Fiction: Group 2
Little Lucy's Discovery of the Pearl River Delta
Diocesan Preparatory School, Cheung, Kiu Ching Nicholas - 9, Fiction: Group 2
nce upon a time, there was a poor girl called Lucy. It is fitting to observe that Lucy
was
indeed
very poor at the beginning of this story; for as you will see later, her fortunes do take a turn for
the better…
Lucy became an orphan when she was 5 months old. Her mother and father died in a car crash. She
never found her life particularly interesting. She was allowed outdoors only on Sundays.
It so happened that her orphanage was situated near a
river.
It was a bright Sunday morning. Lucy decided to take a walk along the river. As she was doing so,
a group of mean-looking boys blocked her way and snarled, “Where do you think you’re going, young
lady?”
Poor Lucy was pushed into a corner where nobody could see them. Lucy cried, “What do you want?
Let me go! Help!” Luckily, Lucy’s crying was heard and one of the security guards of the orphanage ran
over to check what was happening. Lucy tried to tell him what had happened, but one of the boys who was
standing behind the guard made such threatening gestures at her that she did not dare tell the truth. The
security guard did not believe Lucy, but still banned the mean boys and Lucy from going outdoors for two
weeks on the grounds of suspicious behaviour.
Lucy made some porridge for herself, sat by the window and noticed something strange about the
river. She had never before thought much about this great river running along the orphanage, and was now
fascinated by her discovery.
The next day, Lucy went to the library and borrowed a book about rivers, and another one about
mud and sand. She made two very acute observations: she found that there was nothing in the library about
mixing water, mud and sand together; she also noticed that the river was shorter than it had been ten years
ago.
The following day happened to be Lucy’s eleventh birthday. Unfortunately for her, not even one
single orphan in the orphanage was interested in celebrating her birthday. All she got were some pairs of
woolly socks and a bland, rocky piece of cake, but at least her two-week ban from going outdoors was
cancelled for the day. Lucy rushed outside to the river and walked tensely, holding her breath. After what
must have been about four hours of walking, she discovered something which confirmed her suspicions: she
found out there was water, mud and sand forming land at the end of the river. She reached out her hand to
touch the new land. It all felt muddy and soft. Lucy was so excited about her discovery that she raced back
to the orphanage immediately, and posted this on the internet.
“Dear everybody on Earth,
Today, I, Lucy discovered new land formed at the end of the river. It was made up of a mixture of
sand, mud, water and shining like pearls under the sun. From now on, the new land at the end of the river
will be called The Pearl River Delta. If anyone suspects that this is a false message, they need only visit the
Guang Dong Orphanage.”
The post spread virally across the internet, and within a few days, thousands of people were flocking to the
orphanage. Lucy led the people to The Pearl River Delta and the people gasped. Lucy was credited
handsomely for her ground-breaking discovery with a lot of money—and that was the story of Lucy.
O
