Page 63 of The Pearl Sister

‘Well, any further help you need, you just let me know.’

‘I will. Bye, then.’

‘Bye, love. Glad to see one of you got to uni.’

I left the museum gratefully, because there was something about the way the woman looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and discomfort that I didn’t like. I tried to push it from my mind as I nipped into a discount store I’d seen on the way and managed to buy a portable CD player and a pair of cheap headphones, as I was pretty sure the other residents of the hotel wouldn’t be interested in hearing endless hours of Kitty Mercer’s life story being played through the thin bedroom walls.

I grabbed another burger from the café for lunch, and as I walked back to the hotel, I noticed a few black-skinned kids squatting on the green. In fact, one was lying down flat and seemed to be asleep. One that was awake gave me a nod, and I watched another take a slurp out of a beer bottle.

I saw a woman walking around them in a big loop, like they were going to attack her in broad daylight or something. They seemed okay to me – just a bunch of youths like you’d find on any street corner in a city, town or village.

I had just arrived back in my hotel room when my mobile rang and I saw it was Ma. Feeling bad because I hadn’t replied to her messages, I picked up my phone.

‘Hello?’

There was a long pause, which was probably the sketchy connection from Switzerland.

‘CeCe?’

‘Yes. Hi, Ma.’

‘Chérie!How are you?’

‘Good. Well, okay anyway.’

‘Star tells me you are in Australia.’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘You left Thailand?’

‘Yup.’

There was another pause, which was definitely made by Ma. I could virtually hear her brain whirring as she decided whether or not to ask me about Ace.

‘And you are well?’ she said eventually.

‘I always am, Ma,’ I said, wondering when she’d cut to the chase.