The Robbery at Mogao Caves
Renaissance College, Chi Ching Chow, Fiction: Group 3
C
arina was a twelve year old girl that lived with her loving parents. They were quite rich,
and lived by a beautiful beach in Florida. Unfortunately, because of Mr Persytherin’s job,
an archaeologist, they spent more time travelling around the world than staying in their
lovely house by the sea.
Ever since Mr Persytherin read a book about a famous archaeologist visiting the Mogao Caves,
and describing the statues and paintings as “stunning, extremely impressive, brilliant, absolutely
remarkable”, Mr Persytherin had wanted to go there too.
Mr Persytherin always brought his family with him on important trips. He believes the
saying, “Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten”. Mrs Persytherin and Carina were
happy to come along too. Carina was the smartest in class, and she had no problem catching up
with them if she was away. The teachers all understood that Mr Persytherin was an archaeologist,
and they didn’t protest when Carina skipped into the classroom, flung the absence form on their
desks, and asked for a signature.
After a week of planning and researching, the Persytherins’ finally bought tickets to the Gobi
Desert. That very day, the Persytherin family set off towards the Mogao Caves from their rented
cottage. A Chinese lady with red highlighted hair in a black dress and heels greeted them at the
entrance. “You must be Mr Persytherin!” She said happily. Carina read the nametag pinned to her
chest: CHENG-WANG, HEAD OF CUSTOMER SERVICES.
After brief introductions, Cheng-Wang led Mr Persytherin into other tunnels, winding into
other parts of the Mogao Caves.
Meanwhile, Carina and her mother wandered around, examining the drawings that Mr
Persytherin would spend hours and hours on.
A while later, after passing several exhibits, Carina found her father crouching on the dirt
ground in the neighboring exhibit, tapping thoughtfully on the stonewall. Carina strode across to
him, and asked, “What are you doing?” Carina’s father didn’t respond immediately, but there was
a look of disbelief on his face.
“This place is hollow,” he said. “And look at all these scratches here!” But before he could say
anything more, a man with wild brown hair emerged from behind a pillar. He wore sandals, jeans
and a white shirt with a blue tie.
“I’m the Head of Security and Management, and my name is Carl.” The man introduced.
Unlike Cheng-Wang, Carl was definitely Western. Mr Persytherin immediately stood up from his
crouching position and shoved his pile of tools toward Carina. “Nice—nice to meet you. Is there
something wrong?” he said nervously.
“This part of the wall is very weak, please do not hammer on it, in case it caves in.” Carl said
sharply. Carina’s father nodded solemnly. “Sorry if we caused any trouble.” He apologized.
But Carina wasn’t listening to what Carl was saying. She had noticed that there was no
nametag or anything on Carl’s shirt. It was extremely unlikely that the Head of Security did not
wear a nametag. Also, she was confident that the China government would not hire a foreigner to
be the Head of Security in one of the most important National treasures. And Carina had noticed
some of the other guards passing by, but not paying any attention to Carl, as if he was just an
