The New Tales of Old Shanghai - A Passage to the Wild
Malvern College Qingdao , Li , David - 14
I
Preface n 1964 , a boy was born in Shanghai in China .
" Look at him , he is so cute !" It was so fun to see a very strong man holding a tiny baby . During the time when there was war everywhere , having a newborn baby was the only thing that made this poor family happy .“ What do you want to name him ?" The old lady who delivered the baby asked ." I want to call him Luck . I wish his future can be lucky ," said the mother , a beautiful woman even in a feeble condition .“ OK , as long as you are happy ", her husband smiled .
It was still snowing outside , but inside it was quite warm , even for the heart . They lived in a small countryside which was very peaceful and far away from war . But they had no idea that danger was coming close ...
Chapter 1
" A-a-a-a !"" Are you OK , luck ?" A boy asks a boy who is taller than him anxiously ." I ' m okay , just had a nightmare ." Recalling the dream , he feels very scared -- fire , dead people were everywhere . He ’ s the only one alive . . He is in an orphanage now . He has lots of friends in it . He feels safe in it .
One day , he walks along the river . They will have this activity every weekend which is camping . Suddenly , he hears a voice--- " help ! help !" He looks at direction of the sound . A girl is in the river ! The river flows powerfully , she wants to use her hand to catch something but it is futile . He jumps into the water quickly . He struggles to swim to the girl . He catches the girl , but a stone hit his head , then he loses consciousness ...
" Where am I ?" When he wakes up , he finds himself in a forest and the river is quiet again . His head was broken by the stone , and now the blood is frozen . He looks around , he finds the girl is not far away from him . He walks to her . " Hey , wake up !" He tries to wake her up , but it doesn ’ t work . He turns the girl around . He watch intensely---the girl is so beautiful that he had ever seen . He touches the girl ' s head , his face turns to dignify because the girl has very high fever ! His parents were dead when he born , so he knows lots of generals . He holds the girl with both arms . It ’ s night right now and it ' s very cold , he knows that he must let the girl warm . But they can ' t leave the river because the river shows the direction--- you can find people if you go along the river----and resources . He decides to make a fire first , but he is afraid that the girl ' s fever can get more serious so he puts his jacket on her and puts some dry grass around her . Then he leaves to find some dry branches , so he can make fire .
" Come on !" Half hour went , he just has two swelling hands , and he couldn ’ t make a little fire out . His entire body poured with sweat . He wants to give up , but when he looks at the girl , he builds confidence again . He must make a fire ! He rubs again and again , when he feel numb , the red light which symbolizes of the hope comes out ! His dim eyes seems that he has lights too . He pays whole attention to make fire . He success ! He puts the fire to the tinder carefully . Then he blows to the tinder , fire come out after smoke . He put some small dry branches on the small fire . When the fire gets bigger , he puts big brand in it ." Ha ha " He is very exciting because they have heat and light now . The clothes on the girl are wet . He knits his brows because he knows she must keep her body dry . Water will make her feel cold , but he doesn ’ t have any dry clothes ... He ponders a later . After that , he makes a big resolve that he moves the girl near to the fire , then he finds lots of dry grasses and stacks them on the ground . His coat is dry now he takes off the wet clothes from the girl and use his dry coat around the girl and put her in the dry grass . After that , his face is so red like an apple . The girl ' s body is very soft handle . He uses his cold hands to touch his face to keep his clear-headed . He rips his clothes and goes to the river to soak it . When he comes back , he puts it on the girl ' s head . Then he start to check the things they have . He has a big bag , but the thing inside was all wet . There are some ropes , a bottle , some wet papers , a knife , and a tent . Because putting up the tent will take some time , so he didn ' t put up . He thinks his very lucky because he has enough things to be alive because of the camping . He puts up the tent later and puts the girl inside tent . The girl looks better , but she is still hot . He throw some dry branches in the fire , now it ' s steel night . He is afraid that there have some wild animals around , so he just sit in front of the fire and ponders until tomorrow ....