The Two Sides
Jonathan Man Hon Leung, Group 4: Fiction, St. Joseph's College
ong before the sun injected an irreplaceable vitality and warmth into the bleak and snowcapped moors
and mountains and dissipated the frost, a candle had taken up its job for a family. A flame which
seemed inconsequential was lit up, illuminating the dilapidated hut, marking the sign of another
monotonous and gruelling day, accentuating three fatigued and blighted faces.
Oh! And he put on a grimacing face! Shivering, sneezing, murmuring, cowering at the far end corner of the
bed, wrapping himself in a ragged, stinky and tiny blanket with holes letting the piercing wind attack his feeble
body indiscriminately.
Two fragile and skinny arms encircled the boy, slowly, gently. ‘Mama, mama…’ The boy whispered with
his dry, cracked, white lips, gasping for air at the same time. He could not feel safer and warmer than in his
mother’s embrace, of whose affection he had always felt but was never too much.
On the outside he was chilled to the marrow, his ears and nose were already suffering from frostbite, his jaw
had stiffened, his body was numb with cold. But inside a fire was ignited, giving life to his spirit which once had
the idea of giving up to put an end to a life of anguish and misery. The physical cold would never erode the
spiritual warmth.
‘
Please, do not go, I beg you, please…’ ‘I go for you, my son.’ ‘No…stay with me...’ They looked into each
other’s eyes without a word. No words were needed. Cicadas ceased making a noise, crows turned muted for a
little while. She landed her trembling hand softly on the boy’s coarse cheek and started to fondle it with her
skinny thumb. A simple act of affection but full of emotion.
Her eyes already misted over when she was sitting on her bed, pepping in silence. She had that little
moment to review her family’s life and ruminated over the future. Nothing but a bleak prospect lay ahead. The
clouds above the family’s head were without silver lining. They were fed up with seeing people leading an
insouciant life, wearing large and warm fineries in the winter, full to bursting all the time and not having to
worry about money.
She was not lucky enough to sit in school and receive proper education, but this did not stop her from being
a deep thinker. She was impoverished but rich in ideas and thoughts. She did not want much, just a normal,
dignified life but not a dog’s life, and a healthy brother free from leukaemia.
She could not hold back her tears any more. Tears of compassion for her poor brother, sorrow for her family
trickled down her dull cheeks like two little cascades. She wiped the tears away quietly with her bruised hands.
All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.
Long after the sun had climbed up to the top of the azure sky, dispelling the chill taking away the vivacity of
lives, brought away the darkness which had engulfed the town, a few men in tidy black suits made their way to a
station on the other side of the Great Wall in a laid-back mood, exchanged words happily through the short walk.
Their destination was a small plain covered with withered grass trodden flowers, where the ground had
countless cracks. The station was situated on the plain. The locals never stepped on it.
The station indeed provided a close view of the edifice, which generations have been throwing glances of
admiration at and remained excessively breath-taking through the history of its grandeur and magnificence.
Nobody could imagine the ancient Chinese constructing such an enormous wall, spanning over eight thousand
and eight hundred kilometres like a wild serpent in times when technology was not so advanced.
It was all by labour, not by machines. It was by sweat and blood, not by easy presses on buttons.
Tourists would relish the view so much that words of genuine praises would keep pouring out of their
mouths.
Photographers would be so electrified that every angle seemed to be a perfect shot of the Great Wall
together with mountains and the sky as the background, so they simply took photos without much thought.
Travellers would goggle at the edifice, gape in amazement, shake their heads slightly with a ‘wow’ and be
lost for words. Then they put on the big smile you will find on a child’s content face after you give him a big
candy and left without regret. No tourists, photographers and travellers were on the plain.
‘
The gates opened! The gates opened! Get up daughter, we have to hurry! Get up!’ Locals who walked by
were totally shocked by the outbreak of hysteria at the gates of the station. The reaction of the people at the
gates was the perfect embodiment of the beastliness of humans in the locals’ eyes. It was no different from a
herd of ravenous wolves whose stomachs had been empty for a few days darting towards some plump sheep
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Shortlisted