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The little Chinese man who sat across from her was impeccably dressed in a stylish, white, tailored suit. His mannerisms, along with his speech, were that of an English gentleman.
It seemed appropriate that she had asked him to join her for high tea on the hotel terrace. It was pleasant, overlooking the sea; the only thing that spoiled the view were barricades of barbed wire with sandbags along the beach. After the waiter had left, Sue Lee poured the tea for both of them, continuing the conversation.
“Thank you for your condolences, Mr. Han. You said you knew my uncle, Yoshi?” Sue Lee started sipping her tea.
“We’re partners, together we own the Hotel Bing, one of the best brothels in Honolulu, now it is half yours!” He said, raising his cup. “Welcome aboard, Madam Sue Lee.”
Sue Lee almost choked on her tea!
“I say, are you all right? Waiter more water, quickly, please!” Mr. Han started to rise from his chair.
“No—no, I’m okay, please sit. You must be Jimmy, Yoshi spoke of you often. You were in Singapore during our last visit. I only know about the hotel. I even asked Yoshi back then why we were not staying there, he said it was full. Apparently, he left out a few details.” Sue Lee used her clean napkin the server handed her to wipe tears from her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. My levity was not meant to be disrespectful. The hotel is half yours, not the brothel; I thought you knew. Please forgive me.”
Sue Lee waited until the server left after placing a fresh cup in front of her.
“Let’s start from the beginning. When did this business for using the hotel as a brothel start with you and Yoshi?”
“A bit of luck, we fell into it. Prostitution has been loosely regulated here on the islands for quite some time, but in 1930, they pushed it into Chinatown. Yoshi and I bought the hotel in 1929, and then the economy slowed. You might say regulatory prostitution laws in Chinatown saved us. However, they are now regulated by the military. The business has increased with all the servicemen passing through. Our full—time resident, Mademoiselle Fifi, requires the ladies to receive one hundred men a day, they’re required to work twenty days in a month.” Mr. Han told her with such pride Sue Lee couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
“It sounds like a very lucrative profession.”
“Quite so, some gals clear well over ten-thousand a year. As a group, they collectively purchased over one twelve thousand dollars in war bonds,” Jimmy said with more pride.
She could see why Uncle Yoshi liked this man; he loved his work.
“I’m curious. How did the hotel and so much of Oahu survive without damage?”
“The only explanation offered by the Navy was that the Japanese could not waste any ammunition on the sideline, civilian areas. We stood on the streets watching the planes, hearing the explosions. It was dreadful. However, the speed of the reconstruction is remarkable.”
Sue Lee agreed. She saw the reconstruction of Pearl Harbor when she arrived. She also knew the effort began immediately after the attack. They left the fuel farm and Submarine Base untouched; the sailors refueled and restock the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise within twenty-four hours. As Mr. Han continued talking about the war, Sue Lee thought about her position as half the hotel owner.
The military not only regulates prostitution. It encourages it for the morale of the men. “Perhaps it is a patriotic service,” she thought.
“Mr. Han, is it possible for the two of us to continue this partnership, leaving everything as is for now?”
“I was so hoping you would say that. I live at the hotel Emily and I have become quite fond of each other and are planning to marry.”
“Emily?”
“Mademoiselle Fifi,” he answered before sipping his tea.
Now she knew the reason for his pride in the operating procedures of the brothel. She wondered how old Emily was.
“When are you planning to marry?”
“It’s impossible to say at the moment. The activity has picked-up in the last few months. Military personnel are lining up for two blocks, waiting for service. I dare say. This business can be very exhausting.” He sighed, pushing his tea aside. A gesture Sue Lee noticed.
“Mr. Han, let’s order a drink to celebrate your future marriage to Emily—And our partnership.” She said with a smile to brighten his mood.
“Grand idea!” Jimmy raised his finger to summon the waiter. “We will drink to your wonderful uncle, whom I miss dearly.”
Sue Lee observed Mr. Han more closely while he talked with the waiter. His features were a mix of European. She assumed he had been educated in England. Jimmy’s outstanding characteristics were his unusually thick eyebrows, white hair, and thin face. His fashionable clothing fit his compact frame well, giving him a look of a much younger man. Sue Lee guessed his age somewhere in his sixties.
After several rounds of toasting, Jimmy had one more surprising announcement for her.
“To your mother, Marley, you look so much like her.” He smiled with tears in his eyes.
“You knew my parents?” Sue Lee said with surprise.
“Oh, my, yes, Marley would always accompany your father to browse through our stores. When she found some trinket, she was a tough negotiator.”
“Please tell me more, you had stores here in Honolulu; what did you sell?”
“One here in Honolulu, our main shop was in Singapore. We specialize in selling Asian antiques. Singapore was such a grand city to do business. It is the crossroads of civilization; they could conduct A transaction in business in ‘twenty-seven different languages.” He paused for a moment, lost in memories.
“You had a partnership. What happened? Do you still have the stores?” Sue Lee asked, thinking about the recent invasion. The British surrendered Singapore to the Imperial Japanese in February, “I wondered if his partner had escaped?”
“Unfortunately, Robert’s fate and the store are unknown. All my contacts are unavailable at this time.”
Sue Lee could not share the information about the atrocities happening on the island. Japanese soldiers recently murdered everyone at the Alexandra Military Hospital. Reports of British citizens sent to build bridges in the death camps. She was thinking of all of this while Jimmy continued to reminisce about the good old days.
“My partner Robert Merman was British—Raffles Hotel was one of our favorites for high tea. A gathering place for the elite, a seller’s market for antique dealers.” He stopped, looked at Sue Lee,” I’m rambling. I’m sure it is hell there now, but I have no way of knowing?”
“Do you still have your store here?”
“No, without the contacts in Singapore and the attack on Pearl, everything is on hold.”
“What about consulting? Would you share your expertise for a fee? “She asked with something brewing.
He held out his flute to the light while gathering his thoughts. “You have something on your mind, young lady; you sound like your father. What is it?”