Lost in the Clouds
Heep Yunn School , Lin , Bernice Wen - 15
Flight CX830 - ETA : 16 Hours
Okay , so I ’ m on a plane to John F . Kennedy International Airport , located in one of the greatest cities in the world . I ’ m so excited ! This is the first time I ’ m really heading for the West - I haven ’ t left Asia before . Now I ’ ll finally be able to see the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in person , rather than simply admire them from afar .
For some reason , my mom and dad never take me anywhere fun , except once when they brought me to Korea for skiing and that one time we went to Hokkaido . Most trips , we only ever go to the Mainland , so I ’ m glad to have a change of pace .
The only thing that I ’ m bummed about is that I ’ m supposed to spend some time reading this book on the way there , Journey to the West . My marks for the recent Chinese test weren ’ t the best , so Mom ’ s been hovering over my shoulder since the beginning of the holidays . Ugh . And then she recommended that I get an early start on my homework with her favourite story from when she was young . I know that it ’ s a “ classic ” or whatever , but I don ’ t get why there are still people mooning over a talking monkey .
ETA : 14 Hours
The sunset is beautiful from up here . I ’ d bet the Monkey King and his motley crew had never been able to behold something as breathtaking as this .
To the east , it ’ s a roiling mass of dark blue and purple splotches with only the barest flints of faint yellow , but to my left the sky is in full bloom . The clouds have been dyed lavender or lilac or maybe rose . Pastel hues of periwinkle and pink are a subtle backdrop to the golden halo that ’ s painted across the horizon .
I can ’ t take my eyes off of it . A moth drawn to a flame of shining , searing red and orange and amber . It ’ s bright , far brighter than the signal lights on the runway , than the fluorescent lights in our apartment , than the neon lights that construe the Pearl of the Orient ’ s famous night views .
I don ’ t think I ’ ll ever see a prettier picture . It ’ s a shame that it ’ s disappearing so soon . ETA : 13 Hours
I forgot that there ’ s something else I ’ m not too pleased about : my grandparents are tagging along on this trip .
Look , it ’ s not that I don ’ t like them . They always smile when they see me and give me gifts and all that . It ’ s just that they ’ re loud . Really loud . I went with Mom to meet them at the airport a day ago for their stopover , and we accompanied them on their one-day shopping spree . They shopped their way through Polo Ralph Lauren , Kate Spade , Nike and more , and swept away all manner of items . All the way through they never stopped talking .
Near the end , I swore that I could feel a dozen eyes glaring at us . The saleslady at that last store was definitely sounding a little exasperated as she carefully bit out Mandarin sentences which seemed to go over my grandparents ’ heads , but honestly , who could blame her ? My face was burning the entire time . I was the first one out of the shopping mall door .
So yeah . Now they ’ re speaking again , and every time I try to focus on the tiny characters printed on the page , their conversation ends up shoving itself into my ears . Don ’ t feel like turning around and asking them to be quiet , though . I can ’ t understand how everyone else is sleeping .
Scratch that . Mom is still awake . Better get back to it .