Sons of Fortune (25 page)

“Do
you bring all your men here?”

“No,
I tend to select a different restaurant each time, so that way no one finds out
about my vestal reputation.”

“Like
your reputation as a computer whiz?”

Su
Ling blushed. “How did you find out about that?”

“What
do you mean, how did I find out? It seems everyone on campus knew except me. In
fact my closest friend told me, and he’s at Yale.”

“I
was going to tell you, but you never asked the right question.”

“Su
Ling, you can tell me things without having to be asked the right question.”

“Then
I must ask if you’ve also heard that both Harvard and MIT have invited me to
join their computer science departments.”

“Yes,
but I don’t know how you responded.”

“Tell
me, Captain,”
she
said, “can I ask you something
first?”

“You’re
trying to change the subject again, Su Ling.”

“Yes,
I am, Nat, because I need my question answered before I can reply to yours.”

“OK,
so what’s your question?”

Su
Ling lowered her head as she always did when she was slightly embarrassed. “How
can two such different people,” she hesitated, “end up liking each other so
much.
”

“End
up falling in love, I think is what you are trying to say. If I knew the answer
to that question, little flower, I’d be a professor of philosophy, and not worrying
about my end-of-term exam grades.”

“In
my country,” said Su Ling, “love is something you do not talk about until you
have known each other for many years.” with “Then I promise not to discuss the
matter again for many years-on one condition.”

“And
what is that?”

“That you will agree to come to Boston with us on
Friday.”

“Yes,
if I can have Tom’s aunt’s telephone number.”

“Of
course you can, but why?”

“My
mother will need to speak to her.” Su Ling lifted her right foot, slipped it
under the table and placed it on top of Nat’s left foot.

“Now
I feel sure that has a significant meaning in your country.”

“Yes,
it does. It means I wish to walk with you, but not in a crowd.”

Nat
placed his right foot on her left. “And what does that mean?”

“That
you agree to my request,” she hesitated.

“But
I should not have done it
first,
otherwise I would be
considered a loose woman.” Nat immediately removed his foot and then replaced
it.

“Honor
restored,” she said.

“Then
after we have been on our
uncrowded
walk, what happens
next?”

“You
must wait for an invitation to take tea with my family.”

“How
long will that take?”

“Normally
a year would be considered appropriate.”

“Couldn’t
we speed up the process a little?” suggested Nat. “How about next week?”

“All
right, then you will be invited to tea on Sunday afternoon, because Sunday is
the traditional day for a man to have a first meal with a woman under the
watchful eye of family.”

“But
we’ve already had several meals together.”

“I
know, so you must come to tea before my mother finds out, otherwise I will be
abandoned and disinherited.”

“Then
I shall not accept your invitation to tea,” said Nat.

“Why not?”

“I’ll
just stand outside your house and grab you when your mother throws you out, and
then I won’t have to wait for another two years.” Nat placed both his feet on
hers, and she withdrew them immediately. “What did I do wrong?”

“Two
feet means something completely different.”

“What?”
asked
Nat.

“I
can’t tell you, but as you were clever enough to find out the correct translation
of Su Ling, I feel sure you will discover the meaning of two feet, and never do
it again, unless. .”

On
Friday afternoon, Tom drove Nat and Su Ling up to his aunt’s home in the leafy
suburbs of Boston. Miss Russell had obviously spoken to Su Ling’s mother,
because she’d put her in the bedroom on the main landing, next to hers, while
Nat and Tom were relegated to the east wing$4

After
breakfast the following morning, Su Ling left to keep her appointment with the professor
of statistics at Harvard, while Nat and Tom spent some time walking slowly
around the cross-country course, something Nat always did whenever he would be
running over unfamiliar territory. He checked out all the well-worn paths, and
whenever he came to a stream, a gate or a sudden undulation, he practiced
crossing it several times.

On
the way back across the meadow, Tom asked him what he would do if Su Ling
agreed to a transfer to Harvard.

His
“I’ll move at the same time and enroll at the business school.”

“You
feel that strongly about her?”“;

“Yes,
and I can’t risk letting anyone else place both feet
on ,
”
hers.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“I’ll
explain another time,” said Nat as he came to a halt by a stream. “Where do you
imagine they cross it?”

“No
idea,” said Tom, “but it looks too wide to jump.”

“Agreed,
so I expect they aim for the large flat pebbles in the middle.”

“What
do you do if you’re not sure?” asked Tom.

“Follow
closely behind one of their team, because they’ll do the right thing automatically.”

“Where
are you hoping to end up this early in the season?”

“I’d
be satisfied with being a counter.”

“I
don’t understand, doesn’t everybody count?”

“No,
although there are eight runners on each team, only six count when the final
score is calculated. If I come in twelfth or higher, I would be a counter.”

“So
how is the counting done?”

“First
across the line counts as one, second two, and so on. When the race is over,
the first six in each team are added together, and the team with the lowest overall
score is the winner. That way, seven and eight can only contribute if they stay
ahead of any of the first six runners on the other team. Is that clear?”

“Yes,
I think so,” said Tom, looking at his watch. “I’d better get back, because I
promised Aunt Abigail I’d have lunch with her.

Are
you coming?”

“No,
I’m joining the rest of the team for a banana, a lettuce leaf and a glass of
water.

Could
you pick up Su Ling and make sure that she’s back in time to watch the race.”

“She
won’t need to be reminded,” said Tom.

When
Tom strolled to the house, he found his aunt and Su Ling deep in conversation
over bowls of clam chowder. Tom sensed that his aunt had changed the subject
the moment he’d entered the room. “You’d better grab something to eat,” she
said, “if you’re hoping to be back in time to see the start.”

After
a second bowl of clam chowder, Tom accompanied Su Ling across to the course. He
explained to her that Nat had selected a spot about halfway around, where they
could see all the runners for at least a mile and then if they took a shortcut,
they would be back in time to watch the winner crossing the finishing line.

“Do
you understand what a counter is?” Tom asked.

“Yes,
Nat explained it to me-an ingenious system, which makes the abacus look
positively modern. Would you like me to explain it to you?” she asked.

“Yes,
I think I would,” said Tom.

By
the time they reached the vantage point that Nat had selected, they didn’t have
long to wait before the first runner came into view over the brow of the hill.

They
watched Boston’s captain shoot past them, and ten other runners had come and
gone before Nat appeared. He gave a wave as he sped off down the hill.

“He’s
the last counter,” said Su Ling as they set off to take the short cut back to the
finishing line.

“My
bet is that he’ll move up two or three places now he knows you’re here to watch
him,” said Tom.

“How
flattering,” said Su
Ling.

“Will
you be taking up the Harvard offer?” asked Tom quietly.

“Did
Nat ask you to find out?” she inquired.

“No,”
said Tom, “
though
he talks of little else.”

“I
have said yes, but only on one condition.”

Tom
remained silent. Su Ling didn’t tell Tom what the condition was, so he didn’t
ask.

They
almost had to jog the last couple of hundred yards to make sure they were back
in time to see the Boston captain raise his arms in triumph as he crossed the
finishing line. Tom turned out to be right, because Nat ended up in ninth
position, and fourth counter for his team. Both of them rushed over to
congratulate him as if he were the winner. Nat lay on the ground exhausted,
disappointed that he hadn’t done better when he learned that Boston had won by
31 to 24.

After
supper with Aunt Abigail, they started out on the long drive back to Storrs.
Nat rested his head in Su Ling’s lap and quickly fell asleep.

“I
can’t imagine what my mother would say about our first night together,” she
whispered to Tom as he drove on through the night.

“Why
don’t you go the whole hog and tell her that it was a
menage
a
trois
?”

“Mother
thought you were wonderful,” said Su Ling as they walked slowly back toward
south campus after tea the following afternoon.

“What
a woman,” said Nat. “She can cook, run a home and is also a successful
businesswoman.”

“And
don’t forget,” said Su Ling, “that she was shunned in her own land for bearing
a foreigner’s child and wasn’t even welcomed in this country when she first
arrived, which is the reason I’ve been brought up so strictly. Like so many
children of immigrants, I’m no cleverer than my mother, but by sacrificing
everything to give me a first-class education, she has allowed me a better
chance than she ever had. Perhaps you can now understand why I always try to
respect her wishes.”

“Yes,
I can,”
said
Nat, “and now that I’ve met your mother,
I’d like you to meet mine, because I am equally proud of her.” Su Ling laughed.

“Why
do you laugh, little flower?” asked Nat.

“In
my country, for a man to meet a woman’s mother is to admit to a relationship.
If the man then asks you to meet his mother, it means betrothal. If he then
does not marry the girl, she will be a spinster for the rest of her life.
However, I will take that risk, because Tom asked me to marry him yesterday
when you were running away.

Nat
bent down, kissed her on the lips and then placed both his feet gently on top
of hers. She smiled. “I love you too,” she said.

“WHAT
do you make of it?” asked Jimmy.

“I’ve
no idea,” said Fletcher, who glanced over at the attorney general’s table, but
none of the state’s team gave any sign of looking either anxious or confident.

“You
could always ask Professor Abrahams for his opinion,” said Annie.

“Why,
is he still around?”

“I
saw him roaming up and down the corridor only a few moments ago.”

Fletcher
left the table, pushed open the little wooden gate dividing the court from the
public and strode quickly out of the courtroom into the corridor.

He
glanced up and down the wide marble expanse, but didn’t spot the professor
until the crowds near the rotunda staircase parted to reveal a
distinguished-looking man seated in the corner, head down, writing notes on a
legal pad. Court officials and members of the public rushed past him, unaware
of his presence. Fletcher walked apprehensively across to join him and watched
as the old man continued making notes. He didn’t feel he could interrupt, so he
waited until the professor eventually looked up.

“Ah,
Davenport,” he said, tapping the bench beside him. “Take a seat. You have an
inquiring look on your face, so how may I assist you?”

Fletcher
sat beside him. “I only wanted to ask your opinion on why the jury has been out
for so long. Should I read anything into it?”

The
professor checked his watch. “Just over five hours,” he said. “No, I wouldn’t
consider that long for a capital charge. Juries like to let you know that
they’ve taken their responsibility seriously, unless of course it’s cut and
dried, and this case certainly wasn’t.”

“Do
you have any feel for what the outcome might be?” asked Fletcher anxiously.

“You
can never second-guess a jury, Mr. Davenport; twelve people chosen at random,
with little in common, though I must say, with a couple of exceptions, they
looked a fair-minded lot. So what’s your next question?”