My Chinese Dumpling

Malia Cheong

It was the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and so I got up earlier than usual and waited for my mum to take me out. Mum was taking me to Nam Van to see the dragon boat competition.

After Mum had prepared all the food, we took the bus to Nam Van. We sat down on the edge of the lake. Mum took out a Chinese dumpling from her bag and handed it to me. There were two kinds, the sweet and the salty. I liked neither of them. So I just held the dumpling which my mother handed to me and didn’t taste even a mouthful.

Hearing lots of people shouting ‘Ga Yau. Go, go’ or ‘Fai di. Faster’, I realised that the competition had started already. Everyone was excited on that day. I was holding a salty dumpling and I asked Mum, ‘Can I have a candy first?’

‘No, dumpling first,’ she said coldly.

‘Sweet first,’ I protested.

‘Dumpling first,’ she said.

‘OK, before dumpling,’ I bargained.

‘No, dumpling before sweet,’ she insisted.

‘Ahhh... why do we have to eat these Chinese dumplings every year?’

Then she told me the story.

‘It’s because we have to commemorate our great ancestor Wat Yuen. Wat Yuen was a faithful lord in ancient China. His emperor believed bad things some wicked lords said about Wat Yuen and the emperor ignored Wat Yuen’s advice. Wat Yuen was so depressed that he committed suicide. He jumped into the sea in order to demonstrate his righteousness and fidelity to his emperor.

‘The people loved Wat Yuen so much they wanted to find him and bury him properly, but they were afraid that his dead body might be eaten by the sea monsters. So they made delicious dumplings to throw into the sea to feed the monsters so that they would leave Wat Yuen alone. The tradition of making those dumplings has continued till this day.’ 

After my mum finished telling this story, I immediately knew what to do. I jumped up with my Chinese dumpling. ‘Hi! Sea monsters, come here to eat my dumpling,’ I shouted at the sea and threw my dumpling into it. 

Secretly I whispered to myself, ‘From now on, I’ll throw as many Chinese dumplings as I can into the sea. And I have an excellent excuse for not eating Chinese dumplings, which is to commemorate our great ancestor Wat Yuen. Ha! Ha!’ My mum asked me why I was so happy. I said, ‘Nothing, nothing. I just love this story. I really love it!’

The Yum Yang Road

Sherry Lam

        It was one of those sunny afternoons. Heat was suspended in the air and it had no intention to leave. The sun sent all its heat to Earth as if it was its last chance to show off its power. People were working silently and desperately under that sun. No one said a word about the heat. In fact, no one dared to say anything.

Fong was one of those silent workers. He was a delivery worker for a noodle factory. Though working conditions were terrible, Fong earned enough for his mother and himself to eke out a humble existence. He carried bags and bags of rice noodles on a bicycle to different restaurants and food stalls in Macao. He rode to almost every part of the peninsula and one of his routes passed by Estrada Do Repouso, that is, the slope between Kiang Wu Hospital and the fire station. This slope, in fact, had another name; it was widely known as ‘Yum Yang Road’.

It was 8:30 p.m., and Fong was carrying the last bag of noodles to a client. He had to pass through the Yum Yang Road in order to reach his customer. While he was riding, he couldn’t help recalling the story of the road. The Yum Yang Road got its name because dead bodies had sometimes been found on the slope. ‘Yum Yang’ means before death and after death. ‘Yum Yang’ was thought of as the boundary between life and death.

That was during the war and when the war had just finished. People were living in poverty and often had little to eat. Many of them had died of hunger. Knowing that they would die soon, people chose to commit suicide on the Yum Yang Road. They hanged themselves on the trees beside the pavement so that their bodies would be collected by the hospital and not be left lying around. So from time to time, dead bodies were commonly seen on the road and so people were scared to pass by. However, those like Fong, who had experienced the terror of war, were used to seeing dead bodies.

But it was a bit different tonight. It was mid summer but it was foggy. Fong was riding his bicycle when he passed the road as usual. He managed to see a figure in the mist. Coming closer, he saw it was a teenage girl sitting on the pavement with her head in her hands. Fong was puzzled to see a girl sitting alone at that time of the night. He soon noticed that the girl had discovered him and was looking at him too. They looked at each other. In her eyes, Fong found worries, terrors and sadness. Soon the girl spoke.

‘I’m hungry.’

‘Er… Take this.’ Fong took a small piece of bread from his pocket and gave it to the girl. He had been keeping it for tomorrow’s breakfast.

The girl took the bread and looked at it. Softly, she whispered, ‘Thank you.’

After a while, Fong saw that the girl had no intention either to eat or to leave. So he asked, ‘Where’s your home? It’s dangerous to be out here at night alone. I could ride you home if you like.’

The girl was still looking at the bread and made no response to Fong’s suggestion. While Fong was wondering if she had heard his words or not, or if she was simply thinking of a way to refuse him, she spoke again.

‘It’s a bad time,’ she said. ‘But anyway, thank you for your bread. I will go soon. Go on with your journey.’

Realising that it was becoming late, Fong rode off quickly to make his delivery, but he was thinking about the girl on his way. When he had finished his job, he rode back to the slope to look for the girl. But there was no sign of her.

A few days later, Fong passed by the same road again. Under the tree where the girl had been, he found a piece of bread with three burnt joss sticks stuck in it. Looking at the bread and the incense sticks for a minute, Fong rode away. He rode to the top of the slope and looked up at the sky. It was another sunny afternoon.

Buddhist Offerings for a Catholic Saint

Angela Ng

In the fifties, Macao was still a fishing village. Life was peaceful and simple here. Anna, a middle-class Macanese, was a cheerful and adventurous girl. She lived in a post-office hostel which was run by her father. Every day after school, she would play with her little friends in the garden there because this was the only place her father regarded as safe.  

Every week Anna had a chance to go outside this district and play somewhere else. Anna’s uncle lived near the Barra Hill and every Saturday, she would go there and play with her cousins. They would also join some of their little friends in the neighbourhood to play. Among all the places Anna and her little friends had explored, Anna liked the Fortress of São Tiago on the Barra Hill the most. The magnificent view of the sea and the exuberant masses of foliage let her feel the embrace of nature.

Within the Fortress of São Tiago, there is a tiny Catholic chapel. This little church is very simple and there is nothing special about it except for a statue inside of a saint named São Tiago. The statue of that saint is dressed in armour, with a shield in his right hand and a sword in his left. Whenever they finished playing around the fortress, Anna and her friends, who were learning to be pious Catholics, would go inside and pray.

One Saturday afternoon, they went to the fort as usual but before entering the chapel, something caught their eyes. Outside in a corner of the doorway to the chapel, they found some fruit, incense and slices of meat, all of which seemed to indicate a Buddhist style of worship. After noticing this oddity, besides playing and praying, a question kept on lingering in the minds of these curious children: ‘Why are these Chinese offerings placed in front of this Catholic shrine?’ Every Saturday, they went to the chapel hoping for a chance to solve this mystery. They always saw the offerings; they never saw them being made.

One weekend, Anna’s parents had to leave Macao for some business in Hong Kong and so Anna needed to stay at her uncle’s for the whole weekend. That was great for Anna as this meant she had an extra chance to find the answer to the mystery. They had never been there on a Sabbath day. On the next Sunday morning, Anna went along with her friends to the chapel. When they arrived, they were glad that they not only found offerings, but also a man who was tidying up the grounds of the chapel. Although there was a chance to solve the mystery, the children were too afraid to grab it. They feared that the man might scold them for being nosy. Still, Anna was so curious, she couldn’t help asking.

Her friends stood around her as she began, ‘Good morning, Sir! Can you see those Buddhist offerings there? What are they doing in a Catholic shrine?’ Anna’s voice was trembling as she asked.

Luckily, the man turned and smiled at her and that really made her feel at ease. He answered politely, ‘Kids! It’s good for you to observe and try to learn from your surroundings!’ Then he began to unwrap the mystery of the offerings.

‘You know, whenever there is a typhoon, fishermen will try to steer their fishing boats back to the Inner Harbour. Once upon a time there was a typhoon, a big one. On land, it was so strong and violent that it blew away almost everything in this fishing village. That’s what Macao was, you know. Just a fishing village. People suffered great losses from this disaster. On the sea the waves were a few storeys high and fishermen tried their best to steer their boats back to safety. But the weather was so turbulent, so wild, that it seemed impossible for the boats to get back to the harbour. And suddenly the waves became so calm that the boats could slowly float back to safety, back to their moorings in the Inner Harbour. 

‘As their boats moved closer to the shore, the fishermen saw a vague shape. It was the shape of a man. They saw a man dressed in armour, walking in front of the shore. That man was dressed like a soldier, but he had to be a commander since he was waving a sword as if he was controlling an army. Finally, the fishermen anchored their boats safely but when they looked up at the shore, the man in armour had already disappeared.’

The man stopped to drink from his bottle of water. At this moment, Anna stared with wonder at the statue. Her little friends stared too. The man wiped his lips with his sleeve and then continued, ‘The next day the fishermen discussed the storm. They had all seen the man waving the sword on the shore. As they discussed the incident in more detail, they became more and more puzzled at who the figure might be. The story spread quickly up and down the Inner Harbour. Soon it came to the attention of the priest in charge of the chapel here. He recognised the vision immediately as that of São Tiago. That very day Catholics spread the message of the great deed of their saint. But of course the fishermen, who were all Buddhists, thought that this was just a trick to convert them to Catholicism. Still they were very curious. So they had to see for themselves.

‘And that was how the fishermen found out about São Tiago?’ Anna interrupted.

‘Exactly.’ replied the caretaker. ‘The fishermen came here to the chapel. They found that their memory of the commander they had seen was very similar to the statue of São Tiago in this chapel. But they could hardly believe their own eyes when they saw that the boots that this statue was wearing were full of mud! They couldn’t believe their eyes. The fishermen came to the conclusion that it was São Tiago who had saved them. It was he who had walked down to the shore and waved the sword to control the waves so that they could anchor their boats safely. Otherwise they would have died. After that time the fishing people began to worship our saint, but as they were Buddhists, they did it in a Buddhist way by placing offerings and using incense.

‘Whenever they go fishing or during special festivals, the fishing people come here to worship the saint in their Buddhist way. This tradition goes on still today. So, kids, does this help you to solve your mystery?’ The man bent down to pick up the offerings as he spoke. ‘I’ve got to go now. Got a lot of work to do. Bye!’

After listening to this story, the pious young Catholics felt their faith was strengthened. They thought that São Tiago had done something great and that was the reason he was sainted. Yet, the children did not show their respect superstitiously but in a proper Catholic way. Whenever Anna and her friends went to the chapel, they would pick some flowers from their gardens and show their love for this great saint. 

Tell Him or Not?

Michelle Ng

One morning, Stephanie was getting dressed in front of the mirror. She was about to go to the Macau Museum in order to collect information for her essay, Old Macau Style and Landscape Features. While Stephanie was getting ready, her mother was busy cooking in the kitchen.

‘Where are you going?’ Stephanie’s mother could see her daughter putting on her shoes in the entranceway, and so she was calling out from the kitchen.

‘I’m going to the museum to work on my term paper. In a few days, I’ll go to the Forum because there’s an exhibition I need to see there.’ Stephanie was tying up her shoelaces. She had a hunch that her mother was going to nag at her as usual.

‘You always go out and never help me to cook. You know, it will be very hard for you to find a husband if you don’t know how to cook.’ Her mother’s voice reminded her of mosquitoes, which Stephanie found very annoying.

‘I want to cook but… you know I’m scared of fire.’ It seemed that Stephanie had been born afraid of fire. She remembered that when she was young, whenever her mother asked her to come into the kitchen, she would cry as if the sky had collapsed. Every month, when her mother went to Kun Yam Temple to worship the gods there, Stephanie just waited for her outside. Because of her phobia, her family was using electric incense.

***

In the Macau Museum, Stephanie was fascinated by one of the Chinese Opera costumes. While she was appreciating it, some pictures flashed into her mind. Stephanie didn’t know where the pictures came from, but she saw a lot of people dressed in Tong Chong. These were the kind of clothes people wore during the Tang Dynasty. The crowd were sitting in front of Stephanie. There were several girls walking around them selling salted plums and fried peanuts. Those who were sitting stood up suddenly and shouted, ‘Wonderful!’

‘What’s happened to me? Where am I?’ Stephanie didn’t know why she was seeing what she was seeing. She began to get scared. She was on a stage. She was in an opera costume. She thought that she was seeing ghosts – which are called dirty things in Chinese. Stephanie rubbed her eyes vigorously. When she opened her eyes again, the strange pictures had disappeared.

Stephanie looked around, trying to make sure that she was still in the museum. In a corner of the museum, there was an old man gazing at one of the costumes. His eyes were full of emotion. He was in his sixties and he was wearing a long dark blue gown. Stephanie was very curious to know what was so attractive about the costume. She walked towards the display in order to read the notice beside it. It read, ‘Pou Hong – One of the most famous Chinese Opera actresses…’

Two security guards walked past Stephanie just then. Seeing the old man standing there as if he were a plaster cast, one of them said to the other. ‘That crazy man is here again… He comes here every day just to look at that costume.’

Overhearing them, Stephanie thought that the man must be a faithful fan of that actress. Compared to him, she was capricious in her loyalties. She had liked Leon Lai for many years but now she was intoxicated with Jay Chow, one of the most famous Taiwanese singers.

***

The next day, Stephanie and her mother went as they did on the first day of the lunar month, to the Kun Yam Temple. As usual, Stephanie didn’t go into the temple. She was very afraid of fire and so she waited outside. While she was pacing about, she carelessly bumped into a person. They both fell down. Just at that moment, a series of pictures flashed into Stephanie’s mind again. This time, she was in a different place altogether. She was in a prosperous lane. There were many hawkers selling snacks like Bing Tong Woo Lo¹ along the street. To Stephanie’s surprise, she found herself in Tong Chong. She was sitting at a table in the street, eating Sai-Yung² with a handsome man.

‘It hurts.’ The pain brought Stephanie back to her here-and-now, the Kun Yam Temple. What she had seen just now – the street, the noodles, the young man, all of it – had vanished from her mind. She immediately helped the old man, with whom she had just collided, to stand up.

‘Sorry!’ But just as she said the word, she found herself gasping, breathless. She recognised that he was ‘the faithful fan’ whom she had seen in the museum. She helped the old man to sit on the rock stairs in front of the temple and they began to talk with each other. From him, Stephanie learned that long ago there had been many Chinese Opera performances in Macao. Stephanie didn’t know the old man’s name – she just called him uncle – but she found this ‘faithful fan’ very familiar. She felt as if they had known each other for a long time. But she couldn’t explain the feeling.

***

That night, Stephanie had a dream. She was praying to the Buddha in the Kun Yam Temple. And then she met the handsome man with whom she had been eating Sai Yung. He was there to accompany his mother. They were seeing each other for the first time. They had fallen in love at first sight…

When Stephanie woke up, she had a very strange feeling. It didn’t feel like a dream she’d just had, it felt like a memory from her life, like an experience she had actually lived.

‘Stephanie… Stephanie… You’ve been working too hard…’ Stephanie scolded herself as she got out of the bed. She looked at herself in the mirror. ‘Oh my Jesus! My eye bags have become bigger and bigger.’ Stephanie thought that her final term paper had given her too much pressure. That paper hadn’t only given her the ‘beautiful’ eye bags but also this extraordinary and life-like dream.

***

The next Sunday morning, Stephanie had to go to the Forum to visit the exhibition Old Macau. As soon as she left her building, she saw some children playing with fire, burning pieces of paper on the street. Stephanie was frozen with fear, she couldn’t take a step forward. She just stood there gazing at the fire. And now – she didn’t know how but – she found herself in the fire and her leg was trapped by a large piece of wood. She was crying loudly. The fire was all around her. Before she lost consciousness, she heard a man shouting, ‘Put out the fire quickly, Pou Hong is in there…’ It wasn’t until she heard the parents of those naughty children shouting that Stephanie was back in the present again.

‘Why am I seeing so many strange old images?... Pou Hong… Pou Hong…?’ Stephanie found the name very familiar but she just couldn’t remember where it was from or what it meant.

In the exhibition, Stephanie was impressed by a picture of a sunset at the A-Ma Temple. She had a feeling that the place and the moment was very important to her but she just couldn’t explain why.

Although Stephanie kept on having similar dreams, she didn’t take them seriously. She still thought that it was just end-of-term fever. However, it seemed to be her destiny that she had to understand the meaning of these strange things she was seeing.

One day, Stephanie went shopping with her mother. On their way home, the bus passed by the Hotel Lisboa and a pair of young lovers got on the bus. They sat in front of Stephanie and her mother. The boy was holding the girl tightly in his arms. Stephanie’s mother said to her, ‘When I was dating with your father, he always brought me to see Chinese Opera. At that time, I was a fan of Pou Hong. Now he is more interested in feeding birds than in me… Man is as changeable as the moon,’ she sighed.

The moment her mother mentioned the name ‘Pou Hong’, Stephanie found herself no longer sitting on the bus but in the beautiful sunset scenery in front of the A-Ma Temple. She was with the handsome man whom she had dreamt before. The young man told her that his father had already discovered their love affair and that he had demanded he leave her. She lowered her head because she didn’t want him to notice her tears.

‘I promise you. I will never leave you!’ The man held her in his arms and comforted her. He wouldn’t be controlled by his parents. He had already made a plan for the two to get away. ‘I love you …I can’t live without you… We can start our new lives as soon as we escape from Macau.’

Suddenly, the bus on which Stephanie and her mother were traveling ran into the car in front. Stephanie’s dreaming head hit the back of the seat in front of her and she was knocked out. The images of fire returned to her mind again. ‘Save me! Save me!’ Cheok Fong… I am in the fire…’ Stephanie woke up. She now knew that Stephanie had once been Pou Hong, and Pou Hong was now Stephanie. She was now quite sure that in her previous life she had been that famous Chinese Opera actress.

Stephanie wanted to find Cheok Fong – her devoted lover – but she didn’t know how to find him. Where was he now? Was he in another body too? ‘The sunset scenery!’ Stephanie remembered that he had made his promise in front of the A-Ma Temple. That’s why she had had such a strange feeling when she’d seen the picture in the exhibition.

Her mother thought Stephanie was acting very strangely when she got off the bus, crossed the road, and caught another, all without saying a word. She took the bus to the Barra terminus. She went to sit on the bench in front of the A-Ma temple. She hoped that Cheok Fong would appear. Though she knew he was only someone in her dream, she also knew that her dream was true.

As the day wore on, the place became more and more deserted. Just when she had decided to leave, an old man came towards her and asked her why she had been sitting there for so long. It was that man. It was the ‘faithful fan’. They chatted with each other again. He began to talk about his past.

‘This is the most unforgettable place for me. When I was young, I fell in love with a famous Chinese Opera actress... You won’t know her, you were not born at that time…’ The more he said, the more Stephanie knew that he must be Cheok Fong.

‘You still love her?’ Stephanie asked at last. She knew the answer was very important to her.

‘Yes… but…’ An old lady arrived and put a coat on Cheok Fong’s shoulders and asked him to come home. He then introduced his wife to Stephanie. She was shocked but she tried not to show it.

‘If God didn’t want us to be together, why would he let me know all this?’ Stephanie stood there. The sun had set. She was talking to herself. She asked, ‘What should I do? Tell him or not?’

Wai!³

Kathy Wong

Mei Mei is one of my best friends. She didn’t further her study after graduating from secondary school. We were very talkative together back then. Mei Mei especially liked talking about ghosts with me, because I told her that a soothsayer had said I could connect with spirits. She was a very optimistic person. Whenever I saw her she had a bright smile on her face. But I never saw her bright smile again after this event…

***

Time passed quickly. The second year of my university life started. On 12^th September, I had a sudden impulse to visit Mei Mei. I remember the date because of what happened later. I remembered that the last time I had seen Mei Mei was three months before, so I decided to visit her on that day.

That was a happy day, we talked with each other just as we used to. She told me that she had a boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Chi Kit, was a port-policeman. She said Chi Kit treated her very well. Whatever she wanted, he would give her, to the best of his ability.

I went home very late that night and I was so tired I took a shower and just went to bed. I was woken by my mother not long after I fell asleep. It was about three o’clock in the morning. My mother told me that it was Mei Mei calling. There must be something urgent or that something bad had happened. I felt uneasy now. I wasn’t sleepy any more. I took up the phone carefully. I held it tightly and said, ‘Wai.’

There was no response. Instead I heard Mei Mei sobbing. Then I asked, ‘Mei Mei? Mei Mei? Are you there? What’s happened? Why are you crying?’

Mei Mei tried to stop crying and said, ‘Sorry, Chio Kuan, I didn’t mean to wake you up at this time of the night, but I really have to tell someone…’ She paused. She seemed to have difficulty in breathing. And then she continued, ‘Chio Kuan, Chi Kit is dead!’

I was terribly shocked. Although I knew something bad must have happened, I could never have expected this! He was so young and their relationship was just beginning. I didn’t know what to say. I thought I would just comfort her by telling her not to be so sad. But how ridiculous my words seemed. I asked her how it happened.

Holding back her tears, she told me the story. While Chi Kit was making a routine investigation with his colleague at the No.16 pier in the Inner Harbour, a thick rope, which was supposed to be tied to a ship and the shore, hit him. It struck him across the throat and hurled him into the sea. It was determined that he had died of injuries he’d suffered before he hit the water.

What I didn’t understand was why she said it was all her fault. She continued, ‘When you left just now, it was almost midnight. Chi Kit was supposed to have finished working by one a.m., so I thought it might be good to go to siu ye⁴ with him. But then I thought of the hour I had to wait for him to pick me up, and that he might be very tired after work. I decided to go home alone and then wait for his call. I knew he would always call me immediately after work. But … not this time.’

Mei Mei’s voice started to get unsteady again, ‘So I phoned him but his number was disconnected. Not long after, I received a call from his mother. She told me about the accident, that Chi Kit had died! I feel so bad, Chio Kuan! If I had called him, he would have avoided the accident. He wouldn’t have died! It’s all my fault!’

        We talked for more than an hour. At last, she accepted my advice to take a bath and go to sleep. I told her that she needed more strength to handle what was ahead of her. As for myself, I couldn’t sleep after talking with her. For the following few days, I didn’t go to the university. I went with Mei Mei to arrange everything for the funeral.

On the first day after Chi Kit’s death, Mei Mei and I went to the police station with Chi Kit’s parents and friends. The police gave a mobile phone and a wallet back to the crying parents. The police said that the frogmen found them in the sea, but they couldn’t find Chi Kit’s identity card in his wallet. Chi Kit’s friends and parents searched his wallet thoroughly, but they still couldn’t find it. So it was strange when Mei Mei, having picked up the wallet and after quickly looking through it, said, ‘Here it is. You couldn’t have looked very carefully.’ We all felt puzzled about this…

That night I went to Mei Mei’s home and stayed overnight. She was so sad that she couldn’t sleep. She told me lots of things. I knew all she needed was a good listener, so I just nodded my head at whatever she said to me. In the middle of the night, I was woken by a phone call. I was so sleepy at that time I didn’t look to see who was calling. I just pressed the speaking button and said, ‘Wai.’ There wasn’t any response except a strange little noise, so I knew the line hadn’t been cut. I said again, ‘Wai.’ There was still no response, so I switched off the phone and went to sleep again.

When I woke up on the following morning, I remembered the mysterious call. I checked my call record to see whose call it was. It was a number I didn’t know. I didn’t know why, but I dialed that number. It was very strange, the number was unavailable. Meanwhile, Mei Mei woke up and asked me why I looked so confused. When she looked at my calling record, her face immediately lost colour. Mei Mei said, ‘Oh, God! That’s his number.’ I felt a chill run down my spine. I had never even met Chi Kit before.

How could a dead man be calling a number he’d never had? Mei Mei and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Mei Mei used my mobile phone to dial the number, but it was still unavailable. Every time she heard the unavailable message she desperately hit the re-dial button. Although we were silent on the way, we still had lots of questions in our minds.

14^th September. It was a very bad day. The rain had been pouring heavily. The No.3 typhoon signal had already been raised when we had started puzzling over the mobile phone mystery. When we arrived at the funeral parlour, we were told that typhoon signal No.8 was hoisted. The master of the funeral parlour said that the funeral couldn’t proceed in such bad weather and told us to go home as quickly as possible.

Such an unhappy day. By the time we were all back at Mei Mei’s home, typhoon signal No.10 had been raised. This was Typhoon York, the most destructive typhoon in the Pearl River Delta for many years. Mei Mei’s mother said that it seemed that heaven was crying for Chi Kit’s death, because Chi Kit was such a nice man. It was unfair for him to die and he was so young. He was just twenty four!

By the 15th of September, the typhoon had already gone. The funeral could proceed. I accompanied Mei Mei to see Chi Kit for the last time. Although I didn’t know him, I cried when I saw his body. I don’t know why but I even tried to touch it. It was so… stiff. It was the first time I saw a real corpse. I started to realise that life was so precious and fragile.

Suddenly, Mei Mei cried out, ‘Chio Kuan, Chi Kit is crying!’ At first, I thought Mei Mei must have been so sad that she was carried away by her emotion, but… when I looked at him closely, I saw there really were a few tear drops on his cheeks. They weren’t much, but they were certainly tears!

Mei Mei and I didn’t know what to do, so we went to find a Dou Si (Daoist priest). We talked to the Dou Si about the identity card, the mobile phone mystery and the tears on Chi Kit’s face. We wanted to know what all of this meant. The Dou Si said that Chi Kit couldn’t accept the fact that he had already died. His feeling towards Mei Mei was so strong that it kept the two connected. To cut this link so that Chi Kit would leave this world in peace, the Dou Si told Mei Mei’s mother to buy a new comb. Mei Mei’s mother went to get a comb from a nearby supermarket. She was back in a few minutes. After saying something like a charm or a prayer, the priest gave Mei Mei the comb and asked her to comb her hair once. Then, Mei Mei had to comb Chi Kit’s hair once. Finally, she had to break the comb into two, which symbolised the end of their relationship.

Though Mei Mei was sad and unwilling, she followed what the Dou Si said, so that Chi Kit could go where he had to go.

***

Since then, I have never seen her bright smiles again. If, as the fortune teller said, I am connected to spirits, I wish I could do something for her, at least, to make her smile cheerfully once more. I really miss her smiles.

Jimmy’s Power

Cecilia Hong

Up above that part of the sky which people on earth can see, there are angels all around. You might not know about them but their main job is to help people to have faith either in God or in themselves, or both. There is a special department of heaven where junior guardian angels, or juguels, work. The job of the juguels is to help children to grow up safely.

Most people think that angels can make any magic they want, but actually that is not the case. Junior guardian angels do not have any magic power until they become seniors. They have to give people faith by using their own skills. It’s by doing so they can be promoted.

***

Owen was very excited. He was going to be a senior guardian angel (seguel) soon. God praised him for his good works over the last hundred years. Owen was hard working. He’d been a juguel for as long as he could remember. He had worked very hard in order to help his earth clients to grow up. Actually, Owen didn’t think much about promotion. What he wanted to do was to finish his assignments as perfectly as he could.

In the last hundred years Owen had helped many kids. They’d all grown up happily. There were lovely girls and smart boys. The most impressive case in Owen’s memory, the one in which he had made all the difference, was the case of Jimmy. It was ten years ago…

‘Owen, here is a new task for you.’ Gabriella, a messenger angel, presented a file to Owen.

‘Oh thanks, Gabriella. Let me see, Jimmy, ten years old.’ Owen read out loud from the file. ‘It’s good to have something to do at last, all the other jobs are done. I was actually preparing to come to you and...’ But when he turned around, Owen saw that Gabriella had vanished. It was always like that with messenger angels, they were always in such a hurry.

Jimmy? Jimmy was a Class four student in a school on Go Si Duc (Rua de Horta e Costa). The file revealed that Jimmy was an unhappy kid who always talked to his toy soldier. Jimmy lived with his parents in a small apartment. His parents had to work all the time. Jimmy actually had no one to talk with because he did not have friends either. He understood his parents’ situation, so he didn’t complain much. He was a good kid, he helped to do housework while his parents were busy.

Owen thought to himself, ‘This will be quite a difficult case. Normally kids are either naughty or lazy. But Jimmy’s problem is that he doesn’t have faith in himself.’ What to do? Owen had never faced this kind of problem before. How could he talk to Jimmy? How could he find a way for the boy to trust him? He decided to communicate with Jimmy through his toy soldier.

***

‘Reddy, I am unhappy again today. I just don’t understand why people around me always say that I’m short and no good. Actually, I don’t care what they say… provided that they don’t bully me.’ Jimmy was crying while he was talking to Reddy, his toy soldier. Reddy was Reddy because he was red.

How many times had they had this conversation? It was always so one-sided… But it wasn’t going to be this time…

Jimmy couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Reddy blink his eyes and then rub them with his hands. Jimmy rubbed his eyes too. At first, Jimmy thought he was dreaming. But it was true.

His soldier was talking to him in a comforting voice. ‘Don’t be afraid, I’m here for you. I’m Owen, a junior guardian angel. We’re called Juguels up above. I can talk with you through your soldier. I know that you are unhappy. I am here to help.’

‘What “above”?’ Jimmy was shocked but also quite moved when Owen said he knew he was unhappy. It seemed that suddenly there was a person or “something” which understood him and even wanted to offer help.

‘Above is Heaven. Where I have lived for…Oops! I forget how long I’ve been there. Anyway…I’ve been there for a long long time.’

‘I see. Thanks for coming. But I don’t suppose you can make a short stupid kid like me happy?’ Jimmy started to look unhappy again.

Owen jumped in quickly before Jimmy’s mood got any worse. ‘Why not? You are a human. You’re meant to be happy living in the world. That’s why I’ve come to you.’

‘So, please tell me what you can do?’ Jimmy was beginning to believe.

‘Okay, that’s easy. To make you happy, I will give you three wishes.’

‘Oh…’ Jimmy wanted to make the first wish immediately, but his mind was suddenly blank. Then he asked, ‘May I think for a while and tell you later?’

‘Sure. Anytime you like. Just talk to me, I mean Reddy, before you go to sleep. Your wish will come true the next day.’

As soon as these words were spoken, all became calm. Reddy was Reddy again. He was the same old red toy soldier he had always been before. Owen might have left or what had happened might just have been a dream. But whatever the truth was, Jimmy felt better. It was as if someone had taken away the hard feeling he had had in his heart before. Before he knew it, Jimmy was fast asleep.

The next day, Jimmy woke up and though his conversation with Owen was vivid to him, he thought it had just been a dream. Reddy was beside him but he didn’t look as if he were likely to say anything.

Jimmy went to school as usual. It was the day when representatives of Jimmy’s class were being selected to participate in the coming school Sports Day. Everybody was excited. They were talking about who would have the chance to participate in the track-and-field events.

Jimmy was in the first heat for the sixty-meter race. But Jimmy failed to reach the minimum time. Some of the boys in his group teased him, saying that he was no good at all. Jimmy was quite sad. He was not the only one who could not run fast enough, but people always took him as a target to laugh at. Just when Jimmy was about to accept things as they always were, he remembered what Owen the Juguel had said to him the night before. Jimmy made up his mind that he should use his first wish to win the sixty-metre race. He wasn’t really sure that Owen existed, but if he really did have a guardian angel then that would be his wish.

That night, Jimmy said to the soldier, ‘Reddy Reddy… Owen Owen, are you here? My first wish is to win the sixty-metre race. Can you hear me?’ There was no reply at first and so Jimmy tried several times.

Just when Jimmy was ready to give up, Reddy stretched his arms and spoke as he had the night before. ‘Good evening, little Jimmy. Sorry for the delay. I could hear you but I had some chores to finish upstairs.’ The Juguel raised his eyebrows to indicate a higher plane.

‘Doesn’t matter, Owen, you know, I’m just glad that you’re here. I really want to win the race to show I’m a capable child. What can I do? Can you help me?’

Owen’s brows were creased with serious thought. He rested his chin on his hand. Jimmy did not dare to make a sound, he waited quietly. After a while, Owen snapped his fingers and spoke with a bright voice. ‘Okay. I will give you a pair of magical sports shoes. Tomorrow, you ask your teacher to give you a chance to try again.’

‘Thank you, Owen.’

‘You’re welcome. Now, what you should do is to have a nice sleep. Cheers!’ Owen winked one of his eyes at Jimmy. Then next moment, all became calm. Reddy was Reddy again. Jimmy knew Owen had left and soon fell asleep.

***

Jimmy got up early in the morning. At the end of his bed there was a brand new pair of white sports shoes. Jimmy knew that his wish had come true. He knew he hadn’t bought these shoes.

Jimmy wore the new shoes to school. Following the advice Owen had given him, Jimmy asked his teacher to give him another chance. The teachers arranged the trial for him after school. Jimmy had been nervous for the whole day.

After school, Jimmy’s chance came. There wasn’t much audience to make him nervous, only a few boys and girls waiting for their parents or the bus. Jimmy warmed up as well as he could for his run. But as soon as the whistle went his legs felt like lead, he was slower than ever. His time was terrible. Perhaps the shoes needed a warm-up too? Jimmy was determined to try again. The second time he fared only a little better. Jimmy began to doubt the magic of the shoes. His teacher was kind enough. She knew that Jimmy really wanted to enter the competition, so she gave him a third try. Jimmy was a little bit upset but he thought, ‘At least now I’m warmed up, I should have a better chance if I try my best this last time.’

3… 2… 1. When the whistle went, Jimmy tried his best and this time he succeeded. The few classmates who were watching were surprised at first, but they thought that it was just luck, and that Jimmy would come last in the competition anyway. Jimmy had never tasted the sweetness of success before. He was very happy he could enter the competition.

For the following weeks, he kept on practicing running after school. At last as the day approached, Jimmy felt that he was ready to compete.

***

4^th November was the Sports Day at the Canidrome. Hundreds of students wore different coloured shirts representing their teams. The breezes and sunshine made the Sports Day a pleasant one for everyone. On the tracks and fields, different kinds of competitions took place. Cheers and applause filled the Canidrome. The sixty metre race was just finished. Guess what? Jimmy won his first prize ever. Everybody was astonished and thought it was just his good luck, just a one-off thing. Jimmy knew his success was all because of his magic shoes. That night, he held his gold medal to his chest and thanked Owen.

***

After his victory however, things did not go so well. It was only a few days later that Jimmy was distressed again. He’d failed in his Social Science test. At the age of ten, a kid should be studying Primary five. Normally, since Jimmy had been kept in Class four, he would be kicked out of school if he could not make it to Primary five next year.

‘Though I’m good at sports now, my school work is as bad as before. I’ve already tried hard, but I still failed. If I go on like this, I’ll be kicked out of school,’ Jimmy, thinking that Owen would listen, was speaking to Reddy with tears in his eyes. Jimmy closed his eyes tight and when he opened them again, Reddy was stretching his arms. Jimmy knew that Owen was back.

‘Calm down boy, it will be all right. That’s an easy problem, a magic pencil will do the trick.’

‘Really? Is it just like the magic shoes?’

‘My boy, try to have confidence in yourself and in me. If I say it’ll be okay, then it’ll be okay. You’ll find a magic mechanical pencil in your pencil case. Take it and use it!’ Owen winked one of his eyes at Jimmy. Then next moment, all became calm. Reddy was Reddy again.

‘Thanks for your help,’ Jimmy tried to control his sobbing and slept soon.

The next morning, Jimmy found, as promised, a new mechanical pencil in his pencil case. His old mechanical pencil hadn’t worked very well anyway, and now he used the new one to do his work in class. With the new pencil, he found himself becoming much more attentive to his work. At home he did his homework in a much more orderly way. Jimmy knew that it was the magic which was helping him.

In the first term exam at the end of November, Jimmy got a satisfactory result. He passed all subjects with blue marks (over sixty percent) and he got a B+ for sports, his highest grade ever.

***

After the exam, the school picnic to Seac Pai Van Park was approaching. Every student was busy organising with classmates, planning what to eat and do on the picnic day. Jimmy was left alone, no one wanted to be in a group with him. In the past, he’d always been alone at the picnic. While other classmates were happily playing hide-and-seek, badminton and other games, he was just sitting by himself eating the sandwiches his mother prepared. Sometimes, some naughty kids would grab his food and hit him. This year, since Jimmy had Owen and since he had his last wish left still, he decided there should be some changes. Jimmy decided to call Owen.

‘Umh… actually, making friends is a difficult matter.’ Owen’s brows were creased and he rested his chin on his hand again. This time was different. It seemed that Jimmy’s request was really hard to fulfill. Owen said, ‘The three wishes I gave you can only work for you yourself. I cannot make other people like you. Maybe you can think of another wish. Try to take a good rest tonight, and tomorrow, you will think of a better one.’ This time, Owen did not wink his eye, instead, he patted Jimmy’s shoulder to comfort him. The next moment, all became calm. Reddy was Reddy again.

Jimmy was a good kid. He did not blame Owen, he could see now that it really was a demanding wish. But Jimmy was upset that on the school picnic day, no one would like to be with him. That meant that once again he would pass the day alone.

***

It was a sunny Friday. Though it was December, the day was not very cold, it was breezy. After a hardworking week, it was a perfect time to go for a picnic.

7:30 am. As usual, Jimmy went to school with his mother accompanying him on the bus. Everybody had been expecting the annual school picnic day since the beginning of the term. Students would go to school first, and then they would take the school bus to Coloane.

While Jimmy and his mother were taking bus to school, Jimmy was thinking what wish he could make to let people like him. Then, all of a sudden, the bus swerved wildly, people were thrown from their seats. The driver was leaning on the horn and the brakes at the same time, but it was too late. The bus crashed into the car in front.

Everyone on the bus was very scared, including Jimmy. The driver had fainted, some of the seats were smashed up. From what Jimmy could see, some people were hurt and there were voices calling out for help. Everything was in a mess. Jimmy’s mother was trapped between the twisted seats. There was nothing he could do for her because Jimmy’s left hand was trapped too.

The crying and the screaming only got louder now that the bus had completely stopped. Jimmy was confused and afraid too. He wished somebody would help him. And then he remembered his last wish. Jimmy knew what his last wish should be. But as Reddy was not beside him, he was not sure if he could make it. He tried anyway, ‘Owen, Owen, do you hear me? Please hear me. My third wish is to let me know what I should do now.’

In a moment, he knew his wish had come true because he knew what he should do. Jimmy used his right hand to take out the mobile from his mother’s handbag; and he dialed 999. In all the chaos of the crash Jimmy had been the only person able to get hold of a phone and dial for help. After his call, Jimmy could tell the people in the bus that ambulances were coming. People became calmer and started to help the injured. A few minutes later, police and ambulances arrived at the crash scene. Everybody in the bus praised Jimmy for being such a good boy.

Jimmy couldn’t go to the picnic, he was taken to the hospital. Fortunately, neither his mother nor he was seriously injured. They only needed to stay in the hospital for three days. Knowing his injury and brave deed, some of Jimmy’s classmates and teachers went to visit him.

From then on, Jimmy became a popular kid. He did well in sports, school work, and, best of all, no one ever bullied him again. His classmates thought he was really very brave. Jimmy now had many friends.

***

You’re probably wondering what happened to Owen. You’ll remember that he was waiting for his promotion. Owen would soon be made a senior angel because of his excellent work with Jimmy. The boy and the angel had one last conversation though. That was because, after the accident, Jimmy blamed himself and blamed himself. Why hadn’t he made a better wish? Why hadn’t he wished for no one to be hurt, or for the accident never to have happened? What would you have wished in his place?

Owen told Jimmy that the wish he had made was better than those wishes would have been. Jimmy’s wish was to do the right thing by himself, to do the thing that needed to be done… Owen had to tell Jimmy the truth, which was that with Reddy nowhere around, he’d never even heard Jimmy’s last wish.

After the crash, Jimmy always knew that he had a guardian angel looking after him. And he knew that he still had one wish left. That kind of thing can make all the difference. If you were Jimmy, what would you make your third wish?

The Magic Basketball

Karen Lam and Kit Kelen

Siu Fat was studying at a famous school in Macao. He was a chubby eight year old. People liked to play tricks on him because of his appearance. Siu Fat didn’t get along with others. He felt that everybody treated him badly. Most of his classmates saw him as a laughingstock, except Siu Chong and Siu Ming, his two best friends. Siu Fat’s teacher scolded him all the time without any good reason. His parents always nagged at him day and night. Siu Fat was so fed up with their ceaseless ‘lessons’.

The only thing Siu Fat liked was playing basketball. His parents seldom gave him any presents, but once they had given him a basketball. It was for his fifth birthday. He was fat back then too, and his parents had hoped the basketball would encourage him to become fitter. Siu Fat was so slow with the ball though that it was unlikely to make him any fitter or thinner. But the basketball had become his only companion. He would rather chat with the ball than with anybody else.

One day, Siu Fat came home from school and shut himself in the bedroom. His class teacher had scolded him again for not paying attention in class. The teacher had shouted, ‘Siu Fat, can’t you pay more attention in class. You’ve failed in many tests. I really don’t want to see you being kicked out of school.’ But Siu Fat had ignored her words.

Siu Fat bounced the ball up and down and complained furiously, ‘Huh, that witch (he meant his teacher) scolded me again. It wasn’t my fault. It’s all because of those irritating classmates. Why did she scold me, but no one else? It’s so… UNFAIR!’ Now he stared intently at the ball, as if it were a human face, as if it could answer. Siu Fat said to the ball, ‘I wish she would just disappear.’

The next day, when Siu Fat got to school there was no sign of that wicked witch of a teacher. Nobody knew where she was. She had simply disappeared. It wasn’t just Siu Fat who was happy to not have to see that witch. All of his classmates felt the same. They were overjoyed until they discovered that a more cruel and even fatter woman had come to teach them.

‘Oh, no! Another witch has come. Poor us. Our freedom’s gone again. Why do we have to have these horrible teachers?’ Siu Chong complained.

‘What a hell this school is! One witch leaves but another takes her place.’ Siu Fat kept on like this.

‘Siu Fat, let’s go to Siu Ming’s home tomorrow. He’s got a new computer game. Let’s have fun and forget those witches.’ That was what Siu Chong suggested and Siu Fat went along with the idea.

Though Siu Fat was excited that he could play a new computer game at Siu Ming’s home, he was in bad mood the whole day. On the way home, he never lifted up his head. Instead of taking the most direct route, he wandered here and there on his way. He hadn’t wanted to get there in a hurry but he soon found himself at his home.

As soon as Siu Fat stepped through the doorway, a woman with a huge body blocked his way, ‘Lazy Worm, have you studied? Don’t you know that you have already failed in many tests? If you keep on like this, you’ll soon be kicked out of school and become a beggar on the street.’

Siu Fat slipped past his mother and slammed his bedroom door so hard it seemed the whole apartment block shook. He could still hear his mother calling after him, ‘I’m only telling you this because I love you.’ Siu Fat didn’t believe that nonsense for a moment. He’d heard it all before.

Siu Fat was so angry that he had escaped from his mother without giving her a word. He talked with the ball again. ‘My dear ball, you are my only friend. You’re the only one who understands me. My teachers hate me. My mother doesn’t care about me. She never understands how hard it is for me to study. I don’t understand anything that the teachers teach me, even after I’ve spent a whole day to study. It’s useless. I’ll still fail in the tests. I wish I didn’t have a mother to nag at me and scold me all the time.’

After Siu Fat had finished all his complaints, he came out of his room and looked around. There was nobody there. Nobody around, nobody to tell him what to do. Siu Fat pondered, ‘Magic, it’s really magic. Each time I tell the ball who I wish away, the people disappear’.

The following day, when Siu Fat went to school, a group of students were waiting for him before the class began. Siu Fat hated them very much because they always jeered at him. And they hated Siu Fat just as much as he hated them. ‘Stupid fatty, why do you come to school? It’s no use for you to come here. You’re so stupid that you’ll never learn anything. You’d better go home and stay with your toys, HAHA…’

All day long, Siu Fat couldn’t concentrate on his lessons, because their mean words were stuck in his head. Surely there was some kind of revenge he could take. After school, Siu Fat tried his magic ball again. This time he told the ball that his classmates had jeered at him and he wanted them to disappear. Sure enough, the next day, there was nobody in his class. Siu Fat was very happy. It was as if he was now the king of the world. Nobody would make a fool of him or scold him anymore. Siu Fat was gradually becoming addicted to the ball’s magic. He used the magic basketball as a tool to make anyone he disliked vanish. One day, he told the ball, ‘Everybody is bad, except me. I want all them to disappear. I’m the only good person in the world.

The magic ball really made everyone disappear, everyone except Siu Fat. Siu Fat felt excited because now nobody would control him, and he could do whatever he wanted. He did not have to go to school from now on, because there was nobody teaching in the school. Siu Fat really enjoyed being alone and having so much time to do what he liked.

Siu Fat’s happiness did not last long though. Early the next morning, Siu Fat woke up and switched on the TV, but there was no program at all. He went through all of the channels, nothing. Of course not, there was no one in the TV station. Siu Fat went out to find his friends, but of course there was nobody there. It was fun to walk through the empty streets. Siu Fat could go anywhere and do anything. But the city had stopped working. Nothing was moving at all. It was like a broken toy.

Thinking and walking had made Siu Fat hungry, so he went home to have lunch, but there was no one there to cook for him. The previous days he’d been hungry but he had made himself sick eating snacks. Right at this moment, though Siu Fat didn’t know it, was when he became especially hungry every day. It was because at this time every day he could smell delicious noodles cooking in the flat next door. Though there was no one in that flat now, and so no one was cooking noodles, still his memory was strong, and so it was as if he could smell those noodles. The smell of the ‘virtual’ noodles was so strong it was driving him mad. Siu Fat sobbed, ‘I really want a bowl of hot beef noodles, cooked by my mother. I miss the noodles, I miss my mother so much.’

Siu Fat went back to his room and saw his basketball on the floor. Seeing the basketball reminded him that it was he who had made everybody disappear, using the ball’s magic.

‘My dear ball, can you talk with me? I feel so lonely now. I don’t like the new teacher. She looks so ugly and she doesn’t care about me. My old teacher was much better than her. She cared. I miss Siu Chong and Siu Ming, too. I want to play the new computer game with them. They’re so good to me and they’re with me all the time. I’m so hungry. I just want a bowl of hot noodles. Can you bring me some noodles?’ Siu Fat was sobbing in a corner, holding his basketball. He was unhappy and regretted having wished the human race away. He didn’t want a world like this. How much he wanted the people to come back.

Siu Fat was sorry, so sorry. What could he do? He wished and he wished but nothing happened. There was nobody to talk to him. He really wished the basketball would speak to him. But the ball said nothing. Eventually Siu Fat was so angry with the basketball, he wished it would disappear. And to his surprise, it did. How could that be? It wasn’t even human? Or had it been? Now Siu Fat was truly alone in the world, with no one even to listen to him. He didn’t even have a ball to play with. And he was still so hungry, so hungry… and he soon fell asleep.

***

The ringing of bells was deafening. Was this the end of the world? Siu Fat had never wondered how that would sound. But now he was there, facing the end alone… His eyes were still closed. What should he do?

Without thinking, Siu Fat reached over and did something he did every morning. He hit the alarm clock and it stopped. And then there was another noise, the door creaking. Then Siu Fat heard his mother’s voice. She was saying what she always said. ‘Get out of bed, you lazy boy.’ Was he dreaming? Siu Fat pinched himself. He breathed deeply. He could smell congee from the kitchen. Siu Fat was overjoyed, tears ran down his cheeks. He gave his mother a big hug, she was taken aback with her son’s enthusiasm.

Siu Fat had just put the last spoonful of congee in his mouth when Siu Chong and Siu Ming called him out to play football with them. He rushed to his room cheerfully, changed his clothes at once and dashed out to meet his friends.

The three of them were late as usual. Darting into the classroom, Siu Fat met his old teacher. She scolded him as usual, ‘Hey, why are you boys running? Don’t you know that it’s very dangerous to rush like that…’ The teacher was surprised at how patient and attentive Siu Fat was while she scolded him. The other boys had already run off. Siu Fat was so pleased to see the teacher again, he couldn’t help noticing her big caring eyes. She was so much less fat and less cruel than that other woman who had replaced her.

Back on the football pitch at lunch time, Siu Fat began to explain what had happened. He wanted to tell his friends about the basketball’s magic. But every time Siu Fat began, he realised that there was no way he could get them to believe what had happened. Did it matter though? How could it matter if he’d wished that evil ball away, as long as his world was perfect again?

Share Your ‘Feathers’

or If You Give You Gain

Amy Lao, Camilla Lam, Irene Ho, Josefina Chao, May Choi and Stella Cheong

Lei Iak Lok was a seven year old who had come to Macao from Shanghai with his family. That was two months before our story begins. His parents owned a jewellery shop and were trading gems on a large scale. They were rich and Lok was their only child. They gave Lok everything he wanted, except their time and care.

It was arranged Lok would enter a local primary school and he was placed in Primary Two. Coming from a wealthy family, Lok was used to getting lots of attention from his classmates and teachers at school on the mainland. Now every face was new to him. Things were very different. He did not know what to do. Like every child, he wished to get attention. And here’s how Lok did it.

***

The school bell had just rung. In a few minutes’ time, Miss Chan, the English teacher, would come. Lok was already busy doing something – he was secretly tying the shoelaces of Siu Ming, one of his classmates, to the leg of the chair. The whole class rose and greeted Miss Chan when she stepped into the classroom. It was then Siu Ming lost balance and fell onto the floor. The whole class burst into laughter. Miss Chan stared angrily around the room and said, ‘Whoever it was, come to me after class!’ Seeing how much Miss Chan cared about his work, Lok celebrated his own ‘success’ in his heart.

It had taken only two months for every teacher and classmate to notice that there was a smart boy in their midst called ‘Lei Iak Lok’. Lok knew that he was great, he knew that he was important. And now everyone else knew too.

Miss Chan’s teaching was sounding too much like a lullaby. Already Lok could see pupils around him falling asleep. Lok felt that it was time for him to do something ‘heroic’ for the class. He explored in his pencil case and a brilliant idea soon came to his mind. He first picked his favourite bright blue highlighter. Then he set his target. Ieong, the fatty, was a good choice. He was sitting right in front of Lok and was sleeping soundly. Lok aimed the pen carefully so that when the victim turned around he would be instantly decorated.

With everything set, Lok patted Ieong’s shoulder and called his name. Ieong, being wakened suddenly, turned round at once. His face exactly touched the tip of the highlighter. Poor Ieong was too sleepy to know what was going on.

‘What’s up?’ was all his reply.

A drowsy expression on a round face with a sharp line of bright blue was so funny that it was hard for the naughty boy to try not to laugh. His little body shook. It was then some of the other pupils started to giggle, and soon the whole class laughed. Miss Chan noticed him and told him off. Attention! This was music to Lok’s ears.

‘Lei Iak Lok! You better sit straight and listen to me seriously. Or else just stay at home this Saturday, forget all about the picnic and write out one hundred times ‘I WILL NEVER PLAY DURING CLASS’. Do you get me?’ Miss Chan was looking really angry.

Lok could sense how serious his teacher was – it was not just the usual warning. Of course he did not want to miss the school picnic at Hac-Sa beach. With that in mind, he put his head down and muttered, ‘Yes, Miss Chan, I’ll be a good boy.’

The picnic day finally came. Lok had far more snacks and drinks than needed. His maid carried everything for him. But when Lok offered his classmates snacks, they ran away.

‘They just envy you, my dear.’ The domestic helper smiled and offered Lok a piece of chocolate. Lok refused it peevishly and walked away.

On the other side of the beach, three of Lok’s classmates were strolling along the bank. ‘Do you think Lok has a fever?’ said Siu Ming, ‘He’s behaving strangely today. Just now he offered me a drink.’

‘How could I know?…’ Ieong kicked at a coke can on the sand as he walked, ‘Perhaps he’s changing – becoming good?’

Just then, they heard Lok yelling to them from far away. ‘Hey! Fatty! Come to see my sandcastle!’ Lok was waving to them excitedly. Was it a friendly invitation or another trick? The three were hesitating. Finally, they went over to Lok.

Lok’s sandcastle was really a magnificent one! There was even a river running around it. But as they rushed to get a closer look, Ieong fell into a hole – a hole covered with some newspaper. The scene was so funny that before the other two boys could manage to offer any help, they found themselves laughing along with Lok.

‘Wahahaha… can you see how funny he looks?’ Lok was clapping his hands as well.

‘So you’ve set everything up and brought me here so I could fall into your trap?’ cried poor Ieong.

‘Hey, relax, Fatty! It’s just a game! See how happy the others are?’ Lok looked at Siu Ming and the other boy. ‘So you did enjoy yourselves just now, didn’t you?’

‘No, we didn’t!’ The two stopped laughing. They helped Ieong out and rushed away at once. ‘We’ll tell the class teacher! Watch and see!’

Lok was not afraid of the class teacher. His parents would never punish him. What was troubling him at the moment was that he was left alone, again, on the sand. All by himself.

‘Mum, I’m back!’ Lok was calling his mother with a sad voice. His mother should have been home, Lok was sure, because it was Saturday evening. Otherwise, there would just be silence, just the maids doing their duties, just his toys, and his pet lizard Kaka.

‘Mum! I’m back!’ Was his mother having a meeting again? Lok was a bit upset at the thought.

Finally his mother answered him, from her dressing room. ‘My dear, can you see what I bought for you? The Portuguese egg tarts on the table are all for you! Wash your hands and enjoy them.’

Lok went to wash his hands and sat in front of the Portuguese egg tarts. He did not know why but the natas did not look as delicious as usual. He sighed. His mother stepped out from the dressing room. Strange, Lok would usually have eaten most of the tarts by now.

‘My dear, are you okay?’ His mother put her hand on Lok’s forehead to check if he had a temperature. Completely normal. So what was up?

‘Come here, little bean.’ His mother was smiling at him while she was holding him on her lap. Lok was still gazing at the floor in silence. ‘I know that I don’t have much time to stay with you, child, but mummy does care for you very much. Do you know that?’ Lok glanced at his mother once and then, his head hanging down, looked at his own little fingers.

‘Now, can you tell me what happened today?’ Lok’s mother sat next to Lok and waited patiently for his answer. After a good while, Lok opened his mouth.

‘Mum, am I a bad boy?’ Lok was playing with his fingers nervously.

‘No, why did you say that? You’re always mum’s good little boy!’ His mother was kissing his cheeks softly.

‘I… Mum… I have no friends at all. No one plays with me. No one… seems to… like me.’ Lok was looking at his mother with tears flowing down his face.

His mother wiped his tears away with a handkerchief and continued, ‘Lok, have you ever done something to make them unhappy?’

‘I … I just played with them… just… play…’Lok started to sob.

‘Now I see. Okay, let Mum tell you a story...’ Lok’s mother smiled and took out a lovely blue book from the shelf beside the couch.

‘A story?’ Lok’s eyes were still wet with tears.

‘Yes, a story, a story about a peacock.’ Lok’s mother smiled at the little boy and opened the book, ‘Do you know what kind of bird a peacock is?’

‘It is very beautiful and colourful! Oh… like this one!’ Lok pointed at the book which his mother had just opened.’

‘Smart boy! But this peacock was not quite the same as the ones you know. This was a very big peacock, and he lived in the aviary of a zoo. He was very beautiful. He was resplendent and his name was John.’

Lok looked at the picture of the peacock and whispered the name ‘John’.

‘Yes, he had lots of golden feathers on his body.’ Lok was now thinking about how attractive this special peacock, John, was.

‘Now, look at him here. Don’t you think he’s attractive?’

‘Yes, he must be very shiny in the aviary and he must have lots of friends.’

‘No, little bean. He’s got no friends at all.’

‘No friends at all?’ Lok took pity on the peacock and looked at his mother puzzled.

‘Yes… he’s lonely. Lots of other birds came to him but none of them would play with him. He was all alone.’

‘Why, mum?’

‘John was asking the same question, too. He couldn’t understand why and he was very sad.’ His mother continued, ‘John had to look for a bird in the aviary who was really clever to answer this hard question. He thought and thought and then it came to him that he should ask Mr. Owl – the master of wisdom!’

‘Oh, then what did Mr. Owl say?’

‘As soon as he had found Mr. Owl, the peacock asked him why he had no friends. Mr. Owl took one look at John’s golden feathers and then he taught him what to do.’

Lok’s mother paused and asked, ‘What do you think Mr. Owl said to John?’ Lok shook his head and waited for the answer. His mother went on. ‘Mr. Owl took out one of John’s golden feathers and then he asked him whether he thought he was beautiful. What do you think the peacock said?’

Lok shook his head, he didn’t know.

‘Well, John was embarrassed. His feathers shimmered in a kind of pinky gold way. That meant he was blushing. But John really did think he was beautiful. And that was the point. Do you think the other animals were jealous of the peacock?’

Lok looked up at his mother, with a tentative ‘yes’ on his lips.

‘Well, some of them were jealous but the main problem was that John was so proud. He knew he was different, he knew he was beautiful. What he didn’t know was that all of the other birds knew that he knew. That was why they didn’t want to play with John. So…’ And now Lok’s eyes were bright with wonder. ‘So, Lok, what do you think that wise old owl told the young peacock to do?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘He told John to share his feathers with the other birds in the aviary.’

‘To share? Then John would not be shiny and special anymore.’ Lok was confused.

His mother patted him and said, ‘Dear, that’s what friends are for. We should give and share with our friends. Do you want to know what happened to John?’ Lok nodded eagerly.

‘When he had left Mr. Owl, the peacock started to give away his golden feathers, one by one, to other birds. Now all the other birds were a little brighter, and they were very happy. As for John, he was now the happiest bird in the aviary.’ Lok looked at his mother, and his little face told her he wanted to know more.

‘In the end, though John had only one golden feather left on his body, he was happy. He was happy because he had a lot of friends he could call his own. John was proud and said, ‘I’ used to be my favourite word, but now my favourite word is ‘we’. I know a little boy who might say the same thing soon too!’ Lok was pleased with the ending and his mother’s funny tone at the end, and he laughed.

‘The big peacock became happy because he gave his feathers to others.’ Lok thought aloud, ‘Yes… that’s the secret of happiness. I won’t monkey around or make trouble for anybody from now on because that’s what the peacock never does.’

All Lok could think of was that if he acted like this peacock then everyone would like him.

When Lok went back to his bedroom, he thought, ‘Let me think… the peacock shares his feathers with his friends. What can I share with my classmates? I have to share something too.’

***

The next day, Lok brought a bar of ‘HAHA’ chocolate to school. He wanted to share this famous delicious chocolate with his friend Siu Ming. ‘I don’t have any feathers but I’ve got the most delicious chocolate… hehe.’

In order to give Siu Ming a surprise, Lok wrote a note and put the chocolate on Siu Ming’s desk. He was nervous, but happy. This was the first time Lok felt happy inside without playing tricks on others. Since there was still plenty of time before the class started, Lok went out to the playground. Why? He wanted to see if anyone needed his help!

When he returned to the classroom, he saw there was a note on his desk. Lok was so excited when he imagined how pleased Siu Ming must have been with his gift. Lok was sure he would have a new friend now. But when he opened the letter, Lok couldn’t believe what he read.

‘Lok,

I got your chocolate. At first, I thought you were very kind. Then I found your filthy lizard. You must think you’re very clever having tricked me again. If you aim at scaring me, you win. Never see you again.

Your enemy for life,

Siu Ming.’

Lok was sad because Siu Ming couldn’t appreciate the chocolate. He was sadder because Siu Ming had gone from not liking him before to really really not liking him now. He was worried about what had happened to his pet Kaka. How had Kaka got into the chocolate box? Lok was sure it must have been Kaka. What worried him most and made him saddest was to see how easily a good intention could bring disaster.

He wanted to tell everything to Siu Ming, but he didn’t because Siu Ming had asked him not to talk to him again.

‘Siu Ming will be happier if I listen to him.’ He thought desperately.

‘Don’t give up, Lok.’ It seemed as if the peacock was talking to him. Lok wiped away his tears and carried on his ‘mission’.

***

After that, Siu Ming stopped talking to Lok. This didn’t affect Lok’s great passion to share with others, to help others.

On the desk next to his, Dai Hong’s desk, Lok saw a packet of Oreo. Lok knew from the TV ads that these wonderful chocolate biscuits should be dipped in milk before being eaten. Lok thought, ‘This is a small thing but I can make his Oreo so much better for him just by dipping it in his milk.’

But when Lok put this piece of less than perfect Oreo in the milk to make it ‘perfect’, the milk splashed out of the cup onto Dai Hong’s face.

‘Oh…What are you doing to me? You’ve ruined my milk, my Oreo and my face! Get away from me and leave me ALONE!’ Dai Hong was as fierce as a lion.

Lok didn’t dare to talk to Dai Hong any more. And now, Dai Hong always stared angrily at him. No one, not even one classmate, would play with Lok or chat with him. Everyone tried to stay away from him as soon as the ‘news’ was spread. Everyone was afraid of his new ‘tricks’.

During recess time, Lok was alone in the playground. He was very unhappy and he felt bored. ‘I will be a good boy and I will be as happy as the peacock.’ Lok thought aloud. But he was really upset. Why had everything turned out to be so bad? Not only was he friendless, he had to stay after school to help the prefect to clean up the classroom as well. But maybe this was an opportunity for Lok to follow the peacock’s example.

‘Yes, maybe I can help her more! She will like me!’ Lok murmured to himself. So after school, Lok did the cleaning with the prefect, Ah Yee, as well as he could. He knew that Yee was a careful and organised person. She would not like a careless helper. Lok was in a good mood though, because he liked Ah Yee a lot. Sweeping the floor now, Lok tried his best.

‘Thanks Lok! You are very helpful!’ Ah Yee gave him an encouraging smile.

‘You’re welcome. It’s a piece of cake.’ Lok’s face was a little bit red because he really liked Ah Yee.

‘Lok, I still have to give the date book to the class teacher. You can leave now.’

‘No, I will wait for you.’

Ah Yee left the room to go to see the teacher and now Lok had nothing to do. He packed up all his things. He sat on his seat and waited for Ah Yee to come back.

‘May be I can help her to pack up all the things!’ Lok was having another good idea. He started to pack Ah Yee’s schoolbag. ‘Yee will be pleased with me for helping and we can go home together,’ Lok thought. Then, Yee came back.

‘Yee, I helped you to pack your bag!’

‘Thanks, Lok!’ She gave him a lovely smile. ‘Oh, Lok, before we go, let me show you my new watch first! It’s my birthday present!’

Yee searched her drawer but the watch wasn’t there. She looked for it in her schoolbag. She still couldn’t find it.

‘Where… Where… is my new watch?’

‘I haven’t seen it… did you leave it at home?’ Lok asked.

‘No, I brought it to school. I only got it yesterday. I’m sure I brought it here. I can’t be wrong… Lok, I know it’s you. Please don’t play with me… the watch is very important to me. Please give it back to me… wu… wu… wu…’

‘No, No, I swear I haven’t… I…’ Lok wanted to cry too. Why was this happening?

‘Wu… I hate you…’ Yee ran out of the classroom. Lok couldn’t help his tears. He was left alone in the classroom.

‘I’m doing good for others. But why… why do things always go wrong?

Lok was very upset. He was nervous too. But when he got home, his parents were out. He did not know what to do. The night seemed so long, but school seemed like hell to him, so little Lok really wished that tomorrow would never come.

***

The following day, Lok was nervous all the way to school. When he stepped into his classroom, he saw Yee was crying and all the classmates were staring at him.

‘Oh… But why does everyone look so strange? Perhaps they all know about her lost watch? I told her that I didn’t do it…’ Lok murmured to himself.

Tears welled up in Lok’s eyes and he shouted to them, ‘Believe what you like! I didn’t do it! I didn’t!’ Then Miss Chan came and made him stand in front of the class.

‘Class, Listen! And Lok… Don’t cry. All your classmates know you’re a good boy and a dear friend. Class, don’t you?’

‘Yes! Of course!’ The whole class answered in chorus.

Siu Ming smiled at Lok. ‘Hey, Lok, you should have told me that you keep a lizard as a pet. If you had told us earlier, no one would have been scared! You know?’

‘Oh… Siu Ming… you…’ Lok was getting confused.

‘I’m sorry Lok. I’d been too careful. I’d wanted to put that watch in a safe place and I guess I put it in a place that was so safe I forgot where it was. It was in my cardigan all along. I forgot that I’d taken it out of my schoolbag. It was only when I got home I realised... I’m sorry that I misunderstood you!’ Yee was no longer crying.

‘Hey Yee… why? You were crying just now…’ Lok could not believe his eyes or his ears.

Then Ieong spoke, ‘Haha, do you think that you are the only person who can play tricks? Uh? Haha… so this morning we decided to give you some of your own medicine.’

‘I’m happy to see that you are all friends now. Siu Ming, would you like to share some chocolate with the whole class?’ Miss Chan smiled as she asked the question.

‘Sure, Miss Chan!’

‘Hm… are we… friends?’ Lok was surprised.

‘Of course we are!’ the three pupils answered together.

Now, Lok has made a lot of new friends. He feels happier than he ever had before. He is a lovely son, a helpful classmate and an excellent friend. What is his secret? I think all of you have already got it, haven’t you? If you haven’t got it, then you had better go and find the golden peacock in the zoo. Perhaps he will show you how to share your ‘feathers’.

Down the Drain

Aly Lei, Carman Fan, Elisa Lai, Jasper Mok, Michelle Ng and Rosetta Si

‘What a lovely day!’ Richard thought to himself. He was in a top quality suit. He was sitting in his golden Benz. It was such lovely weather he had a sudden impulse to go for a walk in the sunshine. His mind was full of the happy recollection of the excellent business he had done this morning.

Richard had just fired fifty employees in his company. It wasn’t because the workers couldn’t do their job properly. It was just that Richard always found fault in their work. Finding fault like this, Richard could save quite a lot of money because he could fire them without giving them compensation. Richard would then employ some others who would finally end up in the same position. This was part of Richard’s big plan to make himself richer.

Richard was now walking in the Heung San gardens (across the road from the Landmark Building). He was thinking so hard that he wasn’t looking where he was walking. That was how he stepped on a dead rat and slipped. 

Richard fell flat on his face. How embarrassing! But on the ground right in front of him was a shiny ten-dollar coin. He had never missed an opportunity in his life before, so why should he miss one now? He immediately picked up the coin and looked around. He wanted to be sure nobody had seen him falling down so embarrassingly, and he wanted to be sure no one had seen him taking the ten-dollar coin. But Richard was disappointed to find that an old man was staring at him. Richard pretended at once to be tying his shoelaces. Then he stood up casually and walked back to his Benz, trying to ignore the old man. Before he could get very far, the old man accosted him and said, ‘You are very lucky today. And in the near future, you will have a chance to work overseas. It will bring expansion to your company and even enrich your life. Seize the chance. Don’t let it go.’ Then the old man walked away.

Richard was happy to hear that, whether or not it should be taken seriously. So he decided to walk a bit further and see if any more good fortune was waiting for him in the park. He walked and walked, and he kept wondering about the old man’s words. Richard was wandering about dreamily, not looking where he was going, and didn’t notice that there was a drain repairs area in the park. The construction workers were busy having their lunch with a noisy radio on. Richard strode confidently towards and then down a gaping hole in the path. The radio was so loud that no one seemed to have noticed his scream. No one seemed to have noticed that Richard had fallen into a drain.

***

        When Richard woke up, he found himself in a dark, wet place. It was so dark that he could see only a dim light in the far distance. Richard’s ankle was slightly hurt but he could still manage to walk. As he limped toward the light, he realised that he was in a drain. ‘I have to go. I have to get out of here,’ he kept on murmuring as he shambled toward the light. The drain seemed to be larger than it should have been, and though he looked all around, Richard couldn’t see any way to climb out of it. ‘What a filthy place for a man in a suit! There must be a way out! There’s no way that I’m staying here! No way!’ There was nothing to do but to walk until he could find a way out.

        The further Richard walked, the brighter the tunnel became. But he also found it was more and more difficult for him to keep his balance. For some reason he could not walk properly. It seemed as if he was walking with somebody else’s feet. Bump! Richard fell flat on his face again. He gave a loud cry, not because it hurt, but because it was only now he had the chance of seeing his hands, or rather... ‘What happened to my hands? Why have they changed into…?’ When Richard looked where his hands should have been, what he saw were paws, the paws of a mouse. Of course he had to be dreaming, but the problem is Richard couldn’t even find a way to pinch himself, in order to test out that idea.

        That was when Richard started to tremble from head to tail. And now he looked at himself, from his nose to his toes. He was scared of what he had become. Now he felt his two long sharp teeth with his paws, and he could feel the short grey fur all over his body. He pulled out his tail from behind his back. What a long tail he had! There was no doubt about it. He had become a mouse! He ran and ran. He wanted to run away from the fact that he had changed into a mouse. But how could he run away from himself? He didn’t know what to do.

        After running for a while, this plump clumsy mouse stopped and tried to calm down. He still hoped that it was all a dream. But when he looked into the puddles, the face he saw was still that of a mouse. He had to make his own way, without any help, in this strange new world.

        Richard started to regret having been so greedy in his life up till now. If he hadn’t picked up that coin, if he had gone back to his car, just five minutes ago, he wouldn’t have fallen into the drain. And he might have been enjoying that trip the old man had promised, if the old man’s words were true.

        After trudging for some time, slower and slower as he felt more hopeless, he suddenly saw… It was terrifying! Hundreds of mice were approaching him, marching and shouting. They were all the same size as him, that was the scariest thing. Richard tried to hide himself behind a wooden box, but someone touched him on his shoulder and that gave him a start.

‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ a slim, weak looking mouse asked him.

‘I … I was …’ Richard didn’t know how to answer, but then, the mouse started again, ‘Hey, don’t you recognise me? It’s Tom. I’m your old classmate, Tom. Haven’t seen you for years, where have you been?’

‘No, I think you’ve…’ Richard was about to tell Tom that he was not his old friend, but Tom’s words reminded him that he had now changed into a mouse and that he needed company, and so he said, ‘Well, I’ve just come back from… em… Coloane.’

‘Oh, I see, and I’m just trying to remember… Your name is…?’ Tom was twirling his whiskers as he was thinking.

‘Richard!’

‘Richard? Is it? Oh, it was too long ago, but never mind, nice meeting you again.’

‘What are they… ah, you, doing here, Tom?’ Richard asked curiously.

‘We are on strike. Our boss is so mean and nasty that he fired us without paying us any cheese at all. We can’t stand it any longer. We have to fight for our rights and our cheese. Won’t you join us?’

Of course Richard knew that the mice’s strike wouldn’t work. He understood what the boss was thinking. He was a boss himself. But Richard didn’t want to die of hunger. Pretending to be Tom’s old friend could, at least, provide him with a place to stay and something to eat. With this in mind, Richard reluctantly took part in the strike.

After making their way down several drains, they reached a big mouse company office. They demanded to talk to the boss, but, as Richard expected, they were threatened and told to leave the place. If they didn’t leave at once they would be arrested by the rat police. Meanwhile, some company security guards came and aimed a water canon at the crowd and started to beat up some of the mice. The mice were tired and as they couldn’t stand even just the smell of clean water, they ran away in all directions.

Tom took Richard by his paw and together the two of them ran as fast as their hind legs could carry them. After running for a long while, Tom and Richard could finally feel they were safe enough to slow down. Tom invited Richard to spend the night in his home. All Richard could think of was dinner. All this having to run and having to think had made Richard very hungry. He didn’t usually have to do anything so physical in his life. But as soon as Richard saw the small opening of Tom’s nest, his hope began to fade. Entering the hole, he saw that the place was extremely small. The only furniture was an old table and some stools in the middle of the tiny space. When Tom’s wife Sisi and her little kid saw a new guest coming in, they came to greet Richard warmly.

Richard thought to himself, ‘Oh no, being a mouse is not much fun, but being a poor mouse is even worse. If I knew that Tom was this poor, I wouldn’t have pretended to be his classmate.’ And then Richard thought, ‘Maybe I would have met a richer mouse if I’d waited.’ Sitting on the stool waiting for the dinner, Richard couldn’t help noticing how harmonious this family was even though they were terribly poor.

Dinnertime came. There were only a few pieces of rotten vegetables and three little beans for the four of them. It was surely not enough, but Tom still gave his share of bean to Richard. Although Richard felt the food tasted bad, he did not complain to Tom. Now that he was hungry enough to eat truly horrible food, he began to feel regret about cheating poor people in order to feed himself.

During the dinner, Sisi learnt that the strike had failed. But she had some better news for the family. They were qualified to apply for the social welfare subsidy. They would have a better life starting from next month if they could get the subsidy. According to the level of their poverty, they would be provided with a few grams of cheese or even some crumbs of bread each month. Now the whole family was cheered up a bit, but still they had to find a better way of living.

That night, Richard couldn’t sleep at all. It was partly because the floor was too hard and cold for him, and partly because he couldn’t imagine making a living without being the boss himself.

Next morning, Tom and Richard started to look for a job. On the way, Tom met his friend, John. From John, they learnt that there was a big corporation employing a large number of workers for building tunnels. Having no time to lose, off they went and applied for the jobs. When they arrived at the company, hundreds of mice were already there. They were squeaking and pushing along as if they were going to swallow the building. Richard had never applied for a job before. He didn’t realise it would be so difficult.

Luckily, having gone through a dozen or more procedures, Richard and Tom were finally chosen. They were employed. They had to sign a contract written in the mouse language. Seeing that Richard was taking so long looking at the contract, Tom worried that Richard might be thinking too much about the terms.

Of course, he didn’t know that Richard couldn’t read the mouse writing. It looked like thousands of tiny paw prints spread over an old... what was it? …it was an old lolly wrapper! Recycling! Richard had by now realised that everything was recycled down in the mouse world. Tom explained the main terms to Richard and urged him to sign it quickly. There were many mice behind them willing to take the jobs if they weren’t. Richard thought that the pay was quite reasonable and so they both signed their contracts happily, and they rushed home to tell Sisi the good news.

Seeing that Tom worked so hard for the family, and that all of them cared so much for each other, Richard began to understand that a job was very important to a worker, especially to a worker in a poor family.

The job of digging the tunnel was tough. It was hot, dirty and noisy. Richard felt tired within a minute because he had never been a labourer before. Now, he tasted the hardship of being a worker. Secretly he hoped that by working in the tunnel, he would be able to find a way back to his own world. The longer he worked, the more exhausted he felt. The idea of giving up flashed into his mind. But he knew that he needed this job to support himself in the mouse world, and he was determined not to cause any more trouble for Tom.

One day, two weeks or more later, Richard felt dizzy and he sat down to have a rest while he was digging the tunnel. His supervisor saw him resting and fired him on the spot. The worst thing about being fired was that he would get no pay for the work he’d done so far. The supervisor took out a large pile of contracts and pointed to an extremely small line at the very bottom of the last page. It stated very clearly in the messy mouse language that the worker would get nothing if he was fired during the probation period.

Richard had been working so hard for the past fifteen days and now he got nothing. Although he could not read the contract, he knew that he was being cheated. He couldn’t argue with the supervisor anymore because he knew the boss would be right and if he made trouble the guards would come to take him away. Richard had been a boss before. No one knew these tricks better than him. This time, he realised how cunning he had been, and how helpless his employees had felt when they knew they had been cheated in such ways.

Richard was depressed. He threw down the tools and rushed out of the tunnel with tears in his little mouse eyes. Not knowing where he was going, he ran and ran and he accidentally knocked over an old mouse he hadn’t seen in his hurry.

Richard quickly lifted the old lady up from the ground, but the old mouse looked straight into Richard’s eyes in a strange way and said, ‘You’re lucky today. I’m a fortune teller. You’re going to have an accident soon but don’t worry,  you’ll gain from it.’ This reminded Richard of the old man in the garden. He wondered if a mouse fortune teller would be as unreliable as a human one. He wasn’t going to take the old mouse’s words seriously.

A few days passed. Conditions in Tom’s family improved now that the subsidy from the Mouse government had come. Richard couldn’t get another job however. Seeing Tom working so hard for the family, he blamed himself for not being able to support himself, and he blamed himself for causing troubles for Tom. He wished he had a job so that he could share Tom’s burden. Richard knew he was a burden on this poor kind family! The only thing he could do to help the family, aside from trying his luck in finding a way back to the human world, was to do the housework for them.

One day, a week after Richard had lost his job, Sisi came home from the market with good news for Richard. A large number of road construction workers were needed for a new project. Sisi encouraged Richard to try for the job. She offered to go with him and read the contract for him. This time, Richard asked her to read carefully, especially the small lines, because he didn’t want to be cheated again. This construction job was different from the tunnel digging job. Wages were paid daily. Richard thought this was a better job. So he signed the contract and started to work the following day.

Working as a construction worker was not easy. Apart from the labour involved in digging the roads and shifting the waste like rocks and sand, as in the other job, Richard had to put up with the heat and the stuffy air. He was always exhausted when he got home. Still he always made time to wander about the district, hoping that he would somehow find a way out of the drain. But that day never seemed to come.

One Monday morning, Richard was on his way to work when he walked past some stalls. There were some fortune tellers giving advice to passers-by. The old lady’s words flashed through his mind, ‘You are going to gain something from an accident.’ Tired of waiting for something positive to happen in his life, Richard thought he could help fate play its hand. Richard decided to choose the most hazardous job available that day. As soon as he arrived at the construction site, he insisted on digging with the jackhammer, even though he wasn’t very experienced with that loud and dangerous machine. He’d only been working with the jackhammer for five minutes when he accidentally struck a pipe. There was a gas burst and then there was a big explosion. Richard lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital.

***

‘Is he okay now?’ Richard heard a familiar voice. He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see his wife sitting beside him. He couldn’t believe what he saw. ‘You’re human! I’m human! We’re all human!’ he cried. His wife was puzzled, but she looked relieved. She’d often wondered about Richard and she’d been so worried when she’d got the call from the hospital. Though his face, hands and legs were all injured, Richard saw that they were unmistakably human hands and not paws. He was delighted to be back in the world he knew. What a crazy dream he’d had!

Fully recovered, Richard went home. His maid asked him whether she should throw away his suit because it had been so dirty and torn after the accident. He asked her to check first whether there was anything inside the pockets. If not, she could throw it away. The maid found a paper with her master’s signature and so she gave it to Richard. He tried to read what was on the paper but he couldn’t. He could only recognise the signature which was surely his. But he knew where the rest of that writing was from. It had to be the contract he’d signed.

***

After the ‘accident’, everyone in his company noticed that Richard had changed a lot. He decided to re-employ all the people that he had fired. He decided he would not cheat his employees or treat them badly. He was generous and good to them now and the workers became willing to work harder for him in return. His company thus grew bigger and bigger. He and his workers all prospered together.

‘What a lovely day!’ Richard was sitting in his comfortable Benz again. He took out a piece of rumpled paper from his pocket. It reminded him of a wonderful experience which had changed his life. Seeing the old fortune teller in the street, Richard had his driver stop the car. He got out. Richard really wanted to thank that man.

The God of the Scales

Amy Wong, Hilda Tam and Sidney Ung

Day 1

‘A hundred pounds, a hundred pounds, okay a hundred and twenty...’ Hong closed her eyes and murmured nervously as she stepped onto the electronic scales. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes slowly. The screen of the scales showed the number clearly – a hundred and sixty. ‘Oh! No!’ Hong jumped off the scales and fell into her bed. The number on the scales had made Hong desperate.

Head down slowly walking to school, Hong couldn’t help thinking of the hard times she had there. She had no one to turn to. People always called her ‘fatty’ and didn’t want to play with her. Her family was always telling her that it was harmful to lose weight in extreme ways. They said it was especially dangerous because she was an adolescent, and because she had a congenitally weak heart. Hong thought that all of this was nonsense. She just wanted to be slim so that she could be confident and make friends with her classmates.

Hong used most of her pocket money buying magazines and books about keeping fit, she even tried the miracle cures advertised in newspapers. But none of these ways would work for her. Every day the first thing Hong did was to step on the scales, but the figure was always increasing.

One day when Hong was weighing herself on the scales as usual, she closed her eyes and prayed. She was praying sincerely for a ‘desirable’ figure, or an ‘acceptable’ figure, or at least, please, to not weigh more than she weighed yesterday.

When Hong opened her eyes and saw the figure on the scales, she could hardly breathe. Fifteen, fifteen pounds! Hong couldn’t believe it! She was so heavy she’d broken the scales. Hong sat on the floor and started to cry. ‘Why, why is life so unfair? I just want to lose some weight, I just want to be slim and be more beautiful… I’ll do anything to lose some weight!’

‘Oh, really?’ A sweet voice came from nowhere.

‘Who, who’s speaking?’ Hong stood up and looked around, but there was nobody.

‘I’m here! In the scales!’ Hong’s eyes moved down to the scales, and she saw a little doll-like face on the screen.

‘Who are you?’ Hong asked in a trembling voice.

‘Don’t be scared. I am the elf… hum… I’m the god of the scales. I’ve heard your prayer, and I am here to help you.’

‘Help me?’ Hong looked at the god, she was pretty fat. Hong didn’t have much confidence in a god who looked like that.

But the scale god seemed to have read her mind. ‘In our world, the fatter you are, the more magic you have. But I’m sorry to tell you that in my world I am considered to be rather slim.’ The god explained everything in a serious tone. ‘Are you sure you want to lose weight?’ Now that the elf or god (or whoever she was) had stepped back, Hong could see that she was wearing a long old-fashioned red dress.

‘Yes, I’ll do anything to lose weight!’ She replied with great conviction.

‘Okay, I’m touched by your determination. I’ll make your wish come true.’ The god then took out a wand and pointed it at Hong. The god pressed a button, and then there was a weak and intermittent stream of light, which died out in a few seconds.

When the light was all gone, Hong stepped back on the scales again. But the number on the screen was still a hundred and sixty. Hong was disappointed.

‘Don’t worry, little girl, the magic needs some time to work. You’ll have become very thin by the time you get up tomorrow morning.’

Hong didn’t say anything more. But she still had a faint hope. Anyway, how could it matter whether or what she believed, she had nothing to lose.

Day 2

The next day, when Hong got up, the first thing she did was to step on the scales as usual. Once on the scales, Hong slowly opened her eyes. It was unbelievable! The number on the screen was the number that Hong had always longed for – a hundred! A hundred! A hun-dred! She was so excited that she jumped on and off the scales to check if it was true. She went to the mirror to look at her new self. At first she smiled, and then laughed, she laughed very loudly to herself. She could already imagine how popular she would be when she got to school.

Hong’s fantasy was interrupted by her mother’s knocking at her door, urging her to hurry up because she was going to be late for school. Hong rushed to open the door to surprise her mother with her new figure. ‘Look at me. I’m so beautiful now! I’m only a hundred pounds! It’s a miracle, Mum.’

‘Silly girl. You’ve always been beautiful. Hurry up! School time.’ Hong’s mother patted Hong’s head and went on her way.

Hong wondered why her mother wasn’t surprised at her new slim figure. She rushed to the scales and shouted ‘God of the scales, god of the scales…’ The god appeared on the screen. This time, she was wearing a yellow one-piece. She turned round and round like a ballet doll in a music box. ‘Hello, Hong. What do you think of my new dress?’

Hong didn’t want to waste time on the god’s yellow dress. But since Hong’s weight was in the hands of the god, Hong could only say that the dress was lovely. Looking at her watch, Hong had to hurry because she would be late for school if she didn’t leave in five minutes. She put on her uniform, which fitted perfectly, and, at the same time, she asked the god why her mother wasn’t surprised at all by her new figure. Hong didn’t seem to have realised that the size of her uniform had already shrunk from XL to S.

The god of the scales now tried to explain to Hong why all these things had happened. ‘People will be suspicious. Look… I’m a little fish in heaven. If people down on earth start becoming too aware of the magical things that are happening around them, and they start getting too surprised… well, I could get into a lot of trouble. Losing sixty pounds overnight. They might not even think you’re you, or…’

‘Okay, I got it.’

‘But then… you know… you have to sacrifice something to get something. That’s the rule. And now… you know… now… let me tell you that…’ But before the god could finish what she had to say, Hong was already rushing out of the door.

‘I’m now a beautiful girl. What’s more important than beauty? I won’t regret it, no matter what I lose in exchange for beauty… I really must go now or I’ll be late. Good bye,’ Hong shouted back at the scales.

The little god frowned and faded away on the screen.

***

Hong hurried to school and fortunately she arrived in time. It was a fantastic day. Classmates greeted her warmly. Things which had only happened in Hong’s dreams now seemed to be reality. She started to realise how people care about appearance. Before, she hated people who thought this way. Hong thought that they were stupid, shallow. But now Hong was treated like a little princess because of her beauty she found those people lovely. She enjoyed being the focus of the class. She was like a superstar in the school.

Day 3

It was the Maths class, Hong’s favourite class. Everyday, Ms Lou would ask a student to do the sums for the class. This time, Ms Lou asked, ‘one third plus one third is equal to…? Hong, can you give me the answer?’

Hong was so happy that Ms Lou asked her to answer the question, for the very first time. Addition was too easy for Hong. Hong stood up. She opened her mouth, prepared to answer. But there was nothing in her head. One third plus one third equals…? One sixth? Two birds? Or two sticks? She had no idea. And she had no idea why she had no idea. No ideas at all.

Ms Lou had waited for Hong for almost a minute but Hong couldn’t come up with the answer. Ms Lou gently told her to sit down. ‘I’ll give you some time to work out the answer. You can tell us later. We all know that you can do it.’

‘Yes, Ms Lou.’ Hong sat down, very embarrassed and confused. She counted her fingers again and again. No matter how hard she tried, she still couldn’t get the answer. By the time the bell rang she wasn’t sure how many fingers she had. Ms Lou was disappointed and she thought that Hong wouldn’t be able to handle the test next week. She told Hong to stay with the lower form to learn fractions after class in order to catch up.

Hong was upset. She heard some classmates laughing at her. Hong lowered her head. She was ashamed that as a Primary Five student she could not even figure out such a simple sum.

On the way home, Hong tried to work out what had happened today. She felt very insulted to have to stay with the Primary Three students to learn fraction addition again. She felt as if a fraction of her brain had been subtracted. ‘There must be something wrong today,’ she thought. ‘Maybe I didn’t sleep well last night so I performed so badly today. Everything will be okay tomorrow.’

It was almost six when Hong finally got home. She went directly into her bedroom so that she could have a nap before dinner. The little god was a little worried and she called out from the scales as soon as she saw Hong.

‘Hong, how are you today?’

Hong answered lazily, ‘Fine, thank you.’

‘No, I don’t think so. You look so tired.’

Hong got up and leaned against the headboard reluctantly, ‘It really was a bad day. I couldn’t answer my teacher’s questions, and I was sent to the tutorial class to study simple addition with the Primary three kids!’

The god raised her eyebrows and said, ‘Hong, three plus four equals…?’

‘Three plus four? That’s easy… Hang on… Yes, three plus four equals to egg. Oh, no. Egg is not a number. Wait, wait, let me think about it again...’

‘Oh my god… Hong, it’s seven! It’s just a very simple sum. How can you get it wrong? Unless…’ The god stopped for a few seconds. ‘Unless what I suspected this morning has now come true. You have lost your intelligence!’

‘Intelligence?’ Hong could only just manage to remember what it was. ‘Is it something more important than beauty?’ Hong was in no mood to sleep now. Now she remembered, ‘Intelligence and beauty are the keys for me to be a more popular person. If I were smart and beautiful, people would respect me and admire me. I wouldn’t be laughed at whenever my teachers asked me questions. So, please give me intelligence. I want to be smart again.’

‘Wait, Hong. Are you sure? You’ll have to lose something again for this wish to come true. And even I cannot predict what you’ll lose.’

This was all too complicated for Hong, who just kept insisting, ‘I will be perfect with my beauty and intelligence. I have nothing to lose. Quick, god of the scales, I’m ready.’ Hong closed her eyes and waited for the little god to do her magic.

The god of the scales sighed and raised her gadget and pointed it at Hong. She pressed the ‘magic on’ button. Once again, the weak and intermittent stream of light shot out. After the light was completely gone, Hong spoke. ‘Do I have to wait for another night to let the magic happen? Will the classmates and the teacher still remember what has happened this morning?’

‘No, the magic will make people forget about what has happened today. You will have always been a clever girl in their eyes. You are always the top of the class! Clever and beautiful!’

‘Hurray! Let me go to sleep now, and I will be a perfect girl tomorrow!’ Hong went to her bed hopefully and she fell fast asleep.

The little god switched off the screen of the scales. Though she told Hong that the magic would happen tomorrow, she knew that the magic was working already. Hong would never have been able to ask these tricky logical questions if she was still stupid. It seemed to the little god that her magic power was increasing. She smiled in a way that would have surprised her superiors in heaven. If you’d seen her you would have had to say that she was smiling wickedly.

Day 4

The next morning, Hong got up early. She felt very fresh, her mind was so clear she felt she could answer the most difficult question in the world. Hong wanted to get to school as soon as possible. She was eager for more knowledge so she could be even smarter, but she was more eager to hear the admiration of her classmates and teachers.

‘Bye mum, I’m going to school now!’

‘Hong, it’s still early. You should have your breakfast first.’ Hong’s mother took out the sandwich she had just bought from the bakery.

‘No, I don’t want it. I’m not hungry.’

‘Hong, not having breakfast is not good for your health.’

‘Mum, don’t be so annoying. I’m going now. Goodbye.’ Hong rushed out from the house.

***

The first lesson of the day was Maths. Hong felt that she was still under the shadow of her bad performance yesterday. Of course she was the only one in the room who had that memory. Hong took a deep breath and told herself that she should trust the power of the god. Ms Lou came. She collected the homework and then wrote up some questions on the blackboard.

‘Class, now we will have the revision on calculating fractions. Who knows how to answer the first question?’

It was a tough one and nobody dared to raise her hand. There was dead silence in the class.

‘Okay, if there’s no volunteer, I will then pick someone to answer it. Hong, you come out to the board and have a try.’

Hong stood up nervously. But when she came to the board, her mind was clear and she just automatically knew what to do. It was as if she did this kind of thing every day. It was surprising for Hong but not for Ms Lou and her classmates.

Ms Lou smiled and said, ‘Well done, Hong. Please go back to your seat!’

‘Thank you, Ms Lou. But could I make a request?’

‘Of course.’

‘I want to join the Mathematics tutorial class for the junior secondary students. These questions are too easy to me. I want to learn algebra and geometry. I don’t want to waste my time working on these simple fractions.’

‘Well… I’ll have to talk to the teacher of the tutorial class about it. I will talk with you about this later.’

‘Thank you Ms Lou.’

Hong went back to her seat proudly. She knew that all her classmates were looking at her admiringly. She felt she was blushing. She was not used to this admiration from everybody. Her heart was beating extremely fast. But she would have to get used to this continuous admiration because she was so smart and so beautiful and she knew it.

Day 5

There would be a birthday party at home in the evening for Git, Hong’s brother. Hong wanted to buy him a present – a big Spider Man – she knew he’d always wanted. But Hong couldn’t afford it. So she thought and thought what to do. Being so clever now, Hong quickly came up with a solution. She went to her mother’s drawer and took a few hundred dollars with which to buy the present. Hong thought that her mother would not get angry with her because she was doing it all for Git.

It took Hong ages to find what she was looking for and when she finally arrived home with the mega-size Spider Man, there was no birthday party. Hong was confused. ‘Mum, how come the party hasn’t started?’

‘The party’s over.’ Mum did not look at Hong. She was washing the dishes.

‘Oh! How could you start the party without me? I’m his sister. How come? How come? You don’t love me!’ Hong was shouting at her mother.

        Hong’s mother raised her head to look at her daughter. ‘We didn’t wait for you because you have done something seriously wrong.’ Hong’s mother looked calm but her hands were shaking a little.

        The party was over! Mum didn’t look at Hong but continued with her washing. She knew that Hong had stolen her money. She wanted to have a serious talk with Hong because she was worried that Hong would do something illegal outside the home.

        However, Hong insisted, ‘You just don’t love me. I know it. I know it. You just love Git and you don’t love me anymore!’ Hong was agitated. Her face became red again. Her heart beat so fast she was sure everyone in the room could hear it.

        Hong’s mother put down her dishes and followed her daughter to her bedroom. ‘You know that it’s seriously wrong that you stole our money, even though you had a good intention. How can you be so irresponsible!’ She tried to make Hong apologise for her wrongdoing.

        ‘No! I’ll never say sorry. I haven’t done wrong. I haven’t done wrong.’ Hong burst out crying. She could not control herself any more. She started smashing things in her room. She even threw a fuzzy dolphin toy at her mother. By now, Hong’s mother was angry and heart-broken. She thought that Hong should be punished for her wild behaviour.

        ‘Hong, you should take some time to think about what you’ve done. I don’t want to beat you. I don’t want to scold you. No pocket money for half a year! You have to walk to school for the next six months.’ Her mother shouted these last words and left.

***

        It was already ten in the evening, there were only a few people walking on the street. Hong felt so lonely, but she had made up her mind, she would never, never go back to her mother. Hong stopped at the door of a café. She was hungry but she had only a few dollars in her pocket. She wondered at how stupid she had been, having packed up all her favourite things but brought no money. She sighed, started walking again and began to think what she should do next in order to survive.

        Just as she passed by a drugstore, she heard a voice calling out, ‘Hong! Hong!’ She looked around but she couldn’t see anyone. The voice persisted and then she realised it was the scales at the door calling her. She recognised that it was the voice of the god she knew. She rushed to the scales. And she saw the god was on the screen.

        ‘Oh, god of the scales, why are you here?’

        ‘I am a god… I am everywhere… I mean… everywhere in the scales. Hong, what are you doing here?’

        Hong told the god the whole tragic story about her mean mother, and her running away, and at the same time, Hong realised that the god had put on weight.         ‘Have you eaten a lot these last few days?’

The god gave Hong a big smile. ‘Didn’t I tell you before? The more powerful the gods in my world, the fatter they are. My magic power has increased, just because of you, Hong. The more wishes you make, the quicker they can come true.’

It was true, the more wishes the god made come true the more powerful and the fatter she became. And now the god tried to tempt Hong to make more wishes, so as to get more power and be further promoted in heaven.

‘You trust me, Hong. You treat me as your friend. I’m glad to know that. Do you need my help now? I’m happy to give whatever you ask for.’

Hong was happy to hear that. She was murmuring to herself now. ‘Oh, should I be a princess in a fairy tale, and marry a handsome prince? No… no… can you make Nicole Kidman my mother? No… hang on…’ Just as she tried to utter another possible wish, her tummy thundered. ‘Oh yes! I want food! No… no…’

At first, the little god was quite patient waiting for Hong’s decision, but now she was a bit annoyed by Hong’s hesitation. ‘Hong, money! Is that okay? You can buy what you want with money! And you can live by yourself with money.’

‘Yes! You’re right! Money is all I want. Yes! Go ahead!’ Hong closed her eyes and the little god did her magic. This time, the light was much stronger and lasted longer. The god was so pleased that she had more power now, and also Hong could get what she wished. They were both happy.

‘Hong, from now on, whenever you need money, just search in your pocket and you will find the amount you need.’

‘Thanks! Can you guess what I will lose this time in exchange for the endless supply of money?’

The little god shrugged and said, ‘I don’t know… We’ll see very soon.’ The little god waved her wand and disappeared on the screen.

Hong decided to go back to the café to have a big bowl of noodles with dumplings. She searched in her pocket and found a fifty-dollar note. ‘Wow! That’s amazing. I can even have a glass of cold fruit punch.’ Singing happily on the street, she started back to the café.

But before Hong could reach her destination, everything she saw in front of her began melting and twisting. She swung her head and tried to keep her balance. She leaned against a lamppost to steady herself. Her heart was beating very fast. She could hardly breathe. She wanted to call for help but she couldn’t. A few passers-by came near. One of them had already called an ambulance when Hong fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Day 6

        The god of the scales had become fatter again after she had helped Hong to make the third wish come true. That night, she was just thinking which dress she should wear for a party when her supervisor appeared in front of her little wardrobe. The supervisor was not much taller than the little god, but he was much fatter and older. She wanted to show him her new dresses but she quickly saw that he was too serious to care about fashion. The little god was a bit frightened and stepped back.

        The supervisor cleared his throat and said, ‘God of the scales, your job is finished.’

        The little god was shocked. ‘You’re kidding, supervisor. I’m doing fine with Hong. What happened?’

        ‘Hong died on the way to the hospital. You have to find a new client and start a new job.’

        ‘But I just had a lovely chat with her this evening. She looked fine. Did she have an accident? I can’t be responsible if she had an accident.’ The little god was nervous, this was really bad news for her. 

        ‘No. Hong was too weak. This time, she had to lose her health in order for her wish to come true. If she had been healthy, I believe that she could have got over it. But her health was badly damaged when she used horrible ways to lose weight before. That’s why she died right after her last wish was granted.’ The supervisor came closer to the little god and patted her head softly, ‘Look at you. You’ve gained so much weight from that little girl. Your power must have been greatly increased.’

        ‘Yes. Fat girls are lovely. They are lonely and easy to control.’ The little god bowed and showed her boss an evil smile. Though the god had not meant to kill Hong, she didn’t think it was any big deal. Mortals are mortals, they’re going to die anyway. No free lunch in this world.

The god needed to find a new client, to grant wishes so that she could get more power. It was fair for mortals to pay for their wishes. In heaven too the rules of the jungle applied. She had to find a client whose wishes would make her bigger and fatter and more and more powerful. Otherwise she might just waste away. 

        The little god stepped onto her heavenly scales, just as she did every morning. Down a little, she sighed. No pain, no gain. Yes, she was worried, but still she couldn’t help smiling. And it was all thanks to Hong.

Candy Kingdom

Aly Lei, Ashley Lei, Michelle Ng, Micaela Io and  Lancy Chong

Sue was a seven-year-old girl who liked sweet things very much. In her every meal, there had to be something sweet. She usually had a mango pudding for breakfast, a bar of almond chocolate for lunch, a strawberry jelly at tea-time and a piece of cheesecake for dinner. Sometimes, she even had an apple pie for supper.

The door of the cupboard

        One night, just before dinner, Sue was watching her favourite cartoon, Alice in Wonderland with a dish of chocolate pudding in front of her. While Sue was laughing uncontrollably at Alice becoming as tall as a mountain and the next minute as small as a caterpillar, she kept on putting all that dessert into her tiny mouth.

Sue’s mother was busy with cooking the dinner. She yelled from the kitchen to ask her daughter to help her to set the table. But Sue was so completely the prisoner of the pudding and Alice that she didn’t notice her mother was calling her for help. No matter how loud her mother called, Sue remained sitting in front of the television enjoying her chocolate pudding.

By now, the mother couldn’t control herself anymore. She turned off the gas, dashed to the sitting room and took Sue’s pudding away. ‘I have been calling you for a long time. Look at what you’re doing now. You just sit here eating the pudding and watching the stupid cartoon.’

Sue thought that it was not her fault and said, ‘I can’t hear you, you must be speaking too softly.’ Sue even tried to get her pudding back.

However, this action made the mother even angrier. ‘You always eat sweet things. I tell you, if you go on like this, it won’t be long before you will have tooth decay, and you will suffer from it for the rest of your life.’

Sue thought that her mother was just finding an excuse for taking her chocolate pudding. ‘I have been eating a lot of pudding but my teeth are still very healthy. You can’t trick me…’

‘No.’ Her mother felt disrespected and wouldn’t give the pudding back to Sue.

‘Then, I won’t have my dinner tonight,’ Sue burst out. She dashed into her bedroom.

‘Fine! Don’t let me see you slipping into the kitchen to feed yourself at midnight.’ Her mother was yelling in the sitting room and then went back to the kitchen.

‘I won’t...’ Sue was shouting from the bedroom. She told herself that she wouldn’t leave her room that night.

Dinner time came. Sue’s stomach was calling her, ‘Goo… Goo… Goo.’ Although she was very hungry, she couldn’t come out now. She didn’t want to lose face. Two hours later, when all the lights were off, Sue stealthily opened the door and tiptoed to the kitchen as if she was a thief.

Just when Sue was about to open the door of the refrigerator, she heard some footsteps outside. ‘It must be my mother.’ The noise was getting louder and louder. She was about to come in. What could Sue do? ‘Where should I hide myself?’ Sue was very nervous. ‘I can hide myself in the cupboard under the stove. Mum hasn’t opened it for a long time. She never uses it. And she won’t look in it now.’

Sue immediately opened the door of the cupboard and hid herself inside. After several minutes, when she was sure it was completely silent outside, she opened the door. And to her surprise, she found herself in a place where her wildest dreams were all fulfilled.

Sweet bath

Sue had entered the magical world of Candy Kingdom. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. She could not believe what she saw. All the citizens there were her favorite candies. The candies were wearing beautiful clothes made up of colourful papers. Red, green, purple, silver and even gold.

Sue could see the Chocolate brothers playing at the fountain in the centre of the city. Mr and Mrs Waffle were sitting on the bench not far away. Sue then saw some cookies and candies wandering about together. Sue noticed that they were gathering in front of a notice board by the side of the fountain. She was curious to know what was written on that notice board. Sue dashed over towards the group of fruit candies that were reading the notice in order to look at the board herself. There Sue saw written:

‘To all our tasty citizens,

Through the effort made by our brave soldiers, the Candy Kingdom has invaded two white castles. There are only 26 castles left and the remaining citizens are strongly encouraged by the King to increase the sweetness of all.

By the authority of Captain Toffee.’

‘White castles?  I can’t see any white castles around,’ thought Sue. ‘And I can’t see any sign of a war going on here. Everybody seems to be happy.’ Sue was still confused when a Toffee soldier suddenly appeared in front of her and said,

‘Please show me your training identification!’

‘What training identification?’ asked Sue.

‘If you don’t have a training identification, you have to come with me to the army camp!’ So the soldier captured Sue by force and led her away to the training camp. They walked and walked until Sue was far away from the town. Finally, they arrived at the army camp. There they met Captain Toffee himself. ‘I am the captain in charge here, and now I order you to give me your training identification.’

‘Sorry Captain, I don’t have it,’ said Sue.

‘You’ve got none?!’ shouted the captain. ‘That means you have not had the proper training, have you?’ The captain continued in a serious manner. ‘The king has spent a lot of money in order to make us all sweeter. And you know it is the duty of the citizens in the town to take the sweetness training classes.’

Sue wanted to tell the captain that she was a human and not a sweet, but she had no time to tell him. The captain wrapped her up and brought her to the training camp. Inside the camp, Sue saw soldiers bathing, sleeping and also singing.

The captain explained the situation to her. ‘In order to improve our quality, we are ordered to take a sweet bath three times a day. After that, we go to the freezing bed and immediately we sleep. Only in this way can we keep ourselves as fresh and sweet as we all should be. Now let’s sing the national song.’ And so Captain Toffee sang, and all the sweets joined in:

We are sweet and we are brave.

We will travel a long long way,

Three sweet baths we take each day,

No kids can resist our taste.

As you know, Sue loved sweets very much and she was already beginning to feel patriotic about this new country. Now I understand why the sweets and candies taste so good. They really work very hard to be sweet. The sweeter they are, the better they are.

        Sue was keen to join the Sweet Army. She was looking forward to drinking as much sweet syrup as possible. But when she started getting undressed to take the bath Captain Toffee noticed how thin she was. ‘You are too thin,’ he told her. ‘Too thin for the army. Is that why you don’t have any training identification?’

        So Sue was sent to the armory where sweets unsuitable for the army were sent.

The armory

        The head of the armory was Ms Chocolate. Her job was to design the most suitable and beautiful armour for the soldiers. She was a perfectionist but at the same time she was a bad-tempered person. Whenever the worker made a tiny mistake which made the work less than perfect, Ms Chocolate would scold the worker and send her away. This had resulted in a great decrease of staff from twenty workers in the past to one worker now.

        Sue was on her way to the armory when she saw the last worker being kicked out of the building. ‘Send this idiot away! Nobody can help me,’ Ms Chocolate cried to the soldier.

When Sue met Ms Chocolate, Sue found that Ms Chocolate was a long pretzel covered with white chocolate. She was wearing a lot of accessories and walked like a model on the catwalk. She wore a red bonnet, a black shawl with gold embroidery and a pair of black high heels.

Ms Chocolate was very happy to meet Sue. She thought that Sue would be a good helper for her because the dress that Sue was wearing was very colourful and attractive. Knowing she used to treat her other workers so badly, Sue was surprised that Ms Chocolate was nice to her. Ms Chocolate offered to take Sue around the armory.

        ‘Wow. I never guessed how big this place would be,’ said Sue.

‘Sure, it should be big. Our job is no less important than that of the soldiers,’ said Ms Chocolate.

        ‘Why is that?’ asked Sue.

‘Without attractive armour, the soldiers might not be able to invade the two castles.’ Ms Chocolate explained the situation very seriously.

        Sue was surprised that most of the clothes that Ms Chocolate had designed were the wrappers of her own favorite sweets. She could name those whom these clothes belonged to. ‘Shiny pinky for strawberry, antique violet for blackcurrant, dark yellow for candy coffee, forest green for candy menthol, rainbow colours for M & M’s…’

‘It seems that you know a lot about my designs,’ said Ms Chocolate.

‘Sure, I like them very much,’ replied Sue.

‘Well! Do you want to try making the clothes for apricot nougat?’ asked Ms Chocolate.

‘You’ll let me try?’ asked Sue.

‘Yes.  Would you like to try?’ asked Ms Chocolate.

It was the first time for Sue to make clothes so she was very excited. She got ready to draw something on paper but she accidentally spilt some paint on the floor. Ms Chocolate became very angry at that.

‘Oh, no! My paint is very expensive and you’ve spilt it everywhere.’ Ms Chocolate was furious.

Before Sue could apologise for her carelessness, Ms Chocolate shouted, ‘Out! I never want to see you again.’ And to the soldiers she said, ‘Sweet soldiers, come and take this stupid girl to Dr Pudding.’

The scientist

        Dr Pudding was a proud, hot-tempered and eccentric scientist. He liked to stay at his laboratory all day to test different kinds of sweet chemicals in order to manufacture the best medicine for the soldiers. There was a small wooden sign at the entrance of the laboratory, which said ‘Welcome To The Greatest Scientist’s Greatest Lab’. Sue was led in by one of the trainees to see Dr Pudding.

        Sue started to have a look around the laboratory. There were a lot of test tubes and chemicals. On the wall were many military decorations. The smell of different fruits filled up the air. To her left, Sue discovered a model of white castles which were arranged in a half circle, fourteen on the top and fourteen on the bottom. But Dr Pudding was by far the most interesting thing in the laboratory.

        ‘Are you a new trainee?’ Dr Pudding asked as soon as he saw Sue. To work now or out of this lab! Everyone in here must be very busy and work hard, for this is a great project in a great lab!’

        Dr Pudding enjoyed being respected and listened to, and so he continued in his proud manner, ‘Our great project is to conquer all the white castles under the guidance of our great king. My job is to improve the quality of the soldiers. See! With my invention of the sweet bath, they have won two white castles already this week. You can see the progress of the war in the model there.’ Dr Pudding was proud of his achievement.

Sue came close to the model and looked at it carefully. But Sue didn’t understand why two of the castles were marked black.

‘Besides the sweet bath, I am also developing a new medicine for the soldiers, so that they can fight for longer. Soon, they will conquer all the white castles and then all the castles will be totally black. They will be ours!’ Mr. Pudding was getting really excited now.

‘Whose kingdom do these white castles belong to?’ asked Sue.

‘They all belong to a little girl. Let’s see, what her name?’ Dr Pudding looked carefully over the paper before him. ‘Yes it says here, “a little girl, whose name is Sue”. But these little details really don’t matter.’

Sue couldn’t believe what she had just heard. But now she knew the truth. She was that girl! She knew that she had to do something in order to stop the evil plan of Candy Kingdom and save her… her teeth… from total destruction. Sue was careful not to reveal her true identity. She continued to pretend to be Dr Pudding’s trainee.

Quickly Sue thought of a plan. While the doctor was away cleaning the test tubes, Sue mixed together all the sweet chemicals. This resulted in a very stinking smell.

When Dr Pudding came out of the washroom and found out what Sue had done, he immediately called the soldiers to arrest her. But while Dr Pudding was calling the soldiers Sue made use of the window to escape. And soon they were chasing after her.

He is the king?

Sue kept on looking back and every time she looked she saw that the troop of soldiers had almost caught up with her. She was very afraid.

Sue called out loudly. ‘Help! Mum, help me! Don’t let them catch me!’ But no matter how loud she called, her mother did not appear to help her.

Sue kept on running and running until the soldiers’ voices could no longer be heard. Then Sue stopped and looked around. There were many trees and flowers along the path. And they all smelt sweet. But it didn’t look like Sue’s home, nor was it like the Candy Kingdom. In the distance, she saw big letters ‘D E N T I ’ Sue was trying hard to make out the last two letters. Finally she reached the door of a big building with a sign ‘DENTIST’ outside.

‘Oh, it’s the dentist’s surgery.’ Sue smiled and jumped excitedly. She hoped – no she was sure – that the dentist would be able to save her. Sue ran toward the door and intended to knock at it. But just then she heard heavy footsteps approaching. She looked around and saw that the soldiers had almost arrived.

Sue managed to hide from them. But seeing that the soldiers were entering the house, Sue decided to find out what was going on in there. She pretended to be one of the soldiers and followed them into the surgery. They stopped in the living room where everything was made of candy. A moment later, the dentist came downstairs. Sue thought that she could call to the dentist for help. But the leader of the soldiers spoke before she could say a word. The leader bowed and reported to the dentist, ‘Exalted King, I must tell you that a girl has escaped from the laboratory of Dr Pudding.’

Sue now knew that the dentist was part of the conspiracy. The dentist was the King of the Candy Kingdom. And now the dentist king said angrily, ‘I’ve spent a lot of money so you can give more children tooth decay. And now you tell me that you let her escape??!’ The king was furious. He was looking just where Sue had hidden herself. Before she could even pray to the god in her heart, the soldiers had already discovered her. No one could help her now. She was afraid and she tried to run, but she couldn’t. She was surrounded by the vicious sweets.

The king said, ‘She knows too much, she has to be killed.’ He picked up a needle. The syringe was full of sweet syrup. ‘Let me go. Let me go. You, wicked dentist, let me go!’ Sue shouted. She struggled and used her legs to kick the soldiers.

Sue kicked and kicked and… ‘Bang.’ the door of the cupboard opened. She was back in her own kitchen at home. Immediately she dashed into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She found that there were two black marks on her teeth. She brushed her teeth there and then. And she brushed them again before she went to bed.

The next morning, Sue brushed her teeth as soon as she got up. Her mother had prepared a pudding for her breakfast. But her mother said, ‘I’ll give you a pudding for your breakfast, but I won’t give you any sweet thing for lunch or for dinner.’ Sue put the pudding away and then told her mum that she didn’t want any sweet things. She told her mother about the evil dentist and his soldiers. However, her mother reassured her that dentists were really good people who only wanted to help. Then, seeing the black marks Sue had shown her on her teeth, Sue’s mother made an appointment for them all to see their family dentist.

Uncle Dumplings

Priscilla Siu

Everyone’s afraid of ghosts and most afraid of Yama, the King of Hell. But what’s the King of Hell most afraid of?

***

Uncle Dumplings is an ordinary old man. He is neither highly educated nor a born genius. But he is admired or even respected by many people because he is good at something which wins everyone’s heart. His stuffed dumplings of any flavour – hong dou (red bean stuffing), fa sung (peanut stuffing) or zi ma (sesame stuffing) – have earned him an excellent reputation all over Macao and even in Hong Kong.

The dumpling is an example of traditional Chinese cuisine. It is delicious, but it requires great skill to make it perfectly. Eating dumplings is a must for two festivals. One of these is the Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth of the first month of the Lunar Year.

***

‘Ho ho mei ge tong yuen! Tasty Dumplings! Try some!’ At ten every night, when everyone is relaxing at home and enjoying their favourite TV programs, Uncle Dumplings is working diligently at the foot of Guia Hill. His own special way of promoting his business is not to advertise it, but to walk around the Costa area, pushing his stall-on-a-trolley, and shouting ‘Tasty Dumplings! Try some!’ along the way. When people hear this, they will rush down to the stall to buy the dumplings. The hawker always sees some interesting sights.

‘Uncle Dumplings,’ shouts a woman from somewhere, ‘I want one bowl, zi ma tong yuen!’

Uncle Dumplings, like a hunter, swiftly looks up and searches for his target from among hundreds of windows. Their eyes meet. He sees a curly haired woman trying to extend her head a bit further, and waving her hand enthusiastically. ‘Uncle Dumplings, yes, I’m here!’

Then, from the window of her apartment, the woman slowly lowers down a basket tied to a string. ‘The money’s there. Put the dumplings in the basket,’ shouts the woman.

Uncle Dumplings takes the money from the basket and puts a bowl of zi ma dumplings in. The woman enjoys her dumplings without taking a single step.

***

One cool night, when Uncle Dumplings is selling stuffed dumplings as usual, he hears some strange noises in the distance.

‘Big brother, this stall is famous for dumplings. Shall we try some?’

‘I’m damned hungry. I’m sure the hawker will treat us some, won’t he?’

‘He dare not disobey our big brother, I bet.’

Uncle Dumplings can’t figure out who these are speaking because their shadows in the dark resemble a pack of wolves. Their steps approach; their laughter becomes louder and sharper. A sudden feeling of horror sweeps over Uncle Dumplings, his hands feel sweaty. 

‘Are they only some naughty children? Or could they be escaped convicts? No. No.’ Uncle Dumplings shivers and thinks again, ‘I am sure they are famous actors taking a break from a ghost movie.’

Uncle Dumplings tries to calm himself down with ridiculous thoughts. But he is still shivering. When this pack of wolves finally becomes visible, Uncle is shocked. He has seem them in the movies – that’s how he recognises them – but these are the real thing. They are hungry ghosts from Hell! They have no horns on their heads. But they really look horrible. They must be ghosts from a century ago. They have a pale complexion and fragile bodies because of excessive intake of opium. Their eyes are deep, black and fierce. Their mouths give out an unbearable stinky breath. They all wear waist-long queues. Their clothes are white and long enough to cover their feet. Uncle Dumplings wonders if they have feet at all.

‘What are you looking at, stupid old uncle?’ One of the ghosts speaks fiercely while the other ghosts start to destroy the stall. ‘Give us your dumplings!’

Uncle Dumplings is too scared to breathe or move.

‘We are monsters from Hell! We want dumplings! Are you deaf?’ shouts the ghost again.

Uncle Dumplings plucks up his courage to serve the most terrible customers he’s ever had in his life. He obeys whatever they tell him to do. He offers them dumplings, one bowl after the other.

‘Old uncle, what stuffing is it?’ asks the ghost; he looks like the ringleader of the gang.

‘It’s peanut stuffing,’ replies Uncle Dumplings fearfully.

‘Fa sung? Peanut?’ interrupts another ghost, ‘Big brother, ho ho mei, it’s unbelievably delicious. Don’t you think so?’

Then the ghosts start to gossip among themselves.

‘Big brother, I have an idea. What do you think if we do this... Will he be happy?’ Uncle Dumplings can’t hear what the ghosts are saying, plotting.

The big brother stares at Uncle Dumplings, and then at the dumplings in front of him. He thinks for a while. The big brother ghost consents to whatever the small potatoes have suggested. In a few minutes, these ghosts have finished all the dumplings in the stall.

‘I warn you, Uncle Dumplings: your dumplings are delicious!’

Uncle Dumplings stands still. His face is too stiff to smile or not smile.

        ‘We will come back tomorrow. Make sure you have good dumplings to serve.’

When the ghost finishes saying this, all of them disappear in an instant. Poor Uncle Dumplings carries home an empty pot and an empty wallet.

***

The next day, Uncle Dumplings goes to the Red Market to buy ingredients for making dumplings. But having been warned that the uninvited customers will come back that night, he thinks of a trick.

At nightfall, Uncle Dumplings sets up his stall at the foot of the Guia Hill. He shouts loudly, ‘Ho ho mei ge tong yuen! Tasty Dumplings! Try some!’ The peanut dumplings smell really good. They attract the hungry ghosts again.

‘We’re here.’ The ghosts smile cunningly and order rudely, ‘Open the lid, fool.’

‘Yes, sir,’ replies Uncle calmly. ‘The dumplings are fresh. They smell so good, don’t they? And they are the peanut stuffing dumplings. I am sure you’ll love them.’

Uncle Dumplings spoons out one dumpling. The ghosts’ eyes shine. Their mouths water. They all crowd near Uncle to see the tong yuen. They glisten like pearls just taken from the sea.

When the ghosts see how delicious the dumplings look, they take the whole pot to Hell. They know if they can please the King of Hell with these dumplings, they can have the chance to be reincarnated as humans instead of pigs or rats.

‘Great King of Hell, we’ve got you some stuffed dumplings. Would you please try some?’ The Ghost of Mindlessness gets down as low as he can on the ground to ask and make his offering.

‘Yes, Majesty,’ interrupts the Ghost of Gluttony, from an even lower position, ‘they’re really tasty. And they’re from the most famous stall in Macao.’

The ghosts open the lid of the pot. Hell is instantly filled with a strong flavor of peanut dumplings. The dumplings are big and round, floating on the golden syrup. Watching them is already a great pleasure. Yama’s saliva drops into the pot. He can’t wait any longer. He quickly thrusts his hand into the pot. (The extreme temperature doesn’t worry the King of Hell.) The King gets a dumpling out and pops it in his mouth. He chews and chews. But instead of swallowing, he spits it out.

‘Rubbish!’ exclaims the King of Hell angrily, ‘What the hell is in this dumpling?’ He stares at the two little ghosts kneeling in front of him. There is a sudden silence, broken only by the violent beating of their hearts. Their brains stop. Their breath stops. No one dares speak first.

‘Answer me, fools! What’s in the dumplings?’ roars Yama again. His eyes are like two burning suns.

‘The... the un... uncle said it’s... st... stuffed w... with pea... pea... nut,’ mutters the Ghost of Gluttony.

‘Peanut?’ howls the King of Hell, ‘Do you think I have never eaten a peanut?’ He breaks the dumpling. ‘Is this what you called peanut stuffing?’

The King throws the stuffing at the ghosts; it is chicken excrement. Yama is extremely angry. His blood vessels are bursting with rage. His fists are clenched. He wants to crush Uncle Dumplings into pieces right now.

‘Seize that miserable corrupter of dumplings!’ shouts Yama to the Ghost of Mindlessness, ‘I am going to torture him to death! …and beyond!’

***

The next night, the Ghost of Mindlessness goes to Uncle’s stall again. When Uncle Dumplings sees the ghost, he stays calm.

‘Are you here for dumplings, my dear friend?’ asks Uncle Dumplings, with a gentle smile on his face.

‘Not really,’ answers the ghost in a friendly manner. ‘You know, I’m here because your chicken-excrement-dumplings irritated the King of Hell. Though you are a hero to me,’ he pauses and sighs, ‘and such a good cook of dumplings, you have to come with me and apologise. He may forgive you if you do so.’

‘I didn’t know it,’ says Uncle Dumplings surprisingly, ‘I think I must have carelessly mixed the chicken droppings with the peanuts.’

‘Oh I see!’ The ghost feels relieved to know the ‘truth’. He sympathises with Uncle Dumplings’ innocence of the crime.

When Uncle Dumplings realises how simple the ghost is, another funny trick suddenly comes into his mind. ‘Dear friend,’ Uncle speaks again when he’s finished thinking, ‘I want to do something to make up for this. I have a riddle. If you can answer this riddle, I will follow you to Hell and apologise to Yama; if you fail, well... I can’t leave with you with my riddle unsolved.’ The Ghost of Mindlessness thinks for a while and consents innocently.

‘Right, my dear friend,’ says Uncle, ‘listen. Can you tell me what kind of bean never grows in a garden?’

The Ghost of Mindlessness thinks for a while again. He looks really puzzled this time because he has never thought so hard in his life, or even after. And he’s been dead for a long time already! He paces to and fro seriously. Finally, he bursts out. ‘I have thought of an answer. I guess it must be a soy bean.’

The ghost looks at Uncle’s face with a frown, feeling uncertain about his answer. He tries again. ‘Well, no no, I just tried to say that it must be broad bean because it grows in wet cotton.’ He pauses and says, a little crestfallen, ‘But still it can be put in the garden.’

The Ghost of Mindlessness has never killed so many brain cells in his life, or his afterlife. Finally, he clears his throat, and says confidently, ‘My dear friend, I give up. I don’t know.’ The ghost looks at Uncle Dumplings’ mouth, expecting him to tell him the answer.

‘I am sorry, you lose. The answer is jelly beans.’

‘What? Jelly beans?’ The ghost looks at the sky like an idiot and thinks again, ‘Ah-h, I see. Jelly beans. They’re delicious. Do you agree?’

The Ghost of Mindlessness is very satisfied with Uncle Dumplings’ answer. And because he couldn’t figure out the riddle, he walks back to Hell alone. When the mindless ghost faces Yama, he is totally pale.       

‘You idiot!’ says Yama, ‘How can you be fooled by that old trickster? You are useless to me now.’ Yama looks at the two guards and announces, ‘Drag him out of here! I don’t want to see this stupid fool in Hell again. Turn him into a one-legged rat!’

‘No! No!’ cries the ghost. ‘Spare my afterlife please. I’ll never do this again!’ The last words that can be heard from the Ghost of Mindlessness are a desperate plea, ‘At least give me two legs.’

‘Two legs,’ Yama grumbles after him. ‘And make sure both are broken.’

The ghost’s miserable cries thunder through Hell. Yama stares at the next ghost standing in front of him. ‘Ghost of Gluttony, you go and fetch that old uncle. If you fail, I warn you, you’ll have no paper-food ever after!’

***

On his way to Uncle’s stall, the Ghost of Gluttony imagines what will become of him if he fails to catch Uncle Dumplings. He sees some dead rats and rotten worms along the roadside. ‘Yuck! How awful! Will they be my future food?’ The ghost frowns and goes on walking and imagines eating poisonous spiders and even raw monkeys’ brains.

Suddenly, a strong scent of red bean stuffed dumplings interrupts his thoughts. The ghost looks around and sniffs like a dog. He takes a peek at the house from which he suspects the smell is coming. It is Uncle Dumplings’ house. ‘What’s he doing?’ The Ghost of Gluttony looks through the window. His mouth opens wide. He can’t help hanging out his tongue. He tries hard not to be seen. But his belly rumbles, which catches Uncle’s attention.

‘Oh, why are you standing there? Come in. I am making dumplings for tomorrow’s Lantern Festival.’ Uncle Dumplings’ manner is welcoming.

‘I am here to kill you. Aren’t you afraid?’ replies the ghost, pretending to be very fierce.

‘I am prepared to follow you to Hell. But can I cook some dumplings for us to eat on the way? They are almost done. I’m sure you want to try some, don’t you?’

The Ghost of Gluttony can’t stand the sweet smell of the dumplings, and the thunder of his belly won’t allow him to conceal the fact that he is famished. ‘All right, because you look so sincere, I accept your warm invitation. But I warn you, none of your tricks!’

The greedy ghost sits down and takes his bowl of hong dou dumplings. He finishes one bowl and asks for another. He eats and eats until he can’t eat any more, not even one single tong yuen more. Then the ghost stops. He massages his water-melon-sized belly and burps. ‘Well done, Uncle Dumplings! (He belches again.) I’m so full. No wonder everyone calls you...’

Uncle Dumplings doesn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. He offers the ghost one more bowl saying, ‘This is the last bowl. Please finish it for me or I’ll have to throw it away.’

The Ghost of Gluttony can’t bear to see these delicious dumplings being thrown into the rubbish bin. ‘All right, I’ll finish it for you. After this, you’ll come with me.’ Then he takes the bowl and eats it. ‘I am really full. Come with me, old uncle,’ orders the ghost who is ready to stand up.

Uncle Dumplings says, ‘I am sorry, my dear friend. This is really the last bowl. Please finish it for me or I’ll have to throw it away.’

When the ghost sees the bowl of lovely dumplings on the table, he can’t bear to see them being thrown away. So he sits down and eats again. When he has finished this bowl, Uncle Dumpling offers him another saying the same thing. When the greedy ghost attempts to eat the fiftieth bowl, his belly bursts. All the dumplings he has eaten shoot out like bullets from his belly. The ground is covered with his beloved dumplings. The Ghost of Gluttony carries a torn belly back to Hell.

‘Rubbish again! You fool! How dare you come back without bringing that tricky dumpling corrupter!’ yells Yama. ‘Didn’t I warn you you’d never have paper food again? I think it’s a bit too merciful for you. I’ve got a new idea.’

‘No, Majesty. I don’t want to starve to death! Please have mercy on me, my King!’ cries the Ghost of Gluttony.

‘You love eating a lot, don’t you? You could live for quite some time on what’s in your belly, especially since you’re dead,’ he pauses and smiles cunningly. ‘I think if you were turned into a pig, you could find out what it feels like to be eaten!’ Yama looks up and howls, ‘Guards, drag him out and turn him into a pig! One without any teeth!’

‘Just a few teeth,’ the Ghost of Gluttony pleads.

‘Not a single tooth!’ Yama is not in a good mood today.

In fact the King of Hell is boiling with rage now. He can do nothing to cool himself down. He decides to seize the wicked uncle by himself. Yama feels confident that the old cheat dare not play any tricks on him. He leaves for the human world immediately.

***

Yama is wandering in the human world. He notices that every child is holding a lantern and guessing other children’s riddles. Then he remembers it is the fifteenth of the first month of the Lunar Year – the Lantern Festival. He feels uncomfortable because the streets are so crowded and busy.

‘Uncle!’ A child is pulling the corner of Yama’s clothes. ‘Can you help me light this candle and put it inside the lantern? It’s gone out.’

‘What?’ Yama looks at the child with a pair of glaring eyes. His face soon turns purple with rage. He grasps the child’s collar, pulls him up and howls, ‘I hate children! Get out! Stupid child!’ The furious King of Hell casts the child on the ground. He kicks his bottom and then goes on hunting for Uncle Dumplings, disregarding the child’s miserable wail.

When Yama arrives at Uncle Dumplings’ house, he takes out an iron crook, ready to tear the flesh and sinew from Uncle’s bones. He stands outside the house, waiting for his chance to come. Yama listens from outside. He hears Uncle Dumplings talking to a woman.

‘Thank you, Uncle Dumplings. I am so grateful that you’ve made so many dumplings for my family. My child loves them,’ says the woman. ‘You know, he loves sweet things.’

‘Oh, really? I didn’t know that,’ replies Uncle Dumplings ‘He looks so fierce!’

‘He looks fierce, but in fact he’s afraid of me,’ the woman laughs.

Yama looks through the keyhole of the door. He can only see two dark backs. He feels that one of the backs is very familiar.

‘Is he?’ says Uncle, surprised.

‘Yes, I remember in his childhood, I loved to beat him with a chicken duster and twist his ears off. He is afraid of that kind of punishment,’ the woman laughs again. ‘By the way, dear friend, why don’t you open your stall today?’ asks the woman.

‘Because your son has sent his followers to destroy my stall, so I can’t open it today,’ replies Uncle sadly.

‘How dare he do this to my dear friend. Fine, I’ll peel his skin off tonight.’

‘Oh, thank you so much!’

          Yama looks through the keyhole, he realises that it’s his mother’s back. He is so frightened he pisses himself with fear. He tries to escape. But his legs tremble too much for him to go anywhere. He tumbles over and hits his head on the ground. Yama knows that when his mother comes out of the house, he will be scolded and beaten half to death. Then Yama doesn’t know why, but he looks back. He sees from the gap of the door that it’s not his own mother. It’s only a shadow of a woman made of paper! Yama is unable to restrain his anger anymore. He shoves the door open. ‘Is this my mother, old uncle?’ He slashes the paper with his hook.

Uncle Dumplings is extremely frightened now that his trick is revealed. He doesn’t know what to do. He stands back. But as Uncle is already in a corner, he has nowhere to go. Man and demon are confronting each other. Suddenly, Yama’s foot feels itchy. There is a rat on it. At this moment, Uncle Dumplings escapes to the garden. Yama follows. He can’t see Uncle, but he sees a huge lantern, taller and bigger than himself.

It is a beautiful lantern with a picture of Yama’s queen Xi Shi. Yama goes around the lantern with a feeling of strong suspicion.

‘Come in, sweetheart, I am here,’ says a sweet girl’s voice.

‘Where are you? Sweetheart?’ asks Yama doubtfully.

‘I am in the lantern! Come in quick!’

When Yama takes a peep at the inside of the lantern, a pig suddenly comes out and violently prods his bottom. Yama falls down into the lantern. Then the rat bites off the string fastening the lantern to the ground. The lantern flies up into the sky. It’s wonderful.

Uncle Dumplings, the rat and the pig look up at the huge lantern floating up the sky. They all keep watching until it’s out of sight. And since then, none of them has ever seen Yama, the King of Hell.

Notes:

1. A kind of red ball candy.

2. The old name for wan ton noodles.

3. ‘Wai’ is an imperative indicating presence, used in Cantonese when picking up the  telephone.

4. A Cantonese word for supper or midnight snack.