Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 70

A Tale from Old Shanghai
Bradbury School, Blyth, Charlotte - 10
L
ily was a straight A student in modern Shanghai who enjoyed school as much as a kid enjoys ice-cream. She
had recently been assigned a task on Old Shanghai but was finding it hard to research. Her brother Ming was
the football hero at school. He could score goals in his sleep and save a goal just as well. They both lived an ordinary
life. Little did they know that this was all about to change….
Lily and Ming had been dragged for ages from shop to shop to find the perfect gift for their grandma’s birthday. They
were in an antique shop when it all happened.
Lily peered down the street outside the shop . She could see rickshaws carrying a beautiful lady covered in make-
up. She could see elderly men playing mahjong and elderly women doing Tai Chi. She could see a stampede of the
Japanese Army getting closer and closer!
Without thinking she grabbed Ming by the arm and pulled him into the nearest shop. They both sat down
trembling with fear and out of sight.
“Hang on a minute” said Lily realising something. “What’s the date today?”
“January 28th” replied Ming confused. “We have to get out of here!” said Lily with a worried look on her face,
“..and fast!”
Lily remembered the lesson about when the bomb dropped in Shanghai. She remembered that it was dropped at
midnight…. On January 28 th , 1932...the time they had magically travelled back to. They had to escape! But how?
“If we don’t get out of here soon we will die” said Lily turning as pale as the moon.
“Apparently they will drop a bomb at midnight, so if we can stay out of sight and get back before then we will,
fingers crossed, be fine.”
“But how?” says Ming miserably. “ We have no idea how we got here so how will we get back?” he says looking
as if he’s about to burst into tears.
“The vase!” shrieks Lily, “the last thing I was holding was that blue and white vase. Maybe the vase is kind of like
a magic lamp and granted my wish of seeing old Shanghai. Now all we need to do is find that vase!” said Lily with
triumph.
Luckily they were in a furniture shop which was filled to the brim with blue and white vases.
“We couldn’t be more lucky!” says Lily with a smile from ear to ear.
Lily and Ming hadn’t noticed the commands being shouted at the soldiers, but this one they noticed. Through the
window they could see fingers pointing inside the shop. Suddenly the door swung open and a soldier marched in,
his gun under his arm. The shopkeeper was an old man who, up till now, had been fast asleep in his rocking chair.
He was now wide awake and frozen with fear.
“You!” shouted the soldier, “bow to me”.
The shopkeeper immediately rose from his chair and knelt on the floor, while Lily and Ming hid behind a large pot
trembling with fear.
“You die” said the soldier with a grin “or you give best pot to me”.