Walk

February 2003

We awoke a little earlier the next day, and rather than laze in bed, as was our usual practice, Maggie wanted to get up. Today was Chinese New Year, and we were going to her house, where the whole family would gather.

The discussion of the night before seemed to be all but forgotten, although I sensed that Maggie was not entirely happy. ‘Are you ok babe?’
‘Oh yes’ she said, but I wasn’t convinced.

After I’d showered I asked ‘will we be at your house all day?’
She misunderstood me, ‘why do you have something else you need to do?’
‘No, of course not’

We caught the bus. ‘You know what honey, maybe we could walk up to the peak before everyone arrives, otherwise maybe boring for you’
‘A walk would be nice’ I replied, ‘but don’t make your mother unhappy. If she wants us to stay at the house, then that is ok’
‘My mother won’t mind. She is flexible, we are the reasonable people. If you need to go out then she will understand’
‘I didn’t say I needed to go out. It doesn’t matter for me’
‘But I want to be considerate. I think you may like to go for a walk’

It was quite a long walk before we got to the footpath that led to the Peak. But the weather was good, and Maggie’s mood seemed to improve. We took a detour up to a viewpoint. As we looked out over Hong Kong, Maggie put her arms around my neck, and we started to kiss. Her hand moved down between my legs; ‘oh honey, I am wet already’ she said, ‘always so exciting with you’

I picked her up, we continued to kiss. ‘I love you’ she said. ‘I love you too, babe’. I looked at her, she was wearing a short dress, she looked great. I just wanted to hold her, to touch her.

But then her phone rang. It was her mother. Everyone was waiting for us. So we didn’t get as far as the Peak that day.