A Sad Tale of the Gobi Desert
St. Joseph’s College, Francis Lam, Fiction: Group 4
T
his was a cold, dark night, as usual. The temperature difference of day and night in Gobi
Desert could reach 35 degrees Celsius. No wonder all animals living there were glad to
feel the cool breeze, which they all longed for during the day.
Polly the marbled polecat set out to look for food. When she was leaving her cave,
she was worried. To be precise, she was worried every time when she left her babies at home.
It was a cold, dark night and every predator living in Gobi Desert considered it was high time
for them to leave their cave and slaughter some baby polecats for mid–night snack. There had
been several babies succumbing to the attacks when she left home several months ago. She was
uncertain whether it was lucky or unfortunate for her to escape from those attacks, because she
would have been killed if she was still in the cave. But she must go out for food, or she would not
have enough milk for her babies.
On top, Polly was also worried about her personal safety. Every polecat had poor eyesight and
had to sense the environment using their nose and ears. If Polly could smell a grey wolf coming, it
would be too late because the wolf was already close enough to get her. Therefore, Polly was using
her only weapons, stink gas, speed and agility, to avoid dangers. The marble-like spots on her
back looked like blitz when she was dashing through the night, hiding from one stone to another.
“The weather is less cold these years,’’ thought Polly as she took a rest under the shadow of a
stone. “And the day is now getting scorching. What’s wrong?’’
When she was trying to figure out the reason behind the rising temperature, she heard a
distant roaring noise. It was a crescendo of engine noise heading this way. Bewildered, Polly
huddled herself tightly, hoping that the giant roaring monster would leave her alone. The truck
did not stop and continued with its journey. Polly was finally relieved until the engine sound
faded in distance.
Those encounters between human and wild animals were becoming more and more
frequent these years due to various reasons. Some of the humans were tourists, and others were
scientists. Most of the time they were friendly, but they would sometimes leave rubbish behind.
Most of the animals were scared of humans no matter how they pretended to be “friendly’’
because of the hunters.
The worst of them were illegal hunters. They had guns and knives and poisons and traps.
All animals in the Gobi Desert could become their victims. Scorpions could be used as Chinese
medicine, eagles could be cooked for food and wolf skin could be sold for money. The skin of
marbled polecats is especially expensive because of the golden spots. Polly was lucky that those
gunmen in the truck did not found her.
Polly rose to her feet and moved on. Food was scarce these days and there was less and less
food available for everyone in Gobi desert. The law of the jungle had become the law of Gobi
Desert. When Polly was enjoying the one and only salamander she could find after a whole night,
she was not aware that there was something inching towards her.
Suddenly Polly was held tightly by a strong hand. She struggled and released the stink gas to
escape but in vain. She wiggled in the air, trying to get away from the grip. She was tossed into a
cage violently and the door shut behind her once she was in the cage. Polly looked out of the cage
