The New Tales of Old Shanghai
International College Hong Kong , Wan , Ciara – 11
I woke up with Master Li barked at me to get up .“ Get up Alec ! Get to work ! You are late !” I got out of my warm bed and opened the wooden chest opposite my bed . Every worker had their own bed with a chest of their belongings opposite their bed . I looked to my right , I saw my best friend , Joziah getting out his rags and dressing into them . I began to do the same . I had a long day of work ahead of me . Today I had to wash the horses , feed the cows , pick the carrots , clean the pig pen and collect the chicken eggs in the morning . Then I got a 5 minute break . Then I had to get to work again until 10:00 at night .
All the workers started shuffling towards the exit of our mud hut . We were headed for the eating room . We had to line up for what seemed like hours , finally I got to the front of the line . The lady poured some green glop into my clay bowl . Today we had to eat congee mixed with fried caterpillars . I ate , looking at the people around me . What I saw astonished me for the first time since I came here . All these people got taken away from their parents , just like I did .
I remember , when I was around 3 years old , one day , early in the morning , two very buff men crashed open the door . My mother gave a squeal . “ Why are you here ?”
“ We came for your son , he has been chosen by the King .” Gruffly said the first muscular man .
“ Your son has been greatly honored .”
“ When will he be back ?” My Father asked .
“ Soon , in around a couple of days .”
And that is how my own Mother and Father gave me away without knowing , because I never saw my dear Mother or Father ever again . And that ' s also how I ended up here , a slave , stuck , not being able to come out . I have been here for 7 years now .
A bell rang , waking me up from my daydream . Everyone around me instantly got up and went to their jobs . Luckily Joziah had the same job as me for his first job , so we were together . I had to wash a horse called Winter and Joziah had to wash a horse called Deccy . Winter was a white horse . She reminded me of when it snowed once and everyone was shivering , but the snow was so beautiful ! Deccy was a mixture between orange and brown .
We scrubbed the horses , soaped them etc , until the horses were just a big soapy lump . Next I collected a bucket standing outside the horse pen , and went down to the pump . I had to make 7 journeys before Winter was properly clean . Next was the cows . I grabbed two bunches of hay and fed the cows . I could hear them grunting . I wondered what it felt like to be a cow . Would it be better than my life or worse than my life ? I kept thinking of my question all throughout the day . If only I went to school , Then I could ask the teachers ! Teachers know everything . 2 hours later I found myself in a very long line of people again , waiting to be served , this time the raw leftover guts of the pig they had slaughtered for the King ’ s meal . That meal was good for a change !
Break time was over in a whoosh ! We all filed out of the eating room and went back to work . By this time I was very sleepy . Even though it was only midday ! I worked my head off until I had enough of this . I couldn ’ t spend my life like this ! A thought kept coming to my mind . What if I ran away ? Could I run away ? Where would I run to ?