Fiction: Group 3
Hai. Those deadly black eyes… could it be? Could his dad not have been so foolish?
Looking back at the reflection, Bo Hai could swear he saw his dad shrug and then there was
nothing - just a sloshing pool of water.
Bo Hai thought quickly, “Could it be the turtle causing all this trouble?
We will never have a
chance to get out of the storm alive. But, if I return the turtle to to the river, I may survive.”
Bo Hai quickly made up a decision that he would throw the turtle back. Getting up, Bo Hai
tried to steady himself as massive waves hit the boat. He stumbled towards the bucket where the turtle was.
As the boat lurched in the waves, he slammed his head into the mast and swore. Rubbing his bruised
forehead, he inched closer to the bucket until it was right beneath him- with the sacred turtle in full view.
Picking the black tortoise up, he took one last glance at the creature and chucked it off the boat.
Abruptly, the clouds started to separate, allowing streams of sunlight to shine upon his boat. A
light breeze brewed as the milky clouds, fluffy and soft, danced across the azure sky. The mountains in the
distance appeared again lush and green. The glimmering river seemed to smile warmly at Bo Hai as he stared
at the shiny ebony shell padding away towards the horizon.
Bo Hai shook his head in disbelief. Turning the mast around, he sailed back to the golden idyllic
beach where he docked his boat with the other creaking barges. Listening to pebbles crunch under his
buckling sandals, he shuffled towards his home empty handed but relieved.
As the sun sank under the horizon of the Pearl River Delta, Bo Hai took out all his father’s
belongings that he had buried under the bed when his father passed away. Quietly, he separated the statues
that his dad used to bow to, from the old man’s clothes and shoes. He then carefully brushed the dust off the
statues using a goose feather. Placing the statues on a wooden shelf near the window, he put the statue of the
turtle in the middle. As he bowed down to them, he was sure out of the corner of his eye, he could see the
turtle smile.
