The Thermometer
Wai Yan Li, Group 4: Fiction, Ying Wa College
here was always a thermometer on my desk. A gift from my father. The thermometer was made by
clay, featuring the winter of the Great Wall. Yes. THE Great Wall that has been described as many
things; one of the most figurative ones is “dragon crawling over the whole China”. Maybe it was
the thermometer with amazing view of the Great Wall that encouraged me to go and see the dragon
for my own eyes.
I was wearing a backpack by the time I got to the Great Wall, I wasn’t just thinking of getting a
real good look at the gigantic creature, I was also thinking: maybe I could buy the thermometer of the three
other seasons just to make my desk look good.
It was the time of winter; snow was falling like fairies descending. Of course, the stupid fairies not only
landed on the very ground of the earth, they also landed on the back of the forever sleeping dragon. They
didn’t move or speak a word, so quiet and motionless as if they were scared to wake IT up. Yeah. Who
knows what will happen if it is awaken?
The Cruel, freezing wind sliced my face like a knife, tipped every single inches of my skin like a million
needles, froze my hair up straight like some kind of a Gel. The extreme coldness kept me from stay on my
feet, beaten by the weather, I took the thermometer out using my hand with inch- thick gloves. I saw ZERO.
My mouth has gone ZERO. As ZERO was striking my brain like a thunder, my hand, the one holding the
thermometer, the one which had been froze way too long ago, dropped the thermometer to the icy ground.
And that’s a painful goodbye to my precious thermometer. But no hard feelings, right! Just a gift, though
now I have got four thermometers to buy now.
And there went the time.
I almost walked to the top of this small part of the Great Wall, step by step, and the cloud and sky up
there seemed lower than I knew, so close as if I can feel the clouds…or maybe it’s just the snow. The wind
became so calm and friendly up here, it touched my face so gently just like what lovers do. The dimmer
sunlight shone through my eyes, not with scary sparkles, but with eye-relaxing glow.
Without reasons, a glimpse of an old man on a rough rock just 10 feet away caught my full attention.
Within reasons that I would or could never have known, the old man with perfectly white hair simply sat
there peacefully with his eyes closed. The seemingly wise old man wore checkered coat with dark jeans
and brown, muddy shoes, just so normal, but he gave a sense of sacred feeling, just like the way the Great
Wall gave its nostalgic sensation. The old man did no nothing when I got before him, I saw the things that
laid on the black carpet in front of him, there were lots of things, but the only thing that had my interest…
is a thermometer. I don’t even have to mention its appearance; it is just the same as what I am looking at,
identical to my father’s gift. I picked it up, and there the old man spoke,” You broke one of my
thermometers before, didn’t you?”
Speechlessly, I was nearly sweating over my whole body, thinking,” How did he know about this? How?
How...” The old man finally opened his eyes which made him seemed wiser, he politely smiled and said,”
Look! Look at your coat and you gloves.” And there I saw some fragments of clay on my highlighted
orange coat, exactly like the clay of my thermometer, so that’s why he knew it, and this comforted me a lot.
But here comes another question, is he a wise man in the legend or simply an apprentice of Sherlock
Holmes?
“
Young man, I guess that you don’t have another gorgeous little thermometer for your desk, so take this
one for free. I am pretty sure that you will never have this one broken.” Suddenly, the sun got brighter than
ever, I just couldn’t resist closing my eyes, and then a breeze of cold wind struck me in split second. It’s
not until I open my eyes that I notice the old man’s disappearance, the old man just gone, vanished like he
has never existed!
I looked down to my new thermometer, and what I saw caused me to drop my jaw…In the thermometer,
at the very top of the ‘dragon’, there stood a young man wearing highlighted orange coat and inch- thick
gloves. He somehow was looking down to the piece of clay held in his hand.
About seconds later, the young man of the thermometer surprisingly dropped his jaw and his face went
dead-pale. “Is that...m...m...me in the thermometer?!”
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