Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 436

New Journeys to the West
Shanghai Singapore International School, Yang, Si-Han - 10
“Hurry up George!” Danny cried from the car.
“I’m coming!” George replied in a hurry.
“There is no time to lose!”
I
t was George and Danny’s first trip to the local museum. They were very excited to see dinosaurs,
animals, plants… But, they what they really wanted was to learn more about their favourite topic,
the American West.
George and Danny were brothers. They were both lovers of American West history. When they were
five years old, they would dress up as cowboys, riding paper horses. At ten years old, they would always
carry toy guns and fight with each other using them. Even though they were twelve now, they still loved it.
Their father had parked the car in the lot very soon after they alighted. Danny stared at the museum
happily. He said to himself, "I can’t believe I’m going in!” George agreed, “This is a wonderful place! I’m
speechless.” Their father and mother did not really enjoy the museum so they sat in the café instead. George
and Danny walked into the enormous room which displayed colourful banners and signs of the exhibits.
They soon found the correct route to the American West section. But when they got to it, the exhibits
vanished infant of their eyes, one by one! Soon nothing was left; people seemed to have forgotten its
existence too. They asked the security guards but they were surprised, “What is the American West? We’ve
never heard about it being here.”
George and Danny were very confused and thought it was a prank. “What happened? Everyone
seems to have forgotten about the American West but why not us?” Danny asked. Suddenly, there heard a
mysterious deep voice, “It is weird isn’t it? It is because you two little cowboys have a rare passion about it.”
Danny and George froze in their tracks and stared at each other. The deep voice continued, “Sorry, it is
very rude of me to not introduce myself. I’m Officer Smith from the American West, which we call the
Wild West.” A man came out from the dark shadows. He was wearing an old cowboy hat and worn-out
boots. Simply, he looked like Woody from the Toy Story movie. George shouted in excitement, “A real
cowboy!”
“Yes, I am a cowboy!”
As George and Officer Smith chatted nonstop about the Wild West, Danny thought about deeper
issues. “Why is the American West disappearing? Why is it forgotten?” Danny asked sadly. However,
George and Officer Smith were still talking nonstop and ignored Danny. Danny became so angry that fire
was about to burn on his head. He shouted, “George, zip your mouth! I have questions for the officer!”
George crossed his arms and glared at Danny, as the his brother returned his glare. Officer Smith tried to
change the subject by telling them that they should travel back in time to find the answers to Danny’s
questions. George was delighted at the suggestion, but Danny had mixed feelings. The truth was, Danny did
not see eye to eye with Officer Smith.
Despite Danny’s hesitation, they time travelled back to the days of the American West. Another
cowboy was waiting for them. His eyes were as black as coal and he was wearing the same outfit as Officer
Smith, but newer. It was very obvious that they were enemies and brothers. The Officer whispered
something into his ears and in a blink, they started fighting. They were fighting not because they were
actually enemies, but wanted the brothers to walk away as they had talked on the way there.