The Ideas Pirates by Hazel Edwards Read Free Book Online Page B

sellers.
    â€˜Fake animals?’
    Dr Chung smiled. ‘The animals aren’t fakes. It’s just the seller pretends they’ve come from a different animal. Snow Leopard and Asian Golden Cat bones have been sold as tiger. Street pedlars have sold cattle bones pretending they came from tigers.’
    â€˜How can you tell the real ones from fakes? Especially if you haven’t got a tiger bone there to compare it with?’
    â€˜Difficult. Fake tiger bones are usually made from cattle bones which are much larger, thicker and heavier. Bear bones are greasier.’
    Dr Chung sipped his tea. Amy sniffed. The smell was unusual but pleasant.
    â€˜I blend my own. Herb teas heal and refresh. Most are from dried plants or flowers .’
    â€˜Which is your favourite?’
    â€˜Rosemary is a memory tonic. And I like sage. It improves your alertness. Sage is the “thinker’s” tea. If you brew leaves quickly and drink it hot, you get more vitamins that way. Try it. I’ll ask the attendant for more hot water.’
    Minutes later, Amy tried a sip of Dr Chung’s sage tea. It might be helpful for an airport sleuth to think more clearly.
    â€˜What’s it like?’ asked Christopher wrinkling his nose.
    â€˜Just tastes like weak herby tea.’ Amy didn’t like to be rude but lemonade tasted much better. ‘Thank you.’
    Dr Chung smiled. ‘It’s an acquired taste.’
    â€˜What about tiger bone? Is that made into a tea?’ Tigers interested Christopher more.
    â€˜A small piece is sliced off a bone and crushed. The bone is made into a poultice , boiled with other materials to make a broth or soaked in wine.’
    â€˜Do people like drinking that?’ Amy didn’t like the sound of it. She’d rather have sage tea.
    â€˜Some think it will make them well.’
    â€˜Does it?’
    â€˜Nothing is certain. But sometimes, if you believe, then it happens, ‘ continued Dr Chung. ‘Other times, things are exaggerated. Now the Chinese Government wants to set up their own “tiger farm”. Tigers breed well in captivity. Then they could legally use parts from tigers.’
    â€˜Why is it legal?’ asked Amy.
    â€˜They would be captive-bred, not wild. And they could use bones from those which had died naturally.’
    â€˜Yuk.’ Christopher could imagine that. Dead tigers!
    â€˜But traditional medicine is about more than tiger bones.’ Dr Chung added.
    â€˜Any fakes “ bad name” the good things about traditional medicine. This bone was just an example, to show at the conference in Singapore. Here, have a feel. Then I’ll put it away in my bag.’ Dr Chung let them handle the bone.
    â€˜I’ve been to the Tiger Balm Gardens,’ Winston interrupted. ‘Has that got anything to do with it?’
    â€˜Not really.’ said Dr Chung. ‘Although a balm is a kind of ointment. My company in Hong Kong makes some. A new one will be released very soon.’
    Christopher remembered the airport lounge message. ‘Does it have ‘orchid’ in the name?’
    Dr Chung looked surprised. ‘How clever of you to guess that.’
    â€˜My Dad says his company make the best drugs in the world.’ Winston was feeling left out of the conversation. ‘INTERNATIONALDRUGS is the best.’
    Dr Chung turned quickly. ‘Winston is your given name. What is your family name?’
    Delighted to be in the centre of things, Winston told him.
    â€˜Ah, I think I’ve met your father,’ said Dr Chung. ‘ He’s VERY interested in our formula I’m meeting him in Sydney later this week.’
    Christopher was curious .’How did you get the bone through the security scanner?’
    â€˜I told the officials. Bones show up on the scanner. So do skeletons. Another visit, the officials did ask me about a skull. That was for a lecture too. That was when I first met