A Stranger’s Help
Claire Coey, Group 3: Fiction, International College Hong Kong
he buzz of customers and the continuous clanging of bowls and spoons rang in Ahlan’s ears. The heavy
bowl of soup wobbled in his hands. The vapour from the hot soup fogged his vision causing him to
awkwardly bump into a chair and spill the bowl. Ahlan was only eleven years old but helped out in the
noodle restaurant owned by his parents. He had only been living in China for two years and he hated life there.
Lately his parents and grandparents had been acting suspicious, every night they would lock their bedroom
doors and not come out for a long time. Ahlan could press his ear against the door but all he heard was hushed
murmurs. He wanted to question what was going on, but he didn’t dare.
T
It wasn’t only the locked doors and whispering that seemed strange. The noodle shop seemed different
too. It was still loud, cramped and hot, but the customers all didn’t appear to be as cheerful. Their faces were
painted with a troubled and pained expression like there were a heavy stone on their back they couldn’t seem to
lift off.
That night the cycle of locked doors and whispering continued. Later Ahlan’s mother took him to bed.
“
Mama, why is everyone acting so strange?” Ahlan asked as his mother tucked the blankets around him tightly.
“
What do you mean Ahlan?” said his mother, sitting on the edge of his tiny bed.
“
Well...” Ahlan started, becoming braver. “I always hear you, Baba, Yeye and Nainai whispering now.
You lock your door too and you never come out.”
For a long time his mother did not answer. All he could hear was the chirping of the crickets and the
rustle of the leaves outside. It seemed like this continues noise could go on forever. His mother stared at her
hands, motionless. Finally she spoke: “Our family is going through a tough time now. A wall is going up.”
“
A wall?”
There was a confused expression on Ahlan’s face.
“
There are walls everywhere. What’s so special about this wall?” Ahlan was now sitting up in bed,
interested about this mysterious wall.
“
Ahlan, you know our family, we don’t come from China. We are Kashgar people. This wall... when it
is up we will be separated from Kashgar. When this wall goes up we may never return to Kashgar again. YeYe
and NaiNai miss their home, we all miss it. But here is where opportunities lie. We cannot always be stuck in
the past.”
Stuck in the past? If ‘stuck in the past’ meant learning the art of Falconry from Yeye then he definitely
wanted to go there. Hearing Yeye’s stories about hunting with hawks was Ahlan’s favourite topic. Yeye told
him that in Kashgar a man is judged by his survival skills not by how many coins were in his purse. And
Falconry was the noblest of the hunting arts. But here in China there were no wide open spaces or clear skies, let