Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 22

Dimensions without a Tale
Canadian International School, Sharkey, Arabela - 14
T
he remarkable possibility of a tale being written in certain dimensions of space and time is very
likely given our understanding of the universe.
Imagine a dimension where Journey to the West was not written. The original author, Wu Cheng’en, chose
another path. But as all wonders are inevitable, if fate doesn't gift it to us earlier then the infinite nature of
time will ensure its creation.
In this alternative dimension someone is about to be a miracle, a miracle that creates a miracle; Journey to
the West. Yet, unlike others, this particular miracle isn’t as visionary and spectacular as historians would
wish.
Under a beautiful cherry blossom tree in a small sleepy farming village in China, sat a boy, aged fifteen. He
dreamt of writing tales, but his thoughts swirled obliviously in his mind and his ideas, unlike the tree above
him, never saw spring. As historians would come to speak of him at this moment, they would glorify his
name, stating that he was born a genius. To the contrary, this boy was nothing of a genius and although his
mind was filled with wondrous stories, he found no interest in writing them down. This boy's name was Jin.
Unlike the majestic tale we know written by Wu Cheng’en, what inspired Jin to write his tale was no grand
adventure. During a traditional Chinese holiday when Jin was off school and his parents needed to work, he
stayed with his Aunt Lihua. Jin always joked about how Aunt Lihua was far too traditional. Possibly because
she had always lived in a small rural village she refused to learn about new inventions. For her 50th birthday,
Jin’s parents bought her a coal-fired heater as gift. However, during the winter they were astonished to find
that Aunt Lihua had not used the heater but instead relied on a beautiful painting of a fire to keep her warm.
“New things are for young people”, Aunt Lihua exclaimed. “The fire in the painting gives me all the
warmth I need”. Aunt Lihua experienced life at a level that most of us will never attain.
Aunt Lihua told Jin that modern things can ruin youngsters’ minds, enticing and trapping them in a
superficial world and preventing them from appreciating the beauty of the real world around them. When
Jin questioned her use of the painting of fire that obviously gave off no physical heat she wisely replied “It’s
the beauty and warmth it brings within, not the warmth it gives you from outside. I don’t need a modern
heater to keep me warm because with this painting I can reminisce about old times, as a child looking at the
family fire burn in a warm living room.”
From this spiritual approach to life had Jin learned something from Aunt Lihua. What reminded Aunt Lihua
of her childhood was the warmth of the fire in her family house. “What was the fire in my mind when I was
younger?” Jin asked himself. Immediately his mind thought of the monkey that Aunt Lihua kept as a pet.
One of the many reasons Jin enjoyed visiting Aunt Lihua was that although she lived on a farm, she kept an
animal that didn’t quite belong there; a monkey.
Jin had no idea how Aunt Lihua had managed to get and look after a monkey, but every time he visited his
aunt he would dash straight to the cage to see the curious little creature. Aunt Lihua had named her little pet
Sun Wukong. But this monkey, like every other monkey, was nothing but ordinary and had no special
powers. Jin had always dismissed tales of myth as he saw himself quite the scientist. What fascinated Jin about
the monkey, wasn’t its looks or how it might have special powers, but the concept that humans had evolved
from monkeys.