Lee Fong

Lee Fong was laying low in Ireland due to a little trouble back home in Hong Kong. He had foolishly got involved in petty crime. One thing led to another and he eventually got mixed up in a dodgy heroin deal that went badly wrong. The upshot of all this was that he had come to the attention of one of the main triad gangs. The message was clear: get the hell out or suffer the consequences. His parents sent him to London where he lived with friends of theirs for a few months. This arrangement did not last too long, as the friends did not feel comfortable harbouring someone on the run from the Triads. And so he ended up with his Uncle David Chong in Dublin. David Chong ran a successful Chinese restaurant in Ballsbridge, an affluent Dublin suburb.

Lee awoke abruptly from a deep sleep. Someone was shouting at him.

"Hey, lazy bones, it's your cousin Stevie on the phone" his uncle called up the stairs. Lee jumped out of bed, quickly pulled on his jeans and ran down to take the call.

"Hi Stevie, what's up?"

"I'll tell you what's up lover boy, Sir Guido in the 3.30 at Kempton Park, put your shirt on it, it's a sure fire winner."

"I'm flat broke man and anyway I don't get paid 'till Friday; I couldn't have a cut at it even if I wanted to" Lee answered honestly.

"Ah poor old Lee, broke again," his cousin mocked.

"Look, I'm feeling generous, so I'll stick a fiver, no I'm feeling extra generous I'll put a tenner on for you, pay me back when you can".

"But what if it looses" Lee protested, "a tenner is a lot of dough to me, you know how little my uncle pays me".

Stevie interrupted him:

"Quit the chatter man, I'll see you later, we can spend our winnings on birds and booze" Stevie roared with laughter as he hung up the phone.

Lee returned to his room, took a shower and got dressed. It was almost half past eleven when he eventually went to the kitchen to start his day’s work. His uncle and several of the staff were already preparing for the lunchtime rush.

"That cousin of yours, Stevie, is no good," his uncle said. He went on "he does no work and always seems to have plenty of money. I hope he's not messing around with drugs, there's lots of that kind of trouble in this city you know".

Stevie is okay uncle" Lee replied. "He's been really kind to me since I came to Dublin and he does a lot of work in his dad's take-away in Crumlin".

"Oh, I'm not so sure" his uncle replied.

Lee liked his Uncle David. His heart was in the right place but he was a bit of a bore like a lot of the older generation. Lee missed his own family, especially his sister Yo-Yo. He wished he could talk to her now. She would tell him how to approach Maya Tan, the girl he had fallen for. Ever since his early teens they had been close. The funny thing was they hated each other growing up but things changed in his teens. It was nice having a sister two years older than you were when you became interested in girls. She gave him lots of good advice; he even went out with one or two of her friends when they were stuck. He looked older than he actually was. Now, just nineteen, he wished he could have a talk with her.

"Hey, dreamer, you gonna spend all day cleaning that wok" Sammy Wu, the kitchen supervisor, called out to him.

"Sorry Sammy" Lee replied, "I was thinking of home.

"Think, think, that's all you young guys do, that's not gonna get lunch ready, get your butt in gear, we gotta big crowd commin' in today.

Sammy Wu was short, squat and tough as nails. The odd time there was trouble in the restaurant, like the time some English rugby fans got a little messy, Sammy was called on to sort matters out. He had come to Ireland in the early seventies and lived in a tiny flat over the restaurant ever since. He did not drink or smoke and his only pleasure was his television set and his video machine. He spent most of his free time watching American gangster films, which he rented from the local video store. He affected an American accent and his conversation was peppered with Americana.

"Come on you guys, lets get cookin" Sammy shouted.

Lunchtime was as busy as usual and Lee had forgotten all about Stevie and Sir Guido when he was called to the phone just before five.

"What did I tell you" Stevie was laughing down the phone, "came in at twelve to one, that's one hundred and twenty quid to you handsome".

Lee could hardly believe his luck. One hundred and twenty pounds was the most cash he had ever possessed at one time since he came to Ireland.

"You're not kidding me now Stevie," he asked nervously.

"No way brother, it's party time tonight. Be in Crumlin around eight, you'd never know who might be there". Stevie gave his customary laugh and hung up.

Lee's uncle agreed to give him the night off after much pleading and by the time he arrived at his cousins' house the party was in full swing. The house was crowded, Stevie was preoccupied chatting up a blonde Irish girl and had no time to talk to Lee. He stuffed the money into Lee’s shirt pocket and said, "don’t bother to count it, it’s all there". It seemed that everyone in the house had bet on the horse and the word was that the local bookie's nose was out of joint. This added greatly to the pleasure of the occasion.

Lee was sipping a glass of beer and talking to Wong Foo, who was patiently explaining the form of various racehorses, when he saw Maya Tan walk into the room. He left his companion amid sentence, walked across to Maya and asked her if she'd like to dance. The dancing was in full swing in the adjoining room and the two of them joined the happy, seething throng. The stereo blasted out an endless stream of dance music as they swayed and sweated with the rest.

The party broke up around two in the morning. Lee extravagantly got a taxi back to Ballsbridge and even tipped the driver. He was drunk with pleasure. He had made a date with Amy for the following Friday night. They planned to go to The Omniplex at the Square in Tallaght. He opened the front door as quietly as he could and made for the stairs. He heard voices coming from his uncles office and thought it was a little strange for that time of the morning, it was now just past three. The voices in the office sounded agitated. There was an argument going on. He recognized his uncle's voice but not the other two. He went quietly up the stairs to his room and went to bed.

The next morning his uncle was strangely quiet and looked a little troubled. He spoke quietly to Sammy Wu once or twice as if seeking his advice. Sammy too looked troubled. Eventually Sammy called Lee aside.

"Look Lee" he began "a couple of guys called here last night looking for you and Stevie, tough guys from Hong Kong".

Lee felt the blood drain from his face as Sammy continued: "they seemed to think you and Stevie were dealing drugs over in Tallaght and Ballyfermot". Your uncle swore on his ancestors that you were a good boy and had never been in trouble but you know he doesn't like Stevie that much, he thinks he's trouble".

"Jesus Sammy, Stevie is a good guy, he's just a little flash that's all" Lee protested. "Anyway" Sammy continued "your uncle thinks you should go to work for a friend of his who has a place in the west of Ireland, a place called Castlebar, just for a while until this whole thing blows over, okay?"

" Sammy" Lee wailed "you know what those guys will do to Stevie if they find him, if they think he's been muscling in on their action they'll kill him for sure". "Come on Lee, there's no way that's gonna happen" Sammy lied. "They'll just rough him up a little, that's all, you know, teach him a lesson".

"I've got to go and warn him," Lee said making for the door.

" Now hold on" Sammy said "don’t be crazy, you'll just make trouble for yourself"

Lee looked straight into Sammys's eyes and said: "Sammy, those guys mean business, you know it and I know it. Now, I'm going to warn Stevie before it's too late, are you going to help me or not?"

Sammy Wu had avoided trouble all his life. He had survived a lot of scrapes by being diplomatic and keeping his mouth shut. Why the hell should he stick his neck out for a couple of crazy kids, he thought. He liked Lee and even though Stevie was a little too loud, he liked his style.

"Okay" Sammy said, " I must be going crazy or something, call a cab and let's go see if we can sort this mess out".

"Thanks Sammy" Lee said as he went to make the call.

Stevie Yang woke abruptly as the door of his flat was kicked in. The blonde girl in the bed beside him screamed as the two Hong Kong heavies yanked Stevie to his feet. He stood there naked and shivered with fear.

"You shut up silly girl" the taller of them said "and you" he said to Stevie "you put your pants on and come with us"

Stevie dressed quickly. They were about to leave when Lee and Sammy Wu walked into the flat. Sammy Wu spoke: "alright guys, you leave that boy alone, he's a friend of mine".

"Shut up fat man" one of the heavies said, "This is none of your business".

In an instant Sammy's fist caught him in the stomach and left him doubled up on the floor. The other heavy panicked and pulled out a gun and pointed it at Sammy.

"You stupid fucker" he blurted out "you don’t mess with us like that". Sammy smiled, this was like being in a movie, he thought. "Okay wise guy, what you gonna do with that pea shooter?" There was a loud bang, Sammy gripped his chest and fell to the ground. The one who fired the gun dragged his friend to his feet and they both ran down to the street where an accomplice was at the wheel of a black Mercedes with its engine running. The blonde girl screamed even louder and ran, half dressed, from the flat. Lee and Stevie looked at each other in despair. They bent over Sammy who was already dead. Stevie started to cry as Lee stood up slowly and walked out to the payphone in the hall to call the police. He searched his pocket for a coin for the phone but only felt a wad of notes. He pulled a few of them out and a little bit of paper fell to the floor. He picked it up and looked at it. On it was written Maya Tan's name and phone number.

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