New Tales of the Gobi Desert
PLK HKTA Yuen Yuen Primary School, Ho Yin Lam, Fiction: Group 2
The Christmas Present
Hi everyone, my name is Amber, and I live here in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong with
my parents and my elder brother, Ian. He’s a horrible person who always play pranks on me.
It was Christmas night. Amber’s granny had gone to her home to celebrate Christmas and
Amber’s birthday. Amber loved Christmas, it was not only a festival, but also her birthday. As
always, Amber and Ian sat in the living room, watching TV. Granny called” Time for the presents,
darlings.” She gave Ian a new game, Amber was jealous, she rolled her eyes at granny “ Granny
oh granny, you said you would give me a special Christmas gift!”” Yes, my dear Amber, come
with me.” Granny brought Amber to the guest room where she put her bag inside. She took a little
purple silk bag out of her handbag. She gave it to Amber and said “This is a very precious gift,
do not lose it and never let others see it, it is a gift my granny gave me, she found it in the Gobi
Desert when she was young, and now I pass it to you, hold it in your palm tonight when you sleep,
it will lead you to a place...” And she turned and left the room, leaving Amber alone.
“Night night, Amber. Have a nice Christmas dream with your granny’s present, I hope you like
it, although I’m not sure about what granny gave you, keep it nice.” “ Yes, I know, night night,
mama.” Amber replied. Mama tucked Amber in, kissed her forehead, and left the room, closing the
door behind her. Amber opened the bag granny gave her and took something out. It was a ruby.
She remembered what granny said, she put it in her palm, and she drifted to sleep. As she fell
asleep, the ruby started to shake in her palm...
“Ouch!” Amber cried, her bottom hit the ground. Where was she? She was standing on top of
a piece of land filled with sand, it was a desert! She looked down at her palm, the ruby was still
in its place. She was scared, she walked in one direction, she didn’t know where she was walking
to, she just kept walking and walking... Just then, she saw a camel walking straight towards her,
it told her to ride on it. Strangely , Amber understood what the camel was talking about, she rode
and slept on the camel’s back. When she woke up, she was in a cave, sleeping on the ground. A
camel was standing around her, it was the camel who had brought her here, it said” You are now
in the Gobi Desert. I belong to the family of Bactrian camels, we Bactrian camels have lived
here for many years.” But what am I here for, actually?” Amber asked. The camel replied” We are
endangered animals, every 30 years, a person with the ruby you are holding will be sent here by
the ruby, which is magical, and one of us will meet that person, we will pray to the ruby to send
that person back to his or her real life. And he or she will find a way to rescue us...”And it started
praying, the ruby began to glow...
Amber opened her eyes, she was on her bed. She sat up straight, she was holding the ruby in
her palm. She wasn’t sure about what she had just did, was it a dream? Or was it a real adventure?
No one knows. The time was still the same as the time she left, she sat in front of the computer
and went to Google, she typed...
***
