The Gem in the Gobi
St. Paul’s Co-educational College, Chan Yat Ching, Fiction: Group 3
T
he explorer stood on the sand dune, marvelled at the sight below. Miles and miles of
sand dunes lay below him and above him, the blue sky was crystal clear. He gazed at this
sight and thought that the sweltering heat and long airplane rides were worth it after all.
He had finally reached the Gobi desert.
He was interrupted by a hiss at his back, “No visitors are allowed in the waterless land.”
He turned around and found an old Mongolian man behind him. The Mongolian man
continued, “Visitors only cause havoc to our land, the last time the gem was found……”, he
immediately sighed in despair.
The explorer perked up his ears, “Gem, what gem? My name’s Jimmy. I’m an explorer. Can you
lead me to it?”
“Never!” shrieked the old man, “the creature must not be angered!” He went off
bellowing hysterically.
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and continued to trudge on. After an hour, he was grumbling,
the scorching sun wasn’t doing anything to improve his mood. Suddenly, he saw a car driving up
towards him, Jimmy managed a grin, maybe he could have a hitchhike. The car door opened and
a bald man stepped out.
He yelled out , “What’re you doing in the desert without a camel or a car? Get on before your
skin peels off your face from the heat.”
Jimmy gladly hopped into the car and they drove off. “So, what brings you to the Gobi?” the
bald man asked.
“I’m an explorer. I’m doing a research on desertification.” He showed him his research work in
his notebook computer while talking.
“Interesting,” said the bald man, eyeing Jimmy’s backpack, “Excuse me, I’ve got to make a
phone call.” Swiftly the bald man got out of the car and Jimmy waited patiently inside.
After a few minutes, there was the sound of hooves stomping and people hollering. Jimmy
stuck his head out of the car window and saw a gang of bandits riding camels towards him.
“Get out of the car and put your hands behind your back,” the bandit at the front snarled. The
others snatched his backpack away from him and emptied it into their bags.
“Good work leading him here,” said the bandit to the bald man, he gave a bag of coins to him
and the bald man gratefully accepted it. Jimmy, on the other hand, was tied with his face to the
ground by the other bandits and was left to die.
Jimmy was tired and thirsty, it had been five hours since the bandits went away and he was
literally baked by the desert sun and scorched by the desert sand. Out of the corner of his eye, he
saw something swooping down from the sky. Suddenly, everything blacked out.
Jimmy awoke to see an assorted bunch of animals, golden eagles, bactrian camels and a few
small marbled polecats were among them.
“My friends, the time has come, our saviour has risen. According to the prophecy, he can
brave the sun so the heat will be nothing to him. He will be deceived by bandits so he will no
longer be fooled by trickery. He will be the one to rid us of the worm that terrorises the Gobi. We
must wait no longer!” said a golden eagle in a firm voice to his companions.
