Spilled Water by Sally Grindley Read Free Book Online

Thirteen
    Things Must Improve
    We drove into town. Mrs Chen had her own car! Even Uncle didn’t have a car. The lift took us right down underneath the apartment
     block into a huge parking area, where Mrs Chen opened the doors to a big silver saloon and told me to get in the back. As
     we drove out into the street, I was astonished to see how many cars there were driving up and down – not just taxis, but cars
     with ordinary people in them. We travelled along a wide road where apartment blocks towered above us, all of them new, and
     brilliantly lit, glossy-fronted shops were filled with slender mannequins sporting the most extravagant fashions. Did people
     really wear such clothes? I wondered.
    I became aware that Mrs Chen was observing me again, glancing in her mirror. The smile appeared when she saw that I had noticed
     her.
    ‘Try not to gawp, Lu Si-yan, it’s not very becoming. We don’t want you to look like an ignorant peasant girl, do we?’
    She drew up outside a row of smaller shops, the second of which advertised itself as a hairdressers and beauty salon. The
     owner came to the shop door the minute she saw Mrs Chen, held it open for her and greeted her respectfully.
    ‘The child needs her hair tamed, cut in a short bob, I think, with a straight fringe out of her eyes. You will also need to
     work on her hands. They’re ingrained with dirt. Heaven knows what she’s been using them for.’
    ‘Yes, Mrs Chen. Certainly, Mrs Chen.’
    Mrs Chen gave her orders and sat down with a magazine, while an assistant brought her tea. I watched tearfully in the mirror,
     my thick black hair falling to the ground in large clumps, a neat, well-behaved bob appearing in its place. My hands were
     scoured and oiled, my nails carefully clipped into immaculate crescent moons. The manager sought Mrs Chen’s approval, who
     declared the result a great improvement, and I was whisked off for the next stage in my transformation.
    I was quite excited by the prospect of new clothes – clothes that fitted, beautiful clothes like those I could see on some
     of the girls who passed us, girls I couldn’t help turning to admire, even though I could see Mrs Chen’s lips tightening. Perhaps
     I might look as pretty as they did.
    We stopped at a small clothes shop. Once again the manager rushed to open the door for us and to serve Mrs Chen.
    ‘I want something in the way of a uniform for this child,’ she said. ‘You know the sort of thing. A servant’s uniform, calf-length,
     perhaps in black or navy with a white collar.’
    ‘Certainly, Madam. What about this?’
    The manager pulled from a rail a plain navy dress, very straight, a small pleat at the back of the skirt, long-sleeved, buttoned
     at the wrists, with a white collar.
    ‘Try it on, Lu Si-yan.’
    When I emerged from the changing room, Mrs Chen clapped her hands.
    ‘Perfect,’ she smiled. ‘We’ll have two, plus two plain white blouses, one of those navy coats over there, plus two pairs of
     socks, underwear and pyjamas – nothing too fancy.’
    Purchases in hand, I was then taken to a shoe shop, where Mrs Chen chose a pair of heavy black lace-ups.
    ‘Good and sturdy,’ she said. ‘Nothing frivolous. We wouldn’t want to damage your young feet, would we?’
    On the way back to the car, she told me what a lucky girl I was to have so much money spent on me, and that as soon as we
     were home I was to change into my new clothes and throw my old ones away.
    It was nearly midday by the time we returned to the apartment. I had five minutes in which to change, then I was to go to
     the study to receive instructions about my duties. I stared in the mirror and didn’t recognise the person standing there.
     She looked older, thinner, more serious than the girl I remembered. There was a shadowy air of resignation about her as well,
     which I instantly fought by hiding my favourite old blouse behind the chest-of-drawers. Mrs Chen wasn’t going to have all
     of me.
    I left