Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 616

The Depth of Dust
Singapore International School (Hong Kong), Ho, Audrey Man Yan - 16
You don’t see it. It’s comparable with something that may not be viewable even with a
microscope. It appears slowly, without anyone truly taking notice of it. And then it stays. It’s only when
there are layers and layers already there that you actually feel something you hadn’t known was there all
along.
Of course, it wasn’t like one fine day, people suddenly came along and decided that they wanted to
do all this. There is the foundation and so much discussion and planning behind the scenes. Nothing comes
out of thin air. Many people merely don’t take notice of what has been going on until the impact suddenly
hits everyone hard, forces their eyes open, and tells them to look around and see the change.
Similarly, Lewis didn’t know when he started caring about all this. The days feel like a daze, he no
longer watches television dramas when he’s at home, and he barely looks up from his phone on the way to
work. Maybe it was his wife telling him about how great it was, maybe it was the news he’d come across
from time to time. Either way, it was inescapable. New evidence of this Greater Bay Area was popping up
around him by the day, and Lewis had no idea how long it had taken him to start to take proper notice of it.
Perhaps he was just ignorant. His wife, Eileen, had brought the topic up a number of times when
they found themselves bored enough to discuss what they were doing at work.
“I’ll be away on a trip this weekend,” she announced in between bites of her fried rice. Frequent
business trips were normal for her, so Lewis was not surprised to hear this.
“Where to?” he asked.
“Guangzhou.” Lewis had been made aware of how Guangzhou was an integral part of the Greater
Bay Area that his wife had been involved in for quite some time now.
“So you’re not free for the whole weekend?” Lewis glanced at their daughter, Rina, who was
engrossed in the show that was on their small television.
“Yes. I’m leaving tomorrow. It was thrown together at the last minute.” Eileen got up to put her
bowl in the sink.
“Wait, I bought these on my way back.” Lewis handed her a Portuguese egg tart before she could
go to their bedroom and passed another to Rina. “I think the store just opened.”
“Oh, are the people running it from Macau?” Eileen asked as she took the egg tart, inspecting it.
“Probably? It’s getting easier and easier for them to come here and open stores as part of a larger
franchise, right?” Lewis shrugged.
Eileen hummed as she bit into the egg tart. “Glad that’s the case, it’s a pleasure to be able to have
so many kinds of cuisine so readily available.”
“Does Rina have any lessons this weekend?” Lewis asked. Eileen shook her head. “Then...maybe I
can take her somewhere on Sunday! It’s been weeks since she had free time, it’s like she’s already becoming
a busy adult.”
“Take her where? I think she ought to study. I’m worried that she might fall behind,” Eileen said
curtly. Her words were vague, but Lewis knew far too well what she meant.
“Cycling in the New Territories, how about that? She already knows how to, and I bet she wants
to see more of Hong Kong too.”