Fiction: Group 2
Our Adventure on the Pearl River Delta
Singapore International School, Chia, Ze Xin Anais - 10, Fiction: Group 2
ast Summer, our family decided to visit our ancestral home in Tai-O. Our ancestors had travelled
illegally by boat to Tai-O countless years ago from neighbouring China to the Pearl of the Orient
because they heard of many opportunities available. The houses in Tai-O fishing village were very
unique and were as old as the hills. These houses were made of wood and were on stilts by the murky
water. They were unusually short for a duplex house.
Our Grandaunt took us on a tour of her extraordinarily antique but well maintained wooden house. I
curiously asked my grandaunt, “Do you have any old photographs of how you lived in the past?”
“Sure, I do! Just let me get them.” She hobbled away to the back room with her shoulders hunched.
She handed me with wrinkly shivering hands, a whole stack of letters and photographs tied up in
rough brown twine. I carefully walked with the stack of letters to one of the rosewood chairs and sat down
with them. I unraveled the knot and looked through the old photographs and letters. One of them was a
map. It looked very mysterious with its jagged edges and yellowed paper. It seemed to be a map of the Pearl
River Delta leading to the South China Sea. Right in the middle of the Delta, I noticed a symbol. It looked
like a keyhole.
I was puzzled and asked, “Do you know about this map that was hidden in your pile of letters?” I
showed it to my Grandaunt.
“Oh! This is no treasure map. It’s just some silly old map that my grandfather left behind. Don’t take
it so seriously! My grandfather used to tell me when I was little about the pirates of the Pearl River Delta
who stole valuables from other boats. One of the boats vowed to take revenge and one evening, they
purposely crashed into the pirates’ boat. Both boats capsized. It was believed that the pirates’ jewels had gone
down with the boat right in the middle of the Pearl River Delta. Nobody here cares much about this story
now. It could be a myth, we don’t know.” said my Grandaunt casually.
Even though my Grandaunt did not believe in this myth, our family decided to give it a shot and
look for the sunken treasure. Our uncle agreed to take us on this little adventure on his wooden sampan. He
joked, “Even if you don’t find any treasure, you can spot some Chinese white dolphins as a treat!”
Soon, we set off towards the Pearl River Delta. Before long, we were out in the rough waters. Our
boat swayed up and down vigorously. Suddenly, we heard squealing. To our surprise, we spotted the
dolphins! We stopped our boat to enjoy the playful act by the energetic dolphins which had skin as smooth
as silk and as pink as sparkling rosé.
Then we realised they were not playing. They seemed to be lifting up another smaller dolphin to the
surface with their noses. The smaller dolphin looked as if it had fainted. It was bobbing up and down with
the help of the other dolphins.
One of the dolphins swam to us and squealed in a distressed tone, “Please help us! Our baby brother
is ill!”
We were speechless and confused. We heard of how smart dolphins are but would never imagined
that they would talk to us. The mother dolphin was wailing and trembling as she tried to keep the baby
dolphin above the water. We were both devastated and touched by what we saw. The Big brother dolphin
was so desperate that was why he approached us.
We hurriedly hauled the sick dolphin up onto our boat. Dolphins can only live for a short time out
of water so we had to hurry. We brought the dolphin back. On our trip back, we radioed the Agriculture,
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