Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 450

“Who are you?” she stammered, confused. Xuanzhang smiled awkwardly before introducing
himself and his posse.
“I’m Alice,” the girl whispered.
“Why on earth are you living in this awful place?” Sun Wukong blurted out as Sha Wujing
elbowed him in the ribs.
“At least this one has a bathroom’’ she replied. “My family and I are being kicked out next week
because we can’t pay the rent!” she whimpered and wiped away her tears before adding, “We’ll have to live
on the streets!”
At once, they sprung to life and Zhu Bajie exclaimed, “Don’t despair! It is our honour to help
you!” Alice gaped in wonder as, one by one, they climbed atop the wispy cloud and were soon whisked off
to Government House.
“We do have one possible solution,” Carrie Lam stated. The four soon learnt from her that, rather
bizarrely, houses could be made out of those funny big metal boxes that they’d seen piled high on
gargantuan ships as they passed over the South China Sea. And the best part was that they took up so little
space. What an ingenious idea! Furthermore, the Government of the Netherlands had agreed to provide
them for free, but on the one condition that Hong Kong could show evidence that they possessed sufficient
land. Fortunately, Sha Wujing recalled spotting a seemingly deserted island not far from Hong Kong. There
was only one thing for it! The four clambered atop their cloud again, eager to depart for Amsterdam.
Much to their delight, the gang soon glimpsed the mysterious island. But was it claimed? As they
descended to take a closer look, they were rudely greeted by a rotund man who shook his fist and then
proceeded to hurl rocks at them. “This is my island and you’re trespassing!” he bellowed as he leaned
against a rusting and faded sign declaring ‘Property of the HKSAR Government’ to catch his breath. “We’ll
see about that,” Sun Wukong muttered under his breath to his friends as they took off back into the vast
blue sky.
After a long and arduous journey, they finally arrived in the city of canals and bicycles. Upon
hearing of their fantastic plans, the Government agreed at once to provide the valuable containers. The
clouds above them changed from wispy to round and puffy and came together to form one giant cloud.
They loaded the containers on, and Xuanzhang expertly wound miles of rope to secure them. Proudly, they
climbed on top ready to return to Hong Kong.