The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,30
the one to talk to her.”
“Thanks . . . I love you.”
Ava ended the connection and then felt a surge of conflicting emotions. What a morning, she thought. What with Sonny and then Uncle and her father and the complications surrounding the wedding, she had gone through more turmoil that morning than she had for the past two months.
She checked the incoming emails on her iPhone. More than forty had accumulated during the past twenty-four hours. She went directly to Michael’s. It was headed WEDDING!!!!!! She read it quickly and couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to take her acceptance as maid of honour for granted. Amanda was less effusive and more guarded, simply saying she would be pleased if Ava would agree. Ava replied to Amanda first, drafting an email that started with Have you thought long and hard about this? Then she deleted it and wrote one to both Michael and Amanda, saying she would be thrilled to play any role in the wedding party.
When that was done, she turned her attention to the other messages. The first to catch her attention was from Joey Lac, asking her to let Theresa and Bobby and his uncle know that he had been helpful, then reiterating his belief that although Lam Van Dinh was capable of being stupid and could have lost the money in some ill-timed investment, he couldn’t buy into the idea that Lam had stolen the money. He asked Ava to keep that opinion to herself, because he knew it might offend everyone who had lost money in the fund. At the tail end he affixed the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of the contact at Bank Linno in Surabaya and the Toronto landlord.
The other emails were one from Maria, saying that Toronto was already a lonely place; the daily missive from May Ling; and one, dotted with capital letters, from Mimi. We spent the day looking at houses and I can’t believe how patient Derek is. All he seems to want is for me to be happy. I’ve turned into this GAS MACHINE, but he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he doesn’t seem to mind anything connected to the pregnancy, including FOUR TRIPS TO THE BATHROOM EVERY NIGHT, BOOBS THE SIZE OF BED PILLOWS, AND SCREWING DOGGY-STYLE. Lucky me. Thanks to you.
Ava smiled. Thanks was the last thing she deserved. She had been desperate to keep them apart.
She skimmed quickly through the other messages and then put the phone back into her bag. She hadn’t replied to anyone except Michael and Amanda. Toronto seemed very far away, and Ava was beginning to feel the disconnection that took over whenever a job began.
( 12 )
The flight to Ho Chi Minh took two and half hours and the plane landed on time, just before three o’clock, at Tan Son Nhat airport. It parked near the runway and waited for buses to ferry the passengers to the terminal. “This is going to be murder,” the businessman sitting next to Ava said.
She shrugged, but the same thought had flashed through her head. On her only other trip to Ho Chi Minh, it had taken more than two hours to deplane and clear Customs and Immigration. The airport had been built in the 1950s, and even operating at peak efficiency it couldn’t effectively process the massive influx of tourists and businesspeople. The Customs and Immigration staff seemed to be in a permanent state of work-to-rule.
The buses came and the airline made a fuss about letting the first-class and business-class passengers off first. They were conveyed to the terminal, and to Ava’s delight it was brand-new. She began to feel more optimistic about their chances of getting through the airport quickly. But as soon as Ava saw the line, her optimism faded. It began almost as soon as they entered the terminal, snaking up the stairs that led to the arrivals hall. “Fuck. We’ll be here for three hours or more,” the man beside her said.
Ava took some deep breaths. There was no point in getting agitated over something over which she had no control. Then she saw a policeman walking down the stairs holding a cardboard sign over his head that read AVA LEE. God bless Uncle, she thought. She stepped out of line and waved at him. He smiled and motioned for her to climb the stairs towards him. As she passed her fellow passengers, she heard muttering. None of it was complimentary.