VICTORIA YOUNG
Third Daughter
The first thing that came into my mind when I saw her lying there with Eddie crying over her body hysterically was: Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. She has been released, and so have I. I'm free at last. Finally free. I numbly put my hand on Alix's back, and tried to rub it soothingly while she stood looking at Mummy. I thought I might cry, but I didn't. I looked over at Cat, who was sitting in the armchair still holding Mummy's hand, and she wasn't crying either. She was just staring out the window with a rather odd look on her face. I suppose we must have all looked rather odd that day. I started to consider the curtains-Mummy's curtains with the point d'Alençon lace trim, and I began to imagine how they would look in the front windows of the town house I would buy in London. I could really see myself moving to one of those lovely town houses in Kensington, perhaps on Egerton Crescent or Thurloe Square, just a stone's throw from the Victoria and Albert. I would use the V&A's glorious library every day, and go for afternoon tea at the Capital Hotel or the Goring. I'd attend All Souls Church every Sunday, and maybe even start my own Bible-study fellowship. I could endow a chair in theology at Trinity College, Oxford. Maybe I could even convert an old rectory in some charming town in the Cotswolds. Someplace with a particularly smart and handsome clergyman like that Sidney Chambers in Grantchester. Goodness me, one look at him in that stiff clerical collar and I go weak in the knees!
MRS. LEE YONG CHIEN
Chairwoman Emeritus of the Lee Philanthropic Foundation, Su Yi's Mah-jongg Kaki
I was at my Friday-afternoon mah-jongg game at Istana with the First Lady, Felicity Leong, and Daisy Foo when Felicity got the call. She didn't say anything to us at first-she just started rummaging through her Launer handbag, saying she needed to find her blood-pressure pills. Only after she had swallowed her pills did she say, "Ladies, I'm terribly sorry to leave like this in the middle of a game, but I must go. My mother has just passed." My goodness, the First Lady became so overcome I thought she was going to faint right there at the table! After Felicity left, the First Lady said she should go upstairs to the office to tell the president the news, and Daisy said, "Alamak, I should call Eleanor! She didn't call me, so I bet you she doesn't know yet!" When the ladies all returned, we decided to toast Su Yi. After all, she was a mah-jongg maven par excellence. We all knew never to bet serious money when Su Yi was at the table. Now that she has left us, my money market account won't feel the loss, but I know her family will. Su Yi was the glue that held them all together. Those children of hers are a disgrace. Philip is a simpleton, Alix is a useless Hong Kong tai tai, Victoria is a spinster, and the one that married the Thai prince, I never really knew her, but I always heard she was very stuck up, like most Thais I've met. They think just because they've never been invaded they are the best. Only Felicity has any sense, because she was the eldest. But all those grandchildren are also good-for-nothings. This is what happens when too much money falls on people who are too attractive. That Astrid, so pretty, but her only talent is spending more than the GDP of Cambodia on her clothes. Look at my grandsons. Four of them are doctors, three are lawyers-one is the youngest judge ever to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, and one is an award-winning architect. (Let's not mention the grandson living in Toronto who is a hairdresser.) So sad for Su Yi, she can't brag about any of her descendants. Just you watch, everything is going to go down the toilet now.
NICHOLAS YOUNG
Grandson
I had only just arrived at Tyersall Park and was unpacking my suitcases when I heard the commotion outside my bedroom. Maids were running down the corridors everywhere like a fire alarm had gone off. "What's going on?" I asked. "Your Ah Ma!" one of them shouted frantically as she passed me. I immediately ran up the back stairs to Ah Ma's bedroom. When I got there, I couldn't see anything. There were too many people blocking the way, and someone was wailing uncontrollably. Victoria, Alix, Adam, and Piya were hovering around the bed while Uncle Taksin was embracing Auntie Cat, who was still sitting in the armchair beside Ah Ma. Ah Ling was closest to me by the door, and she turned toward me, her face swollen with tears. As Adam and Piya moved aside to make room for me, I could see that Eddie was lying in bed with Ah Ma, holding her body, shaking violently as he whimpered like a tortured animal. He caught my eye and suddenly, he leapt out of bed and started screaming, "You killed her! You killed her!" Before I knew what was happening, he's on top of me and we're both on the ground.