Bed-time Story
St Stephen ' s College Preparatory School , Pong , Amelia – 10
B ack in the 1930s when I was a teenager , Shanghai was a very important city . I lived in a big house with my parents and many staff members . My father was always busy . He was in a business with French people and they often came to our house very often . I did not speak French and my English was very poor . I sat at the dinner table quietly . My mother was always shopping and playing mahjong . I think she was lonely . She had a lot of money and did not know where to spend it . She was not interested in things happening outside and she was mad at my father for working around the clock . I did not want to become her . I secretly asked my helpers to take me out whenever my parents were not around .
The best week happened around my 15 th birthday , my parents travelled abroad . I spent each day exploring what the people were doing in town . It was so exciting and I was fascinated by all the people and things happening on the street . Snake charmers , acrobats , stilt walkers , street theater and actors , the bunk , the upperpeople in the silk qipaos , antique shops , geese vendors …… it was amazing . I drank it all in with every sense .
Everyone would gather around the snake charmers and they would carry the snakes and play with them . The snakes would be dancing while the charmers played some enchanting music . One of my friends were so scared of the snakes so when the charmers were performing , she stayed behind me the whole time . One little boy loved the snakes so much he wanted to touch them ! The mother was yelling at him because she was afraid the snakes were poisonous . The charmers had the snakes around their necks and I thought that was a little disgusting .
One day , I saw some street actors . They were acting on the streets because they had no money to spend . I admired them so much because I also love acting . They would dance , act out Chinese Shakespeare , romantic stories and sing . I saw one actor doing a flip on the people ’ s heads ! One actress looked so sick but she continued to act . In the middle of doing her flip , she vomited and fainted . There was a doctor in the audience and he saved her life . I heard that they got married afterwards . Shanghai is so romantic !
I remember that you , my darling Lily granddaughter , told me last week you came back from Shanghai and there were lots and lots of tall buildings . But before there weren ’ t any tall buildings back in the old day . There were beautiful colonial buildings in the rich neighbourhood . There was a lot of action everywhere .
On my 16 th birthday , I wanted an English tutor so my parents hired one for me . It was hard because not too many people I knew spoke the language so I could not practise with anyone . However , my mother bought me an alphabet poster and I continued to practice on my own . I also watched movies from Hollywood and I began to speak a little bit . For example , ‘ Hello , my name is Amelia ! I am 16 years old . My favourite animal is a dog and I am learning how to speak English .’
The best thing about the French was their food . It was so delicious as I loved cheese and butter . My dad would come home with a lot of cheese from his business friends . I loved bread . The French made really good bread . I loved the croissants , baguettes and garlic on baguettes . Since my dad was always in France , he would bring me a few coins each time as I liked collecting them .
My mother would take me shopping every week . I always liked to buy new clothes and my mom would buy hair accessories . I got bored of shopping very quickly because there ’ s not much meaning in buying things all the time . I ’ d rather go to museums with mom where she would talk about the beauty in the paintings and art pieces with me and I could bring in my canvas and draw there ! When my mom was playing mahjong every Sunday , I would go to the park near the Bund to play with my friends and my dogs . The Bund was different . Now the skyline is full of skyscrapers but before we could see little boats and workers . I would also buy some bread for my little sister to feed the fish before the fishermen caught them . Every month , our entire family would go fishing and my dad would catch some crabs . My sister loved cooking and she would often be in the kitchen cooking dinner for us . She would boil it and then fry it with butter like the French . It was fun . When our mother went shopping with us and the servants , we would usually ditch shopping for clothes and go to the street market to buy ingredients to cook .