Opium Addicts and Maori Masks

Chapter 1

I grew up as a trader's daughter. All I know is trade- the buying and selling of goods in foreign and domestic lands. The smell of rare Indian spices and British teas are a familiar scent to me. The feeling of Chinese silks and trying on oversized kimonos and pretending to be a geisha was my favorite thing to do as a child.
Now, I'm an eleven year old about to be shipped to Hong Kong to take over my father's business. Most girls becoming interested in boys at this age but not me. I'm about to take on my biggest challenge: being a woman and running a business in 1837. Despite the criticism my father received, he wants me to be a successful business woman.
Father believes that women don't belong in the home. He thinks we deserve a chance to have a job outside of the home. He thinks we are equal to men. He thinks we have the capability to do better than most men. My father is a man of many beliefs and women belonging in the home is not one of them.
Mother on the other hand, she has old beliefs. She wants me to become an average housewife. She thinks it is a bad idea for me to move to Hong Kong because it's 'unladylike' and 'barbaric'. Father thinks otherwise...
   My brother, Fingal, is an extravagant man. He may be four years older than me but I love him dearly. When he was eleven, father took him to India to start a second trading post there. He has been there ever since but he does come back for the major Scottish holidays. I can not fathom what it is like to be 15 and able to run a trading post alone. I hope father stays with me for longer than three years for I fear I will destroy the entire family business if he doesn't.
   Fingal and I write to each other all of the time. He asks how The Prancing Florican is doing back home in Scotland and if mother and father are doing well. It is always the same: father taking care of the Scottish trade and mother caring for the house.
   Fingal has told me stories of some of the things he has sold and I love the birthday presents he sends me. For my eighth birthday, he sent me a carved wooden mask he got from a British man in New Zealand. It was carved by a man in the native Maori tribe in the mountains of New Zealand. I wish I could meet the man who carved it so intricately. It had to have taken at least a month for all of the details. I can tell the carvings tell a story but I don't know what the story is. I want to know the story. I want to know more about this culture that's so far away.
   I hope after I have established a name for myself in Hong Kong, I can travel to New Zealand to learn the stories of those people that interest me so greatly. Maybe my new business partner will be willing to watch after the third Prancing Florican for me while I'm gone. I'm sure he's a kind boy but I hope that he is ok with working with a woman. That's the only thing that worries me...
   Father hasn't even told me the boys name. He refuses to even tell me where he is from. I just wish to know what part of Europe he is from. I'm sure he's a young British or French boy who's father is a rich well-known merchant. I just can't wait to see Hong Kong for myself and experience the hustle and bustle of a Chinese city with a new friend.
Father has warned me, the business I will be dealing with is rather...illegal in some cases. For the most part, I will deal with normal trade such as silks, spices, animals, and things of the like. On the other hand, my new friend will be dealing with the illegal side of things. Between you and I, I don't want to be having illegal dealings under my name. One wrong move and I will be killed or in jail. That's the reason father is sending me to China.
He knows I'm a careful and calculating person. He knows I will make no mistakes in the secret dealings. He knows that I know how to keep a straight face to avoid being guilty of something. He has saw me steal from the market place back in Perth and get out of the situation unharmed. Father knows what I'm capable of and he knows for a fact I will not let him down.
When I get to Hong Kong, I will learn the ways of trade and help my brother get his goods to China. I will finally be able to learn all of the spices and silks I have saw my entire childhood. I will finally be able to get more Maori masks.
Maybe I can acquire a book about the Maori in cantonese. That would be helpful because the boy will be helping me learn cantonese everyday. This way, I won't need him as a translator wherever I go. Also, I have overheard father saying that the boy will be dealing with one thing he refuses to let me touch or even see here in Perth. Opium.