“So, you think Luella is a fat Peking duck?”
Luella raised her eyebrows. “What?”
Sasha nodded. “Gabriella called you a fat Peking duck. Didn’t you see the look on the waitress’s face?”
“I ordered Peking duck!” Gabriella protested.
“No, you called me and Luella fat,” Sasha chuckled. “Nǐ shì yī ge féi de běijīng kǎoyā means ‘You are a fat Peking duck’.”
“How would you know Chinese?” Gabriella replied.
Sasha winked. “Long story.”
Gabriella was dumbfounded. The whole day she had repeated the wording for ordering dinner but her triumphant display of Chinese language skills had gone wrong. However, she realized that something else had taken a rather positive turn. Lulu had placed one arm around Sasha’s shoulder. She shook her finger at Gabriella.
“Sis’, are you kidding us? Fat? Look at us!” she grinned, while Sasha was still laughing. “You better go back to Mandarin school.”
For the rest of the evening, they teased Gabriella whenever a waitress passed their table with plates of Peking duck.
***
The wood seemed like a never-ending green ocean with giant, choppy waves rolling in.
Mint squinted her eyes against the sun and looked at the mountain ridge top. The long winding wall they were standing on began somewhere in the trees and, when she turned around, it descended and finally vanished again in the green sea.
“Amazing that this was built so many centuries ago,” she told Polly who nodded, just as mesmerized by the masonry parapet that meandered through the vastness.
They had booked a day trip to the Great Wall of China with a tourist group and were now standing on the top of a wall tower. The guide was explaining the construction history to the group who had gathered in one corner of the tower roof, but Polly and Mint had retreated to the other side and were looking over the treetops.
Mint still found it incredible that Evelina had allowed her to go alone with Polly, but the Canadian apparently had made a good first impression on her stepmother. Admittedly, Polly was hard to compare with Mint’s usual gang of friends at home who were comprised of some loudmouth and ballsy girls who followed Mint around. Polly was quiet and very polite, and Evelina seemed to tolerate her.
Mint also liked Polly – more and more. Her reticent attitude was compelling. On the one hand it forced Mint to listen more closely and to weigh her own words. On the other hand it relaxed her as Polly didn’t expect Mint to entertain her or play the leader of the pack. The Canadian was very much content on her own. She simply liked being with Mint.
Since their arrival in Beijing Mint had been waiting for a good moment to talk to Polly about something that was spinning in her mind. Now it seemed the right time to do so.
“Can I show you something?”
Polly nodded and turned towards Mint who took out her cell phone. She opened the picture folder and enlarged the first picture showing Elise and Amanda in Wimbledon.
Polly opened her eyes, examining the photo. “You took photos of them?”
“No, no,” Mint shook her head. “Not me.”
“Who then?”
“Ted.”
Polly looked her over in disbelief. “Ted Curry?” she wondered.
“Yes.” Quickly Mint told Polly the story of Ted falling onto the hotel balcony and losing his flash drive.
“There are even more pictures,” Mint explained and showed them to Polly.
The Canadian shook her head. “This is unbelievable. Why would he take photos of them.”
“I don’t know, but it’s definitely weird. Apparently he has an obsession with the lesbian players on the tour. Who knows whose photographs he’s gotten since last year. These pictures may only be the tip of the iceberg.”
The guide waved at them to signal that the group was moving further down the wall and Mint and Polly began to follow the tourists.
Polly looked through the pictures and handed back the phone, but didn’t say anything. For a while they silently walked behind the chatting group.
“What do you think?” Mint eventually asked her while they stepped down a long stone staircase.
“Could be that Ted is a perv,” she pondered. “But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. This whole story seems very, very strange. What was he doing on your balcony?”
“As I said, he jumped down onto it.”
“Don’t you want to know what he was doing in the hotel in the first place?”
“Sure,” Mint shrugged. It seemed like a good idea to find out more about Ted’s malefactions. “How should we proceed?”
“I have an idea,” Polly said pensively.
***
Natsumi looked Elise and Amanda over.
“No food for you guys? Are you sick?”
Amanda shook her head. “We were at Mrs. Li’s Dumpling Palace for lunch. We are stuffed.”
“So, why are you taking me out then when you are not hungry?” Natsumi asked. She had just ordered a large meal in her clunky Chinese which had made the waiter giggle. Amanda waited until the young man had left the table, then she opened her bag and pulled out a little sheet.
She put it down and slid it over the table.
“What is this?” Natsumi asked. “A check?”
She grabbed it, then her jaw dropped. “870.000 dollars? For me? Why?”
“For your stupid woodpecker, Nats,” Amanda informed her.
Natsumi put the check down on the table again and looked up at Amanda and Elise.
“Why would you give me money?” she asked, shaking her head.
“Because we lost the mara. And you need the money desperately.”
Natsumi was still shaking her head.
“I don’t want it,” she said vehemently and pushed the check back.
“Please, don’t be so stubborn,” Amanda exclaimed. She shoved the check to Natsumi’s side of the table again.
“I don’t want it.”
“I know you don’t,” Amanda was screaming now. They had both grabbed the check and tried to push it over the table. “But I won’t let you get killed over a wooden prick.”
“Killed?”
“Well, you won’t let us in on what is going on but I can tell simply from the fact that you’re so secretive that this is a matter of life and death,” Amanda spluttered.
“A matter of life and death?” Natsumi let go of the check, causing Amanda to lose her balance. Only Elise’s quick-witted impulse to grab Amanda at her waistband kept the Australian from tumbling into the tea pot. The Japanese player leaned back in her chair and looked her friends over. Again she shook her head, but this time calmly.
“I appreciate you worrying about my wellbeing, but I won’t take the money,” she addressed both of them. “Because this is not a matter of life and death. It’s rather a matter of love and – as you called it – bumfuckery.”
She sighed.
“I agreed to transport the stick to England for someone I care a lot about,” she went on to explain. “The pecker is antique, but not highly expensive. It’s only the transportation wrapping for a hundred and eighty shiny little stones.”
“Diamonds?” Elise’s eyes grew wide. Natsumi nodded.
“Dani,” Amanda said slowly. “You did it for Dani.”
Natsumi nodded again. “She called me when I was playing Auckland. I hadn’t heard from her in ages and when she asked me for help I couldn’t say no.”
“Why Brighton?” Amanda wondered.
Natsumi shrugged. “She didn’t tell me. But it seemed very important to her.”
“Do you think her life is in danger?”
Natsumi shook her head. “No, I never had the impression that she was forced to part with the stones.” She hesitated. “I had the feeling she wanted to.”
Amanda threw a side glance at Elise who had listened to the conversation, not understanding what the two friends were talking about. Natsumi also noticed that Elise was waiting for more
information. With a short look Amanda made Natsumi understand that it was perhaps for the best not to let Elise in on the mired history of Natsumi and Daniela.
“Well, I guess we’ll never know, now that the pecker has disappeared,” she said lightly.
“No,” Natsumi added just as casually.
“What? Don’t you want to get the diamonds back?” Elise blurted out, looking from Amanda to Natsumi. “Diamonds!”
But before the German could ask more inconvenient questions, Amanda and Natsumi were saved by two waiters who rolled in a huge trolley with several plates. How on earth was Natsumi to eat that alone, Amanda wondered. But the whole discussion and the final revelation of what the mara mystery was about had left her very hungry. Even Elise smacked her lips.
Natsumi grinned. “I knew you’d get hungry. Good thing I ordered for all of us.” She winked at Amanda who was relieved that the mountain of food had distracted her German girlfriend.
“May I?” Natsumi said and grabbed the check which was still lying on the table. Quickly she ripped it into tiny little pieces. Then she threw it in the little waste bin on the trolley table and ordered her friends to dig in.
MOSCOW MOLES
Moscow, Russia
Ted looked out the front window of the car and felt a bit like a secret agent.
Twenty minutes ago he had flagged down a Chastniki cab. The private taxis which rushed through the streets of the Russian capital weren’t designated as cabs and provided the anonymity Ted was looking for. He had explained the assignment and negotiated a price and luckily the young Russian driver, who was a student, spoke English very well.
They were waiting at the side of the road, opposite to the hotel the players were staying in, but when Ted saw the woman with dark hair leaving the hotel he tapped the student slightly on the shoulder and nodded in Bernadette’s direction. The Canadian player stepped to the curb and waved for a taxi while Ted’s driver started his car. He was about to pull out of the parking lot when Ted stopped him.
“Wait a second,” he instructed the Russian. He was surprised not to see Polly at Bernadette’s side.
While Tom was in Beijing he had informed Ted over the phone about the Canadians’ rigid training regime.
“Bernadette wakes up Polly and then they go running for half an hour,” his boyfriend had told him. “I filmed them once for the promotion video but I couldn’t talk to Bernadette – or Polly. Bernadette never let me.”
Simply following the two Canadian players around the Russian capital told Ted that Bernadette had a firm grip on Polly. From the early morning until the beginning of their matches the older player kept Polly busy. After breakfast they took a taxi together from the hotel to the Olympic complex where the Kremlin Cup was being held, went for a jog in a nearby park, then usually had a hit on the practice court. After that they waited for their match to be called. The two Canadians seemed inseparable.
So, where was Polly?
But then Ted reminded himself that Bernadette was the suspect and perhaps this was a good opportunity as she was on her own. He could have a chat with her at the stadium.
The Chastniki turned around and slowly followed Bernadette’s cab which drove up the broad boulevard. Ted closed his eyes. He had to squeeze in his own practice and match preparation while having an eye on the dark-haired Canadian. When the car stopped he opened his eyes again.
“Do you want me to pass and turn around?” the Russian student said.
“Pass?”
The driver pointed ahead. They were perhaps a hundred feet from the hotel and Ted could see Bernadette’s cab turning around and finding a parking space on the other side of the street.
“Yes, turn around and park behind it,” Ted quickly said.
Ten minutes later he understood what Bernadette was waiting for. Out of the hotel came Polly Duke with Mint Rickenbacher. The two young players were not in training clothes, and they didn’t take a taxi that went in the direction of the Olympic complex but instead took one into the city. Bernadette’s car pulled into traffic and followed the two girls while the Chastniki sped after Bernadette’s cab.
“Bingo,” Ted whispered. Bernadette’s behavior was very strange. It looked more and more likely that it had been the older Canadian who had taken the pictures of the girls and given it to them. Why else would Bernadette follow these two around?
One after another the three cars steered through the heavy traffic and past the Red Square until Polly and Mint’s cab stopped in front of a coffee house near the Moskva River. Ted ordered his driver to slow down when Bernadette’s cab pulled to the side of the road.
The two young players got out of their car and walked to the coffee shop entrance. Polly held the door open for Mint and when the American passed through, Polly touched her slightly at the small of her back. It was an unconscious gesture but clearly a sign of intimacy.
Ted raised his eyebrows. Did he just witness a young couple getting away from the old hag to have breakfast together? It looked like it. And there was Bernadette on the cab watching the pair enter from the other side of the street. After Mint and Polly had taken a seat at one of the high windows, Ted could see Bernadette giving her driver a sign and the taxi sped off.
He decided to follow Bernadette. While the Chastniki driver took him to the Olympic complex he wrote Tom a text about the newly confirmed suspicion.
***
Steam rose from the coffee in the mugs and the waitress put the plate with a heap of blinis Polly had ordered on the small table.
“Caviar?” Mint wondered when she examined the two small bowls of sour cream and roe that came with the blini pancakes. “In the early morning?”
“I’m told it’s good for the stamina,” Polly winked. Mint was scheduled for the evening match against Tamara Parova, the home favorite. Against the feisty Russian you definitely needed endurance.
“I see,” Mint replied. Stamina? She couldn’t help but get the feeling that Polly was flirting with her. At least sometimes it seemed like the Canadian girl was going to make a move or hinting that she was interested in more than a friendship.
She looked up and caught Polly grinning at her. “What are you thinking about?”
Mint held her breath. Sometimes Polly seemed to be able to read her thoughts, especially when she thought about Polly.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly. “I’m just excited about all the food.”
“Dig in then,” the Canadian said, still watching her.
Dutifully, Mint did. After she had finished the first caviar blini she relaxed.
“What are your plans for the off-season?”
“Go back home for a couple of weeks. Spend time with my mother and my family,” Polly answered. Her mother had left the hospital after the U.S. Open and the doctors were confident that there would be no major setbacks.
Mint smiled when she saw Polly’s eyes glow. “Yeah, me, too. Family time.” But she said it without much enthusiasm.
“If you like, you can come visit,” Polly said.
“In Canada?”
“Yes, you know, that small country that borders the United States in the north. You might have heard of it.”
“Would that be okay?” Mint asked.
“Yes, of course,” Polly answered. “My mother asks about you all the time. She likes your name.”
Mint giggled. “I can’t believe I told her where it comes from.”
“Well, she didn’t tell me the secret of your name,” Polly said with fake indignation.
“I made her promise,” Mint laughed. “But it’s not really a secret. Most people believe it refers to the plant but that’s not the case. In the 19th century my great-great-great-grandfather ran a mint for gold coins, thereby constituting the family wealth. I’m just glad he didn’t own a saloon or a laundromat.”
“So, your father chose the name?” Polly asked.
Mint shook her head. “My mother. I think she liked the idea of a gold mint.”
“Speak
ing of gold – ,” Polly remembered something and grabbed her handbag. She rummaged through it, then found what she was looking for.
“I’ve been hoarding them since Miami,” she chuckled, handing Mint one of two gold wrapped chocolate coins.
“You went to the chocolate factory there with the other girls, right?”
Polly nodded. “I kept them for a special occasion.”
“That’s sweet,” Mint said, reaching out her hand to hand back the coin.
“No, it’s for you. Open it,” Polly ordered. She began unwrapping the other coin.
Mint hesitated. “Is this a special occasion?” She watched Polly carefully. Perhaps this was the moment when she would get another subtle hint of how to proceed.
Polly looked back at her. “Yes, it is,” she said simply, and there was nothing subtle in her smile. Mint’s heart made a jump and she began pulling off the gold wrapping.
“Would you like to play doubles with me next year?” she blurted out.
Polly nodded. “Yes, I would.”
“I might visit you in that cold country in the north,” Mint beamed across the table while taking a bite off the chocolate coin.
“Great,” Polly replied. Then she put her own coin in her mouth and wiped her hands on the napkin. To Mint’s surprise she grabbed her phone.
“We still have work to do,” Polly explained.
Mint shook her head, not understanding what this was about.
“I found out Ted Curry’s phone number,” Polly revealed. She began dialing and Mint almost coughed up the chocolate coin.
“You want to talk to him?” Mint was horrified.
“Of course,” Polly said. “Let’s see if he has a good explanation for his weird behavior.”
Quickly, Mint swallowed down the coin, then shoved in a spoonful of caviar afterwards. She wondered for what she needed the stamina – Tamara’s forehand or Polly’s daredevilry.
***
“It’s so damn cold,” Elise railed. “Even inside.”
Love Game - Season 2012 Page 35
