. He counted three of them moving between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.
“See that mountain in the distance, Jake? That’s The Castle Peak. Behind it a few miles is Deep Bay, where Wang Chiang’s brother drowned.”
“I see it.”
“On the other side of the bay is mainland China.”
Jake gazed at the massive blue-gray mountains. They made the green Virginia mountains he knew so well seem like mere hills. Rugged country if you were shot down, he reflected. “Yeah,” he said at last.
“They’re impressive.”
“Sometimes I come here alone,” Callie told him. “I usually walk along the road to the other side of the Peak to get away from the crowds. It’s a good place to sort things out. To try and figure out what you believe in.
“Have you figured anything out yet?” asked Jake, still looking at the mountains.
Callie considered the question. “Nothing earthshaking. I’ve always believed in God. But I decided that organized religion doesn’t do much for me.
I guess I don’t want anything intruding between me and God.”
She smiled. “Like Moses, I prefer direct contact.”
Jake grinned. “But Moses had a mountain. Have you ever brought stone tablets up here and looked around for bushes on fire?”
“No,” she laughed. “I’m still looking for the right mountain.” She canted her head. “Maybe I should place an ad in the newspapers.”
“Let’s see. You could say: Wanted, one mountain.
Must be able to withstand huge bolts of lightning, hurricane-force winds-and a voice a thousand times louder than thunder.”
Callie picked it up. “Will pay generous price for the right mountain, plus a bonus if equipped with stone tablets. Call Sundays. No agents, please.”
They laughed together.
Callie’s eyes were still wet when she asked, “What do you believe in?”
“These days I’m not sure. But I do believe this. I believe in Jake Grafton. I believe if he’s tough, enough alert enough, and good enough, he can keep himself in one piece. Maybe.”
Callie furrowed her brow. “That sounds pretty macho to me. Chest-thumping stuff.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
“You’re talking about surviving. I can understand that. But you must have some beliefs about other things.”
“What difference does it make what I believe in if I don’t survive? I’ve got to believe in myself. If I don’t have confidence in myself, I’m dead. If you’re short of confidence and you fly off carriers, you’re going to be history pretty quick.”
“Haven’t you ever lost your confidence?”
“There’ve been times when it got mighty shaky, but I don’t think I’ve ever lost it. In Intruders, the planes we fly, you get a lot of moral support from the guy sitting next to you in the cockpit, the bombardier.”
