Fiction: Group 3
Pearl
Korean International School Secondary Section, Caves, Beth - 12, Fiction: Group 3
ang! Bang! Bang! Pearl woke to the sound of construction. “Oh no, not again!” she exclaimed. For
the past month there had been dreadful noises from dawn till dusk. She had realised it must be the
construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau-Bridge, which she was told about by her friend
Paul. “Pearl, it’s time to go to school,” called her mum. She got out of bed and went into the kitchen to get
breakfast. She ate up her fish cake and made her tuna sandwich to take to school. Pearl grabbed her lunch
and school bag, then swam out the door. She saw Paul waiting outside his house and sped towards him. Paul
saw her coming and waved “Hey Pearl, quick, otherwise we’ll be late for the special announcement today.”
They swam as fast as they could to school and were sliding into their seats just as the bell rang. “Good
morning sea creatures,” said a cheerful Mr. Squid, waving his tentacles. He took the attendance and then
called for attention. “Now students, as you all know, work has been started on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-
Macau-Bridge. This means there are a lot more big boats and pollution, and you also need to be careful of
falling debris from the bridge.” The students looked at each other in horror. Mr Squid continued “This
could mean that the school will decide to close or your parents will say that you have to move away from
the Pearl River Delta, to get away from the construction.” Then the bell to signal the end of form room
rang and the class left the room.
“Well,” sighed Paul, “I was hoping for a happier announcement, not one telling us that we might have to
move!” They swam down the hallway in silence until they reached Pearl’s classroom. Pearl waved goodbye
to Paul and went into the classroom. For the rest of the day, Pearl thought about what Mr. Squid had said
and when she got home told her mum about it. She went to bed knowing that there was nothing she could
do except wait and see what would happen.
But the next day she was awoken by her mum calling her name. Pearl swam downstairs to the living room
and found her mum lying on the sofa watching the news. “Look, Pearl!” her mum said as she gestured with
her flipper for Pearl to sit down. The news said that a ferry going from Hong Kong to Macau had crashed
into the construction of the bridge and was at risk of sinking. Pearl was about to say “I hope no one was
hurt!” but was interrupted by the next news announcement. “Ocean World: Due to the danger the ferry is
causing, school is cancelled till further notice. Please stay at home and out of danger.” ‘Yippee, now I can go
back to sleep for longer’ thought Pearl, jumping up from the sofa and swimming up to her room.
There was no school for days, so Pearl spent her days playing at home, calling Paul and watching TV. Each
day she watched the news to see if there were any updates on the ferry crash, but there weren’t. One week
later, on Sunday, Pearl sat down as usual and turned on the news. To her delight, there was an update on
the crash. She listened intently as the reporter started talking. “Ocean World: Human authorities have
decided to halt the construction of the bridge until next year so the ferry can be removed out of the water.
So schools are open again and life will be back to normal. Thank you.” Pearl immediately swam as fast as she
could to Paul’s house and they both jumped up and down with joy. They were so glad that sea life would
be happy and that their pod of Chinese white dolphins could live peacefully in the future.
B
