Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 178

Adventure in Old Shanghai
Glenealy School, Lim, Julian – 8
I
n the year of 2016, there lived a family of three, the beautiful mom was called Rebecca, the wise dad was called
Tommy and the son was called Jack. They all lived in an apartment in Hong Kong. They decided to go on a
holiday to Shanghai in summer, but, something went wrong. On the plane everything was fine and they arrived
safely, but when they arrived at the hotel, it was the right hotel, but them they went to the wrong floor and the
elevator took then back in time!
They knew they were back all the way to 1930 because when they went out of the lift they wondered what time it
was because everything looked different so they saw a calendar on the check-in counter and they it said 23 August
1930! Then they had and to figure out how to get back to the year of 2016.
Then they thought about the elevator and how they went back in time so they went back into the elevator again and
this time they thought they pressed the correct button but they didn't! Instead, they pressed the button above the
correct floor and that button took them all the way to 6012! The exact opposite of what they wanted! They knew
that by looking at the calendar on the check-in counter again, and so they went into the lift and pressed the wrong
button again! So this time it took them to 2016, but on BC! There was no calendar but they knew what year it was
because on their watches, it told them the year was 2016 BC! It was now the the third time they had to go into the
time machine and press the wrong button!
Then this time they checked the key card carefully and they pressed the correct button know and it took them back
to 1930! It was night now so they slept on the sofa of the hotel because that lift didn't take them to the correct time
or floor they wanted.
They thought that they would just stay in Shanghai 1930 until it was 2016. They bought a proper house. But before
they bought a house they slept on the street and everyday they went around shops and markets looking at valuable
and precious accessories, stationery and lots of other ancient and strange looking things. The son got educated and
The mom and dad got a job. The mom got a job of a waitress in a restaurant and when the boy saw his mom for the
first time in the cheongsam he laughed so hard that he vomited after he laughed! The dad got a job of carrying a
rickshaw. When to son first saw him he wondered what the big umbrella thing on his head was. Then the dad told
him that it was a sun hat. He said he needed to wear that hat because if he didn't wear that hat he would be so hot
that he would have heatstroke. The mom and dad worked well so they got paid extra money.
***
12:00 the 31st December 1999 it was the most exciting day in their lives because there was a big party being held at
their at their apartment! They were invited to come and there were lots of games and food there and they had fun
for the celebration of the 20th century!
They were very happy since it was just sixteen years until it was when they went to Shanghai. Each closer year they
became even more excited on getting back home. They calculated that sixteen years was 192 months, which was
5840 days. Year by then they were growing old. It was 2010 now and they were so different from before. Very
different! The son was already in his 80s, the mum passed away when she was 93 and the dad passed away when he
was 96. He had lived a long and adventurous life and died when he was 99. He was lucky to have many good and
exciting experiences in his life.