Small Crimes In An Age Of Abundance

1. Stone None of it would ever have happened if Tania had not become best friends with Sarah Spence. One moment Tania's parents had hardly heard the name, and the next it seemed like they heard nothing else: Sarah Spence knew where to buy the best secondhand clothes, Sarah Spence had a CD by a fantastic new band, Sarah Spence said Friends of the Earth were just old hippies. At first Tania's parents were happy enough, as Sarah Spencean unexpectedly plain yet self-possessed girlalways treated them politely. But Tania's father, Guy, began to lose patience when Sarah's reported achievements were extended to travel. The Spences, Tania explained triumphantly, "were really adventurous," going to exotic, faraway places all by themselves. Sarah's father was a "totally brilliant linguist" and would learn Latin American Spanish or Bahasa Indonesian "just like that" so they could buy tickets and find hotels as they went. "Sarah says it's the only way to travel," Tania insisted, "as you can really see the country and make friends with the people." There was no mistaking the criticism of her own parents lurking in Tania's praise, and Guy Winter found this especially annoying as he was rather proud of his family's holidays. Yes, they went with a tour firm, but this was no ordinary tour firm. For some years Guy's family had booked with the High Style Travel Company, to Rajasthan, India, Tanzania, Indonesia, and elsewhere, and not once had they been disappointed. High Style lived up to its name, taking them to atmospheric, offbeat spots alongside the standard tourist sights, and choosing characterful hotels. Most of all, High Style had a knack of attracting just the right sort of person to their groups, which never seemed to include the loud boors or complaining oldsters Guy dreaded. He and his wife, Chloe, had met some fascinating people on their trips from all kinds of interesting professions, and they had remained good friends with a number of High Stylers even long afterward. For that matter Tania herself had loved all their High Style holidays, and it was only now that she had treacherously decided they were inferior to the Spences' DIY efforts. The Spences? Guy did not think of himself as a snob, but there were some people he simply had no time for. Didn't Geoff Spence run some sort of fitness club? Guy had met him at parents' events and had thought him a silly-looking man, with straggly hair and an overeager, gap-toothed smile. What really decided matters, though, was Michael Chen. Chen was a buyer for one of Hong Kong's larger jewelry stores who passed by Chloe's shop during a visit to London and stepped inside, professionally curious. He ended up staying for more than two hours, examining piece after piece. "You should come to Hong Kong and show these to our manager," he told Chloe. "Of course I can't promise anything, Mrs. Winter, but I like your designs and I'm sure he'll like them too. And believe me, Hong Kong people like buying jewelry." He left an impressive-looking business card, which she showed to Guy that evening. There was no denying it was a good opportunity, but a round-trip flight there seemed an expensive outlay when nothing was certain, and Guy remained doubtful. "You might go all the way there and then find this man Chen had just got overexcited. People do that when they're on a trip." "What if we combined it with our next holiday?" wondered Chloe. For some time Guy and Chloe had been tempted by High Style's Cool Cathay tour of China, but had always decided againKneale, Matthew is the author of 'Small Crimes In An Age Of Abundance', published 2005 under ISBN 9780385514071 and ISBN 0385514077.