Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 75

Adventures of the Greater Bay Area
Chinese International School, Sun, Isabella – 8
It was the school holidays. Mum had some extra work to do at her office, and I was home alone. I had done
my chores for the day and I was bored.
My mother had warned me several times that day. “Be careful. Don’t go out today. It’s too
dangerous with a typhoon warning in Hong Kong!” she had told me, before she headed off to work.The
last typhoon knocked down trees, broke windows and caused damage to people and buildings. I had
complained, “But it is the school holidays, and we never go anywhere fun.”
It was just after lunchtime when I could not stand it any longer. I lay on the hard wooden floor,
trying to think of something to do, but nothing came across my mind. After a while, a bubble appeared in
my brain with a flashing Ocean Park annual pass. Oh yes, this was where I should go — Ocean Park! The
way to Ocean Park was dark and gloomy. The strong wind whistled sharply as tiny raindrops hit my face.
When I reached Ocean Park, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I ran past the shark aquarium,
skipped the panda habitat, and ignored the dolphin pool. I headed straight to my favorite roller coaster and
jumped into the front seat. I noticed that the wind was starting to howl fiercely, but I did not mind. As the
roller coaster slowly climbed up to its highest point, and then raced downward, suddenly a powerful gale
blew the cart off the track! I closed my eyes and screamed because I thought we would crash. I felt the
sensation of falling from very high, with nothing to hold onto. I was terrified!
But there was no crash. Instead, there was a clap of thunder, and when I opened my eyes, there
was a huge audience cheering for me. What happened, I wondered?
I did not have any time to think about it. When I looked around, I saw that I was riding a
motorcycle inside a big metal cage on stage. Somehow I had teleported to the House of Dancing Water
show in Macau! And I was the daredevil motorcycle riding star. There were four other motorcycle riders
doing stunts with me inside the metal cage. We were speeding along in circles and making loops, while
trying to avoid hitting each other. I was scared, but it was similar to riding a fast bicycle with no training
wheels. I enjoyed the excitement as the audience cheered and clapped for me. My last stunt was to jump
over a huge flame, but I closed my eyes as my motorcycle flew off the ramp. It felt like flying through the
sky.
I was sure I would crash this time. But surprisingly I didn’t! I was no longer flying on the
motorcycle. Instead I felt a splash of seawater. When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing on a
surfboard on a gigantic wave in Shenzhen Bay. I had never surfed such a big wave before, and it was
exciting as I tried to keep my balance. The water almost knocked me over several times, and I had to hold
on tight and dodge the white waves. I was racing against other surfers, so I tried to catch the biggest and
fastest waves. The water was choppy as I saw speed boats being tossed around by the waves. I should have
listened to my mother, because suddenly a tsunami rose up in the bay and was about to swallow me.
I closed my eyes and felt the strong waves push me back and forth, back and forth. I was saying
repeatedly: “Save me from the tsunami.” When I finally opened my eyes, I was surprised to see my mother
shaking me by the shoulders in the bathtub, saying: “Wake up, Isabella! How did you fall asleep in the
bathtub?”
I was confused. I tried to explain my Greater Bay Area adventure in Hong Kong, Macau, and
Shenzhen Bay to my mother. I described the wind hitting my face, the roller coaster flying off the track, the
audience cheering for me, the roar of the speeding motorcycles, and the tsunami about to crash into my
surfboard. It was all so real! Thank goodness, it was all a dream. From that day onward, I did not complain
about the lack of fun adventures anymore.