Fiction: Group 2
A Wetland Story
Good Hope Primary School cum Kindergarten, Chu, Kristen - 11, Fiction: Group 2
loud screech came rolling across a wetland, sending the flock of black faced spoonbills that settled
peacefully flying away, squawking with terror. One of the birds looked back, only to see a massive
monster digging away the soil and mud. Black, foul-smelling fumes wafted into the air, making the
poor spoonbills to hold their breath until they felt dizzy. Two legged beasts with colorful pelts yelped and
shouted at the birds, waving long and shiny poles and laughing. In the midst of the chaos, a voice could be
weakly heard. “Fly to the river delta, it’ll be safe!” The whole flock of spoonbills immediately changed
course and flew towards north, and on and on they fled, until they reached the safe haven of mud.
“Another fishing place destroyed. It’s the third time. When are the two legged monsters going to stop?”
“Calm down, Blackface. It’s no use raging about the wingless tribe. We should go and find new fishing
places. We can’t stay within the rivers any-“
“Be realistic, Feather. Do you really think the Outside is any good? You know that we’ve sent a small
party to explore that place and only half of them returned with severe injuries. Those wretched monsters are
merciless!”
Blackface flew away in fury, leaving Feather deep in thought. She knew that at this rate, their hunting
grounds were going to deplete entirely within two generations of chicks. The other birds around her chatted
with each other nervously and the chicks huddled with their mothers. But all was not lost. Off in the
distance……
“I tell you, that place is the main ground for the black-faced spoonbills to breed! If you flatten that piece
of ground, the population of the birds will decline almost half!”
“I don’t care. I will take what it takes to make my company bigger and stronger. Money is hard to make
these days.”
In a room in a skyscraper, a woman and a businessman were arguing. The woman had already stood up
and the businessman’s face was scarlet. She said, “If you flatten that piece of ground, the whole world will
know about your wicked deeds. Your company will be abhorred all over the world. Moreover, the black-
faced spoonbills are an endangered species and you will face a dangerous threat of being sued.” The man
smiled and held his hands together. “Then I’ll cover it up. Anything is possible with money.” The woman
flung her hands up in frustration. “Fine. But if you get sued, don’t expect me to pay the fine.” And she
walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Winter was setting in, and the flock of black faced spoonbills were preparing themselves to migrate. In the
very corner of the island of rocks they settled, a pair of spoonbills was debating on whether they should
change mating grounds. “We can’t. It’s too risky. We can’t afford to lose any more searchers.”
“Even the leaf-bare lake is being consumed by the smoke monsters. Are you sure?”
“We can only hope the monsters will stop. We cannot beat the monsters and the Outside is too lethal.”
Feather sighed and called for the flock. She glanced at the small but terrifying shapes of rock monsters, her
feathers fluffing up at the thought of being crushed under the strong rubbery substance under the monsters.
Although she knew that they had no hope of coming back after leaf-bare, she still spread her wings. It was
time leave this wretched place.
Three months later, a woman busted in a room, an envelope in her hands. “Tobias! Look what you have
done! Haven’t I told you to stop the operation?” Tobias spun around in his comfortable chair and raised an
eyebrow. “What is it, Maggie?” Maggie slammed her hand on the desk and flung the brown envelope at
him. He caught it and slowly opened it. “You are now…… sued for illegal construction on the grounds of
endangered animals…… fine of one hundred thousand? What in the world? Maggie, why didn’t you tell
me ?” She folded her arms. “I told you but you didn’t listen. I am definitely not going to help you this
time.” And then she left, leaving her boss staring at the sheet of paper in his hand blankly.
The next day, Tobias went to his office surrounded by journalists asking him questions about the
operation. His face burned with shame and guilt. Just before he went up the stairs, he said, “I’m sorry about
all the trouble caused by our company. We will be more careful next time.” And then he ran up the stairs
leading to the door, hearing a chorus of insults following closely behind. After going through detesting
glances, he went up to his office, welcomed by a thousand calls from banks to ask him if he needed loans.
He sighed. This was going to be a long day.
A
