CHINATOWN RISING
By Audrey Chang1. I OFFICIALLY HATE CHINATOWN
Hello, my name is April Li. I was eight years old and I hated being away from my parents. Unfortunately, I had to face that because my parents were going out of town for their 10th wedding anniversary. Anyway, that wasn’t even the worst of it. While my parents were off enjoying themselves, I had to stay with my grandpa in Chinatown. Sure, you might say, “Chinatown? That’s amazing!” But trust me, it wasn’t. In Chinatown, every place was dusty and smelly, almost all the shops were run-down or closed, and every corner looked abandoned and sad.
As we exited our car and stepped onto the sidewalk, a terrible stench filled the air. “Ewww, how am I ever going to survive a whole weekend in Chinatown?” I shuddered.
“April!” my dad yelled, “come on!”
I hurriedly ran over. Once we got closer to my grandpa’s apartment, I closed my eyes, hoping to find that my temporary home was unlike the Chinatown I remembered. But, to my disappointment, it was exactly how I remembered it to be.
2. MY GRANDPA MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER
My eyes immediately locked onto an old, run-down dim sum restaurant with a creaky weathered apartment on the top floors. I groaned loudly as my mom glared at me while my dad gave me his “We’ll talk about this behavior later” look. I rolled my eyes as I muttered to myself. Splash. Splash. I ran up the wet, narrow, musty-smelling hallway and knocked on the battered wooden door. Creak. As the door opened slowly, I froze as my eyes met my grandpa's.
I hadn’t seen my grandpa in what felt like forever. We rarely drove all the way up to Chinatown anymore. He looked different from what I remembered, perhaps a little older and…dare I say nicer? Well, nice compared to the other people I had encountered in Chinatown. He had a soft and fuzzy wool scarf, a leathery brown hat and a matching sport coat. “Welcome!” my grandpa’s voice boomed loudly.
To my surprise, a slight smile started to form in the corner of my mouth. I swallowed hard and forced myself to frown. However, I couldn’t help but think that maybe Chinatown wouldn’t be so bad with my new and improved grandpa around.
3. AN EXCITING START
After my parents left, my grandpa started making dinner, while I did the obvious thing any eight-year-old would do: explore! The unfamiliar home felt mysterious and seemed to whisper to me its past history. Every nook and cranny looked as if it held an amazing adventure. Maybe the apartment wasn’t as bad as it looked.
I bopped myself in the head. How could I be thinking this? I couldn’t like Chinatown. It was smelly, it was run down, it was way too old, and almost no one lived there anymore. Plus, the people that did live there were just old grumps that seemed to hate kids! I took a deep breath to halt my negative thoughts. This place might not have been like home, but perhaps I needed to give it a chance. A new adventure could await me.
Ah. A delicious scent filled the air. Spicy peppers and Shanghai noodles braised in a thick meaty soy sauce, my favorite! I raced to the kitchen table and seated myself in one of the antique bamboo red chairs.
“Ah, I see you still love dan dan mian, ” my grandpa said with a chuckle. “I’ll give you a full bowl then!” he said while he sat down, placing the fragile bowl in front of me.
We looked at each other for a brief moment. Then, we started to eat.
After we finished our dinner, my grandpa said that after he washed the dishes, he would show me the restaurant downstairs. But, while he was washing the dishes, I snuck off to explore the rest of the apartment. I found myself carefully stepping through another narrow, musty hallway. I reached for the wooden door at the end while I prepared myself to see the entrance to the restaurant. But nothing could ever prepare me for what I saw.
The restaurant looked nothing like what I expected a typical rundown dim sum restaurant to look like. It was ancient but strangely familiar. Chinese characters bounced off the walls. Statues and sculptures were in every corner. Amazingly, it was vast and open, much bigger than what seemed possible. It could hold hundreds of thousands of people just in the colossal kitchen alone. It couldn’t be real. I tried to convince myself that the restaurant was just my imagination getting away from me. "I’m spending too much time here," I thought, though deep down I was anxious about what this was all about.
I crept back up the stairs, not caring that I had to step through the musty hallway again. I needed to get out of there. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed that my grandpa was still washing the dishes. I walked up to him, wanting to ask him if I could go to sleep. But, to my surprise, my grandpa didn’t wait for me to ask my question. He simply said, “Almost done with washing the dishes, then I’ll show you the restaurant. You ready?” I paused. Wait, did he not notice I was gone for all that time? Something was off. I asked my grandpa if we could hold off on the tour tonight. Without looking up from the dishes he nodded silently and dried off his hands.
4. AN UNEXPECTED REQUEST
My grandpa suggested he show me to my room. He led me through the narrow hallways, fit for only a single person. Slip, my pink cat slippers slid across the slippery, shiny floor, freshly mopped. As we strode along the pathway, I encountered multiple cabinets, shiny glass tables with TVs perched on them, and soft velvety chairs and couches. Gasp. My room looked unique, and much more modern and remodeled than the rest of the house. Shiny walls shone brightly, and they were clean, unlike the usual dusty floors and walls I’ve seen in Chinatown.
My bed was a beautiful blue, along with a rosy mattress. The best part was the cute little book nook with heart pillows. I was planning on bringing a couple of stuffed animals, but they were already neatly placed in my room. Small wooden bookshelves lined the walls. A classic chandelier hung from the ceiling. There were many cabinets and places to store things. Once I set all my things down, I turned to my grandpa only to find that he was breathing deeply. He looked hesitant as he said, “April, I am choosing you … to save Chinatown.”
“What?!” I squeaked. “Why should I do that? I don’t even know what’s going on!”
“I am well aware of that,” my grandpa replied.
I sighed, “Why am I doing this anyway? What for?”
My grandpa explained that Chinatown had fallen apart because the ancient gem of peace was lost to the evil dragon. The gem had been passed down to the first families who came to California for a new life. It shielded Chinatown against the evil dragon which represented hatred, destruction, and evil. “You must stop the dragon from sealing the good from the gem forever. You must stop it from hurting the restaurant and Chinatown,” my grandpa pleaded.
The restaurant? I thought to myself. Will this be worth it? Will I ever come back? Then again, I didn’t really have a choice. I had to help my grandpa. He worked so hard for our family, and the restaurant and Chinatown mean so much to him, to us. I made my decision. “When do we start?”
5. I FOLLOWED A STRANGER TO ANOTHER WORLD
“Get to the bakery shop. Show this piece of paper to the man behind the counter and he’ll tell you everything,” my grandpa repeated for the hundredth time. “I can’t go with you. It would be too risky. The gem is a family heirloom, so don’t drop it. You will face three challenges. The last one will be to face the dragon.”
He hugged me tightly and sent me on my way. Great, just when I was getting comfortable in this apartment, I’m going back out into Chinatown again. “No,” I stopped myself. “This time, I am going out to fight for Chinatown and my grandpa’s restaurant.”
I put on my fuzzy black coat, my cheetah boots, and a flower pink hat, all made by my mother. I tucked my lucky bracelet into my pocket. “I can do this,” I repeated to myself.
I looked across the street and spotted the Chinese bakery. Weird, the last time I saw it, it was on the corner near the souvenir store. I realized it must be magic. I raced across the street to the rusty blue door of the bakery. When I peeked in, everything looked otherworldly. A living lucky cat sat on the counter, greeting everyone with a bowl of fortune cookies beside it. As I squinted through the window, I spotted egg tarts and red bean donuts seemingly increasing by the minute. I tried to look as confident as possible as I stepped into the store, casually smoothing out my hair.
“Ahem, ” I coughed.
“Coming!” a person yelled. A couple of minutes later a man came racing from the kitchen.
I cleared my throat once again and showed the man the letter that my grandpa gave me. The man froze. Suddenly, all the friendliness in his voice dropped as he paced to the back of the room, “Come with me.”
As I followed closely, he turned and said, “I wish you luck. I can give you some information, but after that, you're on your own.” I nodded weakly in reply.
“The three challenges will test your strengths and your weaknesses. But beware, the dragon that stole the gem will exploit your weaknesses, no matter what.
I was almost speechless. “Okay,” was all I could manage to blurt out.
The man continued. “Walk through the curtain door and that will bring you to a world called Nowhere. Talk to the headmaster. He’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
I turned my back to face the door. Should I do this? I swallowed, I had to be prepared for what would happen after I walked through that curtain.
As I crossed over, my eyes were fixated on the bouncy cement sidewalks, buildings flipped upside down like tops, and the strange creatures slithering down the sidewalks. I walked forward and the bouncy sidewalk tossed me up and down as I went. I couldn’t keep my balance and I tripped, landing on something slimy. “Hey, watch it!” a surprisingly loud voice emerged from the creature. Suddenly, another slimy creature approached me. “Hey you!” he shouted.
“Yes?” I replied.
“You just squished Headmaster Worm,” he said in a cold tone.
“Wait, the headmaster?” I realized as I was still on top of the creature.
“You just earned a lifetime in jail!” he taunted. He motioned for more of the bacteria like creatures to march me to a gray, musty building.
I groaned loudly.
The guards forced me into a prison cell. “Wait!” I yelled. The worm turned around to face me.
“I c-came with a message for you…” I managed to stutter.
“Wait,” he paused, “you’re the one?”
His eyes opened wide. I started to worry about my choice of words.
“Guards, get her out of there. Bring her to my palace!” the headmaster shouted. I was led into one of the top-like buildings, gummy worms surrounding the area like a ribbon on a birthday present. The throne was made out of shiny rubber, and metal gadgets filled the room. “Wow,” I breathed.
“I will be your guide through these challenges. Your first test will be to test your bravery, the second challenge will test your mind. Lastly, you have to face the evil dragon. But no one knows how to defeat him. No one has ever succeeded,” he warned.
That’s a cheerful thought, I thought to myself.
“I will be sending you today, April. No delays, but I’m curious… are you ready?”
6. THE FIRST TEST: BRAVERY
Are you ready? The question echoed over and over again while I questioned my determination and will. Perhaps I spoke too soon. Perhaps I should’ve thought before I answered so surely. Maybe, just maybe, I made the wrong choice. The first challenge will test your bravery, I remembered. Okay, I thought, hopefully this won’t be too bad. I snapped back to reality. The only thing I caught after my long daze was, "Okay guards! Send her to the portal!" Uh oh, this was not going to be good…
I hesitated. What if I couldn’t do it? Stop it! My head yelled over and over again. Have confidence, don’t be scared, don’t hesitate. Be careful and strong and you’ll survive. I took my first step in…
“Please make it, please make it.” I pleaded to myself.
KA-CHING! The metal doors slammed closed. I was stuck in a room with a ladder. “Ugh!” I groaned. How was I supposed to do this? Maybe I could climb up the ladder and see what’s next?
I slowly climbed up the wooden ladder. I reached the top and looked down… My eyes opened wide. Oh. My. Gosh.
The safe wooden floor was transformed into hot volcanic lava. I tried to see how much there was, but I couldn’t. It stretched down, down, down, like right into the core of the earth! I couldn’t let go. Rocks flowed up and down the lava pool. Maybe I could skip across those rocks? I shook my head while shouting, “Here I go!”
Plunk.
My feet just barely missed the stone as I fell into the lava.
Right then, my head hit something soft and cushiony, and the red lava slowly dissipated. What? A sign read, “CONGRATULATIONS! YOU PASSED THE TEST OF BRAVERY.”
7. THE SECOND TEST: THE MIND
Wow. I surv—“Ahhhh!” I screamed. I fell into what seemed like an endless pit. How would I get out? Suddenly, my mind flashed back to what the headmaster told me. The second challenge will be to test your mind.
“The mental challenge,” I repeated to myself. My problem was that I was stuck in an endless pit. How would I get down? Then it hit me. To get down, it’s all about gravity.
The only way to bend the rules of gravity is… magic. “Think,” my brain said. Perhaps I could summon magic with love and hope. I thought about my family, the restaurant, Chinatown. I could do this. Fop! In a flash of light, I felt like I was going down again. I did it!
I plunked to the bottom, where another sign read, “CONGRATS! YOU SURVIVED THE MIND TEST!” I smiled widely, but my relief and joy didn’t last long.
8. MY BATTLE TO FIGHT
A loud and icy roar reminded me that I had one more battle: My battle to fight. I took a deep breath. This might be the end. I smiled at the thought of my family, and I gathered myself. Time to fight this beast. “Roar!” The dragon hissed. It was so tempting to run back and just stay safe while waiting for a miracle, but I couldn’t. I ran towards the monster, channeling my strength. I screamed fiercely, attracting the monster's attention. “I’m done with this!” I shouted. The monster whipped its tail at me, but I quickly dodged it. Suddenly, I spotted a glimmering sword with a note attached: “This sword will grant you one wish. Choose wisely.”
I gasped, and without thinking, I took the sword and wished ow! One flick of the dragon’s tail made me bleed badly. I had to do this quickly.
I held the silver sword up to my face while whispering, “I wish to lock this evil dragon away… forever.”
In a blink of an eye, the sword disappeared into wisps of wind, leaving me to see if the magic of the sword, the magic of hope, and the magic of love was strong enough to lock the dragon away deep into its cage. (Well, that’s how I imagined it, anyways). Instead, I saw a frozen sculpture, seemingly resistant to melting even though it was burning hot. I traced my hand over the ice… but, before I could see what happened next, everything… turned black.
9. LOVE, HOPE, AND CHINATOWN
I woke up in the bed that my grandfather had prepared for me. It was comfy and delicate. It felt soothing on my injur—wait, I didn’t have any injuries anymore.
Did I successfully defeat the dragon and get the gem back? The gem! Did I forget to grab it? I tried to think about the moments before I blacked out.
I got up so I could tiptoe through the hallways, but I stole a quick glance through the window of my room to see a new, busy, and warm Chinatown shining back at me.
I raced out into the hallways, not stopping to look at the remodeled apartment. My feet slid as I caught a glimpse of my mom and dad having tea with my grandpa.
My eyes lit up. “Hey!” I cheerfully called. All heads turned to me. My parents’ faces lit up, and my grandpa gave me a warm and proud smile. I learned about love and hope in my family… right here in Chinatown.
AUDREY CHANG
