Lost in the Gobi Desert
Kowloon Junior School, Marissa Chow, Fiction: Group 2
I
t was a lovely, bright July afternoon. 10-year-old Jack wanted to play with his friend George
Petronie. He put a can of tinned food, a book called ‘Desert Regions’, a collapsible tent, his
water bottle and some sweets into his bag, went out, and crossed the street. He clambered
over George’s fence and landed with a THUD in Mrs. Petronie’s prized rose garden. He
gulped. Mrs. Petronie won’t be happy about this! He was about to go back when a man wearing
a green shirt and blue shorts grabbed his collar roughly and said, “Well, well, well, what do we
have here?” He dragged Jack through a tunnel into a cramped room where George was, gagged
and strapped firmly to a chair. He widened his eyes in shock when he saw Jack, and mumbled
something under the filthy gag. “What have you done?” Jack cried angrily. “Why are you doing
this?” The man smirked. “SILENCE!” He thundered. He snatched up Jack’s phone and put it into
his pocket. “I’m Nick, by the way. Follow me.” He untied George and led the terrified boys down
another tunnel and into a car. He bundled them into the seats and drove off.
After 2 hours, Nick ordered them to go out. He gave them a piece of bread each and drove
away, sneering. “Where are we?” George asked. “I think we’re in the Gobi or Sahara Desert.” Jack
replied glumly. Just then, he remembered his book. He took it out and flipped through the pages.
“There it is!” He cried suddenly, pointing to a picture of sandy plains. “We’re in the Gobi Desert!”
Jack read out some information from the text. “The Gobi Desert is the largest desert region in
Asia. Its sand dunes are covered with snow from time to time.” He glanced at George, who was
perched sadly on a rock. “What’s wrong with you?” Jack asked. “How’re we going to get out?”
George wailed. Jack sighed and searched in his bag for the sweets. He thrust one to George. “Here,
eat this!” George munched happily and thanked Jack. Then, he suggested, “Let’s walk through this
desert and see if anyone will rescue us.”
Night fell, and the pair hadn’t found anyone at all. They gave up and ate some food from
Jack’s bag. Next, they made a bed to sleep in. George, who had experienced making beds before,
found a shady spot to sleep in under a tree. Jack climbed the tree and threw some leaves down
to George, who spread them out on the sand. Meanwhile, Jack collected more leaves and when
George had finished arranging the leaves, let them plummet down as well. Then, George bundled
them up into green, ‘leafy’ pillows. After that, Jack threw the last leaves down and George made
them into blankets. He then signaled to Jack and Jack clambered down the almost barren tree.
Finally, both exhausted children climbed into their bed, which was certainly not first-rate.
The next day, Jack was sauntering along with George when he decided to drink some water.
As he was opening his bottle, Jack tripped on a stone. Water flew out as Jack lay sprawled on the
sand. Tears trickled down his cheek. George was horrified. He made a desperate attempt to catch
the remaining drops of water but the last droplets were absorbed by the sand. George ran to help
Jack sit up on a nearby boulder. “Are you okay?” He asked. “I guess so…” Jack replied, shifting his
position. He picked his water bottle up and they continued to trek through the scorching sand.
The pair managed to survive for 3 days. They stored all the fluids they could find in Jack’s
water bottle. They set up the collapsible tent and took turns guarding it and hunting for food.
George found a spoor spider and Jack killed a scorpion. The children feasted on anything they
could find.
