Fiction: Group 3
But that wasn’t the highlight of anything. These huge grey blocks imprisoned the men 12 hours a day, and
left tonnes of wastage into the waterway.
Growing up, I had this childish idea that I could somehow change the area into a rich tourist idea with top-
of-the-line infrastructure and holiday houses.
Silly, right?
***
Buddy’s jaw dropped in awe as he glanced at the giant dolphin display that swam amongst the turquoise
wavelets. Shiny beads hung from the breath of the dolphin, and he could swear he saw one of them move.
Holy Mother of Doughnuts this place was beautiful.
With renewed spirit, he turned to the checking line…
Only to see the largest line of adults, waiting for the next available arrival station.
From here, you are 1 hour
away from check in!
The cheerful read. Sighing, he joined the line with a face long enough to stretch across
the entire terrain of the Great Wall of China.
But his wasn’t down 6 hours later, when he sat with eyes wider than saucers. He watched with wonder and
shock as one tight rope walker stood on top of another tight rope walker, which stood on top of another
tight rope walker, which stood on top of a tight rope. Then they all collectively turned around and did
backflips.
He gasped with more enthusiasm than a child when he saw acrobats bent their body as if they did not
understand the concept of bones. Then they lifted each other off the floor with only their big thumbs,
swung each other around by the tips of their shoulders.
He cheered until his throat became hoarse at the silk dancers, who hung a hundred meters above the ground
suspended by only a piece of fabric. Then they took a leap into the air and jumped gracefully into the pool.
And he would deny it later, but Buddy had never been more awe-struck.
***
They say the grass is always greener on the other side. That’s probably true. Now that I’ve left Zhu Hai, all I
can think of was the vibrant culture. And love.
Yes, I’ve said it. You can now all go and stuff cotton in your ear now. I mean, what does some low level
Chinese girl who never went elsewhere know about love?
Probably nothing.
However, I didn’t meet my future husband through “nothing.”
I didn’t mother Buddy with the power of “nothing.”
So call me Naïve, but to this day I still believe that the red strings of fate exist, even in the most insignificant
countries.
So who knows, the universe is always up for grabs.
***
Buddy sat at the breakfast table, half snoring. Despite the hotel being very upmarket, its breakfast room was
in short a wedding reception with yogurt. Perhaps that was the Pearl River Delta- It was developed in
some ways, but in order to be a full-fledged dragon things like service needed to be sharpened to finesse.
And with that pretentious conclusion Buddy took a step back and bit into his apple with relish.
“Hey…Mind if I sit here?” Buddy looked up to see an attractive woman about his age.
“Uh yeah…sure. It’s pretty hectic in here isn’t it?”
“Oh definitely. My husband and I are so glad to actually have a place to sit.” The woman replied, smiling.
“Ah-ha-ha! Well you and your husband can enjoy themselves. I’ll be off.” He replied awkwardly, edging
away.
Fate, it seems, had a remarkably mocking sense of humour.
