Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 153

Breeze of Change Kennedy School, Pandey, Avani - 10 The chilly winds of a winter evening in Hong Kong blew in through the Taylor family’s window. My sister, Julia and I were sitting at the dining table waiting for dinner, “Talia, Julia, dinner’s ready.” Mom cried from the kitchen. She stepped out and placed a bowl of spaghetti on the table and left. “Am I just crazy or is Mom acting unusual today?” Julia whispered to me. “Both,” I replied before adding, “ but you’re right, Mom never makes us spaghetti.” Halfway through our dinner, Mom and Dad said that they had something to tell us. Mom started, “You girls know about the new Chinese city called HoNa, don’t you?” we nodded, “Well,” she continued, “Your father and I decided that maybe we should…” Mom trailed off and looked at Dad who said, “We thought that we should try new things” “You want us to move, don’t you?” Julia interrupted. Our parents slowly nodded. “No!” I cried, “We’ve only lived here for 2 months. Besides, we’ve moved 4 times now, can’t we just settle down in one place?” .“I understand honey but this is a good opportunity for our family. Let’s do a day visit tomorrow and see how you like it,” Mom said. Julia and I grumbled but didn’t say anything. “Come on, give it a try. You know, every neighborhood in HoNa has a park marked for kids and there are many amusement parks. HoNa is also a really green city, they have banned plastic and only use electricity powered vehicles. I know your school topic this term is about going green, you can tell your teacher about HoNa,” persuaded Dad. “Besides, I’ve already booked the train tickets.” he added. We sighed and gave in. Next morning we set off to the train station without much enthusiasm. “Dad, how long is the train ride?” I asked, “Just 35 minutes since its a bullet train!” he replied excitedly. We noticed a lot of people arriving to board the same train and could sense a silent excitement in the entire train too see this new city. The train was new with clean and smooth seats. Every seat had a wooden table with a colouring book and crayons in addition to a small TV.. Julia gave me an excited look, this trip wasn’t going to be boring after all. Seated next to us was a Chinese family. A girl my age was busy colouring and her parents were quietly discussing when I overheard HoNa in their conversation. ‘So this girl was going to HoNa as well, she could be in the same tour group as us’ I thought excitedly. I walked up to her and tapped her shoulder, “ Hi, I am Talia. Are you visiting HoNa too?” I asked. “Yeah I am and I’m Yeung.” the girl smiled, “I wouldn’t call 13 years that young.” I said, confused. “I meant Yeung as my name, Y-E-U-N-G.” Yeung laughed making me blush with embarrassment! We ran off to join Julia and watch a movie together. We had a great time and hoped to meet Yeung if we ever came back to HoNa. It turned out that Yeung wasn’t in our tour group, so we said our goodbyes and left. Each tour group had a private minivan with a guide waiting outside the train station. “Welcome to HoNa!” our guide Emily exclaimed. “Please don't carry any plastic with you since its banned here.HoNa is famous for being green but there are many things that make HoNa a good place. Our city is environmentally green with efficient waste recycling system, water harvesting systems, extensive use of solar power etc. The city has dedicated areas for schools, parks, shopping, business etc along with good transportation network. Since we have limited time, we will just visit 3 landmarks around HoNa today and then you will be dropped back to the train station around 7 pm. Our first landmark is HoNa Luxury Mall. HLM has everything you need to relax like the cinemas, fun and educational workshops for kids/adults, libraries and bookstores, etc. You can have a quick tour of the mall,” Emily concluded. Julia and I gaped at the sheer size of the mall. Mom allowed us to explore on our own and headed off to the spa while Dad went to the library. With so many cool workshops, another trip here wouldn't be half so bad we felt! Mom and Dad also returned happy from their visit. It seemed that the first place they visited was a family favourite! “Our second landmark is the fruit painting gallery. Here, one can see the artists while they paint. They use fruit juice extracts as paint because the normal paint affects the environment. We went into the Gallery where one of the artists explained the painting techniques. After an interesting painting session, we thanked the man and left the gallery. We couldn't wait to show this amazing painting in our class back in Hong Kong.