Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 33

Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020
“He doesn’t go to a private school?” asked Olivia.
“All of the private schools for his age were French or unaffordable,” says Mommy guiltily.
“But tomorrow your tutor will teach you. It’ll be ok honey.”
The next day, Chen Laoshi drove me home and taught me Cantonese for an hour. At
first, I kept Mommy’s words in mind but by the end of the lesson, I couldn’t see how she
expected me to ever understand Cantonese.
***
After a month in Donwa, I finally found the perfect replacement for David-Green Park.
The gears started to turn in my head… I’m a fireman, sliding down a pole on my way to
saving citizens from a burning building; I’m a pirate trying to find the secret island of treasure
by climbing up the tallest rung, scanning the great blue sea; I’m a secret agent, sliding into my
secret, underground lair after completing a mission; I’m a ninja as I swing as high as I can and
jump off, landing on my feet and rolling away smoothly. For hours I play until Olivia drags
me home.
I wanted to share the exciting news of the playground with someone but I still didn’t
have friends, despite improving in Cantonese. However, that morning, Zhao Laoshi says,
“Everyone, I would like to welcome a new student, Michael.”
Then Chen Laoshi brought him over to where I was playing.
“Michael, this is Henry,” she said, in English. “I think you’ll get along.”
“You speak English?” I said, overflowing with joy.
“Yeah,” he said, “I learnt it at school in Hong Kong. Where are you from?”
“I used to live in Alaska but we need moved to Donwa for my mommy’s job,” I said.
“Donwa?” he said, confused.
“Yeah.”
“Its Dongguan,” he giggled.
“Oh,” I said and I started giggling too. “Do you like playgrounds?”
“Yeah!”
“Me too! Do you want to come to my house after school? I’ll show you a fun playground
that I found.”
When I got home, I told Mommy and Daddy all about my new friend. Mommy said that
she already new Michael’s daddy because they worked together so I asked if he can come to
our house today. 15 minutes later, we were all at the playground. Michael and I made up new
games with the obstacles. It was the best day in Dongguan.
We went back to where the grown-ups were sitting; we heard them whispering. We
pretended to swing but really we were listening.
“So how is the project going?” Daddy asked.
“Not well,” replied Michael’s daddy.
“Factories are opening rather than shutting down to make way for high-tech
manufacturing bases,” said Mommy.
“But isn’t that dismissing the whole point of the project?” Olivia asked.
“It is. But the government keeps rejecting our ideas. They say it’s too expensive.”
“That’s not really the problem though. They’re too focused on enforcing China’s laws in
Hong Kong and Macau to bother with this project,” says Michael’s daddy. “They’re trying to
be discreet but the FR’s retaliating.”
“Who are the FR?” asks Olivia.
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