Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 426

The New Tales of Old Shanghai
Singapore International School (Hong Kong), Tang, Nichole – 11
P
sst! Wake up! We’ve arrived!” My friend, Abraham Simmons whispered, nudging me.
I blinked and sat up, rubbing my eyes groggily, still feeling drowsy. Today is May 3, 1941, a month
from the day we fled from Germany. I looked around me. The setting seemed different, not at all like the last
couple months, especially not like yesterday. The sky was covered in smoke and I heard commotion. People
screaming, guns being fired, soldiers shouting, the sound of the babies’ pitiful cries. I sighed, life now is definitely
not like it used to be before World War 2. War and killing happened everywhere. At least now we have some
place to stay, some place safer than Germany, where Adolph Hitler was at large, killing so many people. I balled up
my fists, and gritted my teeth at the thought that he was the man who killed my parents, children and wife. He
killed my loved ones just because they were Jewish! Now, all I have is my best friend, Abraham. How pathetic.
Our small raft stopped and the people on board started climbing out of the boat, bringing out their
belongings. Parents were carrying younger children, young adults helping the elderly, everyone just looking out
for one another like we are family. I gathered my belongings. Not much, just a small bag with a jacket and a small
photo album of my family, wife and children as memories.
We reached Shanghai already, our home for the next how many years, who knows. After the war ends, life
will go back to normal.
We start milling around aimlessly, murmuring and whispered amongst ourselves, looking and feeling
awkward. Some Japanese soldiers started coming towards us, marching with guns at their sides. They glared at us
menacingly, thinking of what to do with us. They looked at us disgustedly and talked amongst themselves in
Japanese. The soldiers pointed guns at each of the Jewish refugees heads and pushed us forward, threatening to pull
the trigger. We walked obediently, following where the Japanese soldiers were pushing us around. We entered
this small place with a sign called “Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees”. I blanched and did a double take.
We’re now stateless? And this place looks so disgusting and run down, with rats scattering around everywhere and
flies swarming around. People were holding their stomachs, groaning. Some laid on the floor, there were even
some dead bodies lying on the floor, including dead bodies of children. What a gruesome sight! The soldiers
pushed us in and grinned wickedly, took a quick glance at all of us and left.
We started to move into the place, also called a “Ghetto”. This place is already packed with people,
thousands and thousands of people are here!
There were some local Jewish families and some American charities who aided them with food, clothing
and shelter. We tried to make ourselves home. Once we settled down, I immediately fell asleep, losing all my
senses.
The next day in the morning, I started worrying.What am I going to do as a day job? My friend and I later
decided that we would look for a job together. We went out and tried finding some Jewish people who would
introduce us some jobs. We found a Jewish man in a restaurant.
“Excuse me, but do you know of any jobs for us?” I inquired.
“Oh, yes. There is a warehouse that desperately needs workers to move boxes.” he informed us helpfully.
We thanked him and left to find the warehouse.
The boss of the warehouse is Chinese and since Abraham and I are Jewish, we have to communicate with
him using hand gestures. He told us that he would give us $30 a day. But I found out that he only pays us $3 a day
in the end. He must think we are that stupid to take it this way. But there is no way I can complain because I am
only Jewish, not American or British. I do not have authority in Shanghai.
In Shanghai, I am always pushed around and discriminated, people whispering behind my backs when I pass
them, people looking down on me. I have enough of this, but there is nothing I can do, I am Jewish and people
look down on me for that. Maybe I should say I am not Jewish, maybe I should change my identity. Maybe I
should just deny that I am Jewish. But again, I am Jewish, every part of me is Jewish. I cannot pretend to be