Lorraine: The letter arrived out of the blue yesterday morning. I saw immediately that it had an English stamp and the postmark was London. I don’t know anyone in London, or even England. I had no reason to expect post from Britain. I had no idea who would be writing to me from there.
I could see that it wasn’t a piece of junk mail or a circular. I stood holding the letter, iust looking at it, for about two minutes. Who gets letters these days? I most certainly don’t. Everything’s emails these days, surely? The address on the front was hand-written, not printed, in Black ink: ‘Ms Lorraine Chan’. Very neat writing.
I turned the letter over and there was a return address on the back. ‘Brown and Co, Lawyers, Jermyn Street, London’. My hand started to shake. I tore the letter open. I had to read it three times before the contents sank in. A relative had died in London. An uncle I didn’t know I had.
Neither my mother or father have ever spoken about having a brother. The lawyers had traced me and were asking me to call them as soon as possible. I haven’t yet. I feel quite nervous. I’ll call them this evening. I’ve checked and London time is eight hours behind us at the moment. I don’t want to call them in the middle of the night!
What do you think they want?
Mr Wong: I am still in a state of shock. I had no idea that she was going to do this. It’s come completely out of the blue. There was a note on my desk when I got to work this morning. When she put it there, I have no idea.
Everything was fine yesterday. She didn’t say a word. Why she didn’t say anything is a mystery. I’ve tried calling her but she’s not answering her phone. Or maybe it’s switched off. Her note said she was leaving Hong Kong this morning and thanked me for everything I’d done for her.
We’d worked together for 15 years! Remember when she started? She was one of the most efficient people I have ever met. I think that the only time she had had off work was when she had her appendix removed four years ago. She wasn’t the sort to be always taking time off with coughs and colds. I could rely on her completely.
I’ve asked around the office and no one knows a thing.
Everyone is as surprised and concerned as I am. Now that the shock’s sunk in, I must admit that I feel a bit let down. And I don’t understand her motives at all. There is a mystery here and I intend to get to the bottom of it. Thank goodness you don’t get news like this out of the blue every day. It’s knocked me a bit sideways.