Fiction: Group 2
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Beacon Hill School, Poon, Kristy - 7, Fiction: Group 2
y alarm went off.
The sound of the ringing was like one hundred angry people hollering at me. I switched it off, without
looking at the time; I tried to get back to sleep but that’s when noisy sleep spoiler came and woke me up.
“Wake up, it’s Saturday!” my little brother, Sam said. Couldn’t little kids tell that it’s Saturday and Saturday
is a time to relax, not a day to wake people up? But whatever, he just kept bugging me until I woke up. I
pushed my duvet to the side and got out of bed, knocking my leg to the side. “Ouch!” I moaned. Sam
smiled and said, “My job here is done,” and he skipped off to do what 4 year old children would normally
do.
I limped my way to the bathroom which I hoped was not occupied because it would always be occupied
by Sam. I pushed the door open which made a creaking sound; I couldn’t open it which meant Sam was
using it. “Uhh,” I groaned, I kicked the door lightly and it opened. “That’s strange,” I said puzzled. I went
in and checked if my brother flushed the toilet. “Well, great, now I don’t have to scream at him.” I
muttered to myself. Suddenly, there was a big slam sound; it was probably the door. I washed my face and
realized I had wet the photo of the Pearl River Delta in Hong Kong, where we lived, two years ago, now,
we live in Chicago. The photo was taken by me – back then my photography skills were so much better
than now; that was why mum decided to hang the picture. I wiped the picture with some toilet paper,
when I noticed that the picture started to move. The Pearl River Delta started to flow! I closed my eyes.
“Only my imagination, only my imagination.” I assured myself, but saying this just made it worse. The
river flowed faster and faster and the water started spilling out of the picture and splashed at me. There was
a lot of chatter of Cantonese in the background. I closed my eyes; everything was probably my
imagination. I opened my eyes. The toilet was gone, the sink was gone, and I felt like I was travelling
through this phosphorescent portal. The glow of the portal felt like you were looking at the sun. I couldn’t
stand it anymore and collapsed to the ground.
I woke up.
Just beside a small shop selling white candy called “Ding Ding candy”; the Pearl River Delta was a few
meters away from me. I looked around. I recognized some people. “Where am I?” I asked myself. Did I go
unconscious? The girl who sold the “Ding Ding candy” approached me and said, “Hello is something
wrong?” I recognized her; she was a friend of mine when I was young. “Ming?” I asked. “That’s my name,
and you are?” Ming asked. She couldn’t remember me. “It doesn’t matter, where am I?” I asked. Ming
laughed, “Hong Kong, obviously.”
“Ming, what are you doing here?”
“Mama, I just bumped into...”
“Ming, just get back to work.”
“But mama,”
“No buts just get back to work.” Ming glanced at me and then her mama. Mama folded her arms, meaning
that she was angry. Ming sighed and went back to work; mama smiled and left. I watched the Pearl River
Delta slowly flowing; it reminded me of when I was with my family two years ago in Hong Kong. Suddenly
I remembered that I needed to go home, but how could I go home now? No one would believe me if I
told them I travelled through a portal from the present to the past, not even Doctor Who. I couldn’t just
flow along on the Pearl River Delta and expect myself to arrive at Chicago two years later.
M
