Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

CHAPTER NINE
TYERSALL PARK, SINGAPORE
Eddie walked down the east corridor on the way to his grandmother’s bedroom, admiring
the cluster of old photographs that had been hung salon-style over a damask-covered
settee. In the center was a framed oversize print of his great-grandfather Shang Loong Ma
posing next to several enormous elephant tusks and a jewel-turbaned maharaja after a
safari in India. Next to that hung a studio portrait of his grandfather Sir James Young in
the late thirties, looking every inch the matinee idol in his houndstooth jacket and white
fedora, and improbably clutching a Norwich terrier in his arms. How dapper he looked!
Who made that blazer for him? Could it be Huntsman, or Davies & Son? Eddie
wondered. I wish I had known him back then. Of all his grandsons, I’m obviously the
only one who inherited his style.
Lower down on the wall was a long, rectangular photo of his grandmother Su Yi
wearing a tea dress, sprawled elegantly on a picnic blanket in what looked like the Jardin
du Luxembourg. Next to her were two French ladies, and each of them clutched intricate
lace parasols that appeared to be straining against a gust of wind. The two ladies were
laughing, but Su Yi stared straight into the camera, perfectly composed. How beautiful
she had been in her youth. Eddie scrutinized the signature that had been scrawled at the
bottom of the print: J. H. Lartigue. Holy fuckballs, did the great French photographer
Jacques Henri Lartigue really take this picture of Ah Ma? Jesus, this is priceless. I must
have it for my office. It could go right next to my Cartier-Bresson print of the boy
holding the wine bottles. No one else would appreciate this photograph like I would. If I
took this photo and replaced it with one of the others hanging on the other wall, would
anyone notice?
Eddie looked around the corner to see if any of the maids were skulking nearby. There
were so many goddamn maids everywhere, no one had any privacy to steal a thing in this
house. That’s when he heard the slow, deep moan. Ooaahhh!!! Ooooaaaahhh! It was
coming from a door halfway down the hallway that had been left slightly ajar. Eddie
quickly realized it was the suite where his cousin Adam and Piya Aakara were staying. He
knew that Thais could be kinky, but would they really leave the door ajar like this while
they were having their morning nooky? Anyone coming down this corridor could hear