Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 1 | Page 73

Dear Diary
St Stephen's College Preparatory School, Luk, Kacelyn - 6
I’m Kacelyn, the little cleaner. I would like to share two very exciting days of my voyage!
February 11 th , 1410
We had a big party on Captain Zheng’s ship. This ship is the biggest in the fleet. That means a lot of work
for me, the little cleaner! I am sad because every giant sailor was drunk! They ate lots of food and drank lots
of rum. That means lots of cleaning work for me!
When I was busy cleaning, I heard something rumbling – I ran to the deck, I saw a thunderstorm and big
waves coming. “Wake up! Wake up!” I shouted loudly. All the sailors woke up. Captain Zheng ordered
every sailor to prepare for the big waves and rain. The ship started to rock up and down on the waves.
Now, I was very dizzy but I still needed to do work, so I told myself to stay strong and be brave.
The rain and sea water started to spill into the ship. I was very busy clearing all the water with a mop.
Finally, the ship and the fleet passed through the storm. Everyone was safe. I pretended to play the guitar
with the mop and I sang, “we are safe! Let’s celebrate!” Everyone laughed and went back to bed after such a
crazy day.
February 12 th , 1410
I woke up early in the morning after the big storm. “Hurrah!” I said, “It is a beautiful sunny day!” I took
out the map to the deck and looked at it. Looks like we are heading to Africa!
Captain Zheng walked by and said, “Good morning little cleaner, we are almost at Africa! Are you excited?”
“Yes! I am very excited!” I yelled as a I jumped up and down.
When I was relaxing and resting on the deck, enjoying the sunshine, I saw a very big ship with a tall black
flag with a skeleton on it… “PIRATES!” I screamed, “Pirates are coming!” Sailors, get your weapons and
get ready to fight!” The pirate ship came closer and saw that we have many ships in our fleet, a huge army
and many sailors with weapons. The pirates looked us and became very scared. The returned back to their
base. Everyone was so happy because the pirates were gone.
I took out my telescope to check if we were near Africa. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw people with dark
skin waving at us on an island. I was so surprised to see people with a different skin colour. Captain Zheng
shouted to all the sailors that we had arrived at Africa.
We brought gold, jewels and silk to make friends with the African people. We didn’t understand them, but
they were happy and smiling. They invited all of us to a party. We ate, drank and danced together. We had
a great time. This is how Captain Zheng makes new friends around the world.