Fiction: Group 4
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Puikiu College, Brothers, Chloe - 12, Fiction: Group 4
he Pearl River Delta is a vast low lying area of over 35,000 square kilometres situated where the
Pearl River meets the South China Sea. It is home to over 70,000,000 people working in many
different jobs.
One family living and working in the Pearl River Delta, is the Wong family. Mr & Mrs Wong and
their children, Ah Fung who is 14 years old and Yan Yan who is 8 years old, and their cat Milo. The
Wongs all live on an old fishing boat, and make a living by going out to sea each day to catch fish and bring
back to Hong Kong to sell in the markets. They are working very hard to save up to buy a new boat.
It is now in the summer and Ah Fung and Yan Yan are on school holidays and help with the daily
fishing. One day they all woke up to go fishing, and Mr Wong saw on the horizon many dark clouds. He
checked the weather report and it also said a very dangerous storm was approaching the Pearl River Delta,
and no boats should go out to sea. But since he was saving up to buy a new boat, Mr Wong could not
afford to miss out on even one days work, so he still decided to take the boat out and go fishing. He told his
wife and children to put on their life vests and be ready for rough seas. Mrs Wong did not want them to go
out on the seas, and told Mr Wong that she felt it was too dangerous. But Mr Wong still decided that they
had to go anyway.
They went out far into the sea and started fishing. As there were not many other boats around, they
seemed to be catching lots of fish and everything was ok. However it was not too long and then the clouds
quickly blew in and the big storm hit them. The wind and waves were very strong and their old boat was
thrown around like a toy in a bathtub. The waves were higher than the boat itself and the wind was
blowing the rain almost sideways. Ah Fung and Yan Yan were very scared and completely soaked by the
heavy rains.
All of a sudden, a big wave hit their boat and many things were washed overboard. Tables, chairs
and fishing equipment. Mr Wong told everyone to quickly head to the deck below and hold on. But before
they could go down, another big wave hit them, and this time poor Milo the cat was swept overboard. Yan
Yan cried out to her father that Milo was in the water, but Mr Wong could not do anything, as it was too
dangerous to try to rescue Milo.
Ah Fung and Yan Yan then rushed down to the lower deck with their mother, while Mr Wong
battled to keep their boat floating and to try to save all the other family belongings from being washed away.
Mrs Wong and the children huddled below the deck and listened to the howling winds and heavy rains
battering their old boat. Mrs Wong was very worried about her husband and was praying that he would not
be swept overboard like Milo.
Gradually the wind and rain began to stop and they could the feel the boat was rocking less and
less. Mr Wong finally came down and told them it was safe to come back on deck. When they got back to
the deck, they saw many broken things and a lot of mess. Mr Wong looked exhausted from fighting the
storm and he had lots of scratches and bruises from being hit by many flying objects.
Mrs Wong and the children were so relieved that he was ok and that the boat was still floating.
They all did their best to try to clean things up on the deck and Mr Wong went down to the engine room
to try to fix the engine, which got flooded in the storm. The engine was soon fixed and they started the
long sail back to Hong Kong.
Suddenly Yan Yan called out “look over there, it’s Milo!”. Sure enough, Milo had managed to find
a piece of a broken table and climb up on it and hold on during the storm. Mr Wong jumped into the water
to get Milo and to bring him back on board. Yan Yan and Ah Fung were so happy that Milo had been
found, and of course Milo was also very happy he had been found, as cats really do not like water at all.
Now they were all safely back on board, they got some soft drinks and sandwiches from the old
fridge and celebrated with a snack while their boat headed back home. After arriving back in Hong Kong,
they spend several hours cleaning up the mess on the boat and making some repairs. That night they all had
a lovely seafood dinner and gave thanks for making it through the terrible storm and getting back home
safely.
T
