The Escape to India
Kowloon Junior School , Chan , Jayden - 10
O nce upon a time , about 1400 years ago , there lived a 12 year old boy whose name goes by Ming Wei . He and his mother lived in a little poor village in Chengdu , China . Ming Wei ’ s father died when he was a baby and Ming Wei ’ s mother was a farmer whose grows rice . Since she could not afford to send Ming Wei to school , she taught Ming Wei to read . Everyday , Ming Wei had the same routine :
Once he woke up , he had breakfast . After that , he either went to the farm to help out his mother or washed the clothes in the river , dryed them , and made some rice for lunch . After lunch was Ming Wei ’ s favourite activity of the day - he would go to a small library in the village to read some books . And then head over to the river to take a bath . Finally , they ate dinner and went to bed .
Ming Wei loved to read . He really wanted to go to school like everyone else but he was not fortunate enough . He wanted a better life for himself and his mother . One day , Ming Wei couldn ’ t take the boringness of their average daily routine and planned to escape to india with his mom because he read about there and thought it was the perfect place to escape to . He built a raft and a compass to bring with him and a knife plus a lot of rice as food , his mom made a sail and paddles .
On a perfect night with a full bright moon in the sky , they brought with them some clothes and vegetables and set out to india by using the raft and paddles . On their first few years , they were in the middle of the sea and didn ’ t see any land . All they could see was the endless sky and the deep blue sea . But on their 5 th year , when it was dawn , they finally saw an island and they immediately parked their raft and walked on the Island . They were hoping to see some human beings but instead Ming Wei saw a little ball of scales . He nudged his mom awake . “ Look mom ! A little ball of scales !” His mom picked up the little ball of scales and stared at it curiously . It was the size of a curled up cat . The scales were tight , sharp , and packed . They kept the ball in case it was helpful like a heavy ball to throw at bad guys or an egg holding an animal they could raise and eat as meat . But in the afternoon , the ball started to uncurl . And since it didn ’ t crack instead , they got nervous and each grabbed a paddle to whack at whatever was in there . Once the thing that came out of the ball saw what was going on , it was so scared it curled back up into a ball . When Ming Wei saw it happen he thought : ‘ I get it ! It stays in there because it ’ s scared .’ Then , he told his mom that the next time it comes out , don ’ t threaten it or it ’ ll just curl back into a ball . The next time it came out was at night , when Ming Wei and his mom were just about to fall asleep . The thing was a cute thing , with large , curved claws and tiny legs . It stood on it ’ s hind legs and uses it ’ s nose to sniff out little ants to eat with it ’ s super long tongue . “ Hello whatever you are . You look so cute ! We come in peace . Please don ’ t hurt us ,” Ming Wei told and asked the thing . “ Hello . My name is An Liu . What ’ s yours ?” says the thing . Ming Wei says : “ I ’ m Ming Wei . Nice to meet you . I don ’ t mean to be offensive , but what are you ?” An Liu sighs . “ I am a pangolin . I ’ m pretty sure you don ’ t know what a pangolin is . A pangolin is a scaly mammal that eats ants and