Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 98

The Tales of Old Shanghai
Clearwater Bay School, Zhao, Rou - 9
T
he sun beat down hard on the dry, cracked ground. No one was out in the sweltering day, except for one
person. She was a girl with a long, scruffy braid trailing down her back. Her almond eyes were fixed on a
ragged piece of paper stuck crookedly on one of the only trees in her village. The girl had her eyes slanted and had
a purposeful look on her dirt-plastered face. She was staring intently at the torn sheet of paper as if her life depended
on it.
“Ja-Japa-Japanese bandits com… coming. Lo-lock dur….door. Ja-Japanese kiy-killer. Y-y-You
maybe d-die. We...we try stop... Japanese. Soldier Xian and army fit-fight Japanese. Bui-Builder build wall...try
prote-protect us. Be...safe.” The girl’s eyes widened. She stumbled through the warning again hoping against hope
that she was hallucinating. Even though there was a tiny pinprick of chance that this was all a joke, the girl knew that
the Japanese bandits really would come. She sunk to her knees ignoring the heat shooting up her legs. She closed her
eyes then threw back her head and let out a long, single note of despair. At that, a lopsided wooden door burst open
and a woman came running out. She spotted the girl and raced over to her, kneeling down next to her.
“Lian!” she shouted, shaking the girl--Lian-- in a upset manner. “Wake up Lian!” Slowly, Lian’s eyes
opened. She fixed her eyes on her mother, and a groan escaped her. “Lian! Oh…Lian…” Lian’s mother threw her
arms around her and hugged her tight to her chest. “What is it, my love?”
Tears welled up in Lian’s eyes. “The Japanese bandits, mother. They’re coming.” Silently, Lian pointed at
the poster on the tree.
Lian’s mother tensed. Lian could sense her mother quivering, but when she looked up at her mother, an
unreadable expression was on her face. She just helped her daughter up and called out: “Meeting! Yangtze people,
meeting!” Immediately, doors swung open and adults, children and toddlers came running out. Although they were
all different, a similar expression was etched on their faces. Apprehension, anxiety and wary fear. The people
crowded around Lian’s mother, looking up at her with hands shielded over their squinted eyes.
“What is the reason of this meeting, Leader Yang?” a bearded poet called out, bowing low.
Lian’s mother let go of Lian’s hand and climbed effortlessly onto a towering haystack. She soon reached the
top and straightened up gazing carefully at the people below her. “My daughter Lian has found some terrible news.”
Leader Yang shouted. All eyes swiveled to Lian as Leader Yang paused. A moment later, she continued, “ My
daughter has found out that…” Leader Yang paused. “That....Japanese bandits are coming to... raid and kill the
people here in Shanghai.”
Silence fell, broken when a little boy shouted. “What are we going to do, Leader Yang?”
Leader Yang looked down at Lian and nodded.
Trembling, Lian climbed onto the second layer of the haystack and stood looking at her audience. She
opened her mouth and called out, “People of Yangtze, builders are building us a great wall to act as a shield for us.
Soldier Xian and his army will attack the Japanese bandits. We certainly have protection, yes. But still, that won’t be
enough.” A hoarse murmuring broke through the crowd at that. Lian waited, then when silence awaited her again,
Lian continued speaking. “What we need is protection for ourselves. So, people of Yangtze, what we have to do is
lock ourselves in our house. Pull down the shutters. Blow out all the oil lamps and and not make a single sound. Can
you do this?”
“YES!” the crowd shouted in unision.
“Good. We have to start our action now!” Lian jumped off from her stand, stumbled, and was caught by
her mother. Pride was glinting in her eyes as she bowed to her daughter. “Well done, Lian.” There was silence, then
Leader Yang murmured, “Close your eyes.” Silently, Lian obeyed, she felt something warm touch her chest before
her eyes flitted open, she felt her chest, and instead of bare skin, she touched a stone. A wide, bare stone as blue as
the summer sky. Leader Yang smiled touching her neck where the amulet had been. “It is yours now, my daughter.
For good luck.”
“But the amulet’s from the first queen of Shanghai, passed all the way to you!”