Time Explorers 1 (2013)

 Chapter 1: Going back in time…

“Okay, 4B,” Ms Priya said, “Today we are going to learn about… the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami! Discuss with your buddy what you know about it.” 

“Do you know what happened during the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami?” I asked Yi Qian.

“Of course I do! Hey, what’s this?” Yi Qian picked up a blue marble ball.

“I wish I could go there so I can experience what happened then…” I said, while rubbing the ball. “Hey, this is so smoooooooooo-“suddenly both of us started to spin…

“Oof!” I exclaimed when we touched a rocky ground, and found myself smooching the ground. I spat out the dirt in my mouth.

“That is so smoochy-I mean…yucky.” Yi Qian said. “Where are we?” The sky was bright blue, without a cloud in sight. It was a fine day, a day best spent with splendor and beauty, frolicking under the warm sunshine. Instead, we are standing down here in the lifeless woods, not even knowing where we are.

“Arggh! Hey, what’s that blue marble ball doing here?” he asked, looking from a far distance.

“Are you blind? That is not even round, how can it be a marble ball? That is a cat!”

‘A magical blue cat, to be precise. You can hear me when I think,’ the furry, striped cat seemed to be able to talk to me through thinking.

“Did you hear that?” I exclaimed.

“Hear what?” Yi Qian asked curiously.

‘As I said, I can talk to you through thinking. You can, too. Try to say ‘hello’.’

‘Hello?’ I tried to think, still not believing what was happening, as the cat glared at me with frustration.

‘Do you know, everything you don’t believe now, you’re going to have to believe it sooner or later?  Anyway, your friend won’t hear a thing. Try to convince him to bring me along. It is now 9 March, 2011 in Japan, and I am the cleverest cat of all clever cats, so I can help you. I have been observing you, and your research on Japan is lousy!’

  “Hey TKA, What were you thinking about?”

“Oh… uh I was just thinking, Should we bring this cat along?”

“To where?” Yi Qian asked.

“Okay, let me explain, it is now 9 March, 2011, in Japan. So we have to find our way back to school.”

“What? Isn’t that 2 days before the Earthquake and Tsunami started?”

Chapter 2: The boy…

“Wait……”Yi Qian considered “How did you know all this?” 

“Uh…Re-search.”

“R-e-a-l-l-y?”

“YOU DARE ARGUE WITH THE RESEARCH MASTER?”

“No no no… of course not…Okay, let’s set off now. How do we go home?”

‘How’-I was interrupted by the cat.

‘You must go through the natural disasters. ‘

“Go through-”, I blurted out accidently, “I mean, follow me…here kitty kitty, come to daddy!”

‘Just you wait! I am so going to pounce on you later.’

“Go through what?” Yi Qian asked.

“We must go through the- uh- woods. Yeah, woods.”

‘Actually, it’s a magical forest, stupid, not located in Japan, but you’ll get out of here real fast!’

“Mr. TKA, you have been acting strangely since you met that cat…”, Yi Qian raised an eyebrow, “and… which direction should we head to? Will we die? Will we live? Where will we sleep? What will we eat? Why are we here? What kind of forest is this? What tim-”

“STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS AND JUST FOLLOW ME!”I shouted in irritation. After a brief 20 minutes later, we arrived at the city. 

“Where should we go now? I’m out of breath…” Yi Qian exclaimed. Just then, a young boy with round spectacles and short black hair walked towards us and said “こんにちは、私の名前はすまなく思っている Watami です、しかしあなたは道に迷っていますか？ あなたは道に迷っているように見えます。”

“I think he is trying to say that he is Harry Potter.” Yi Qian said. 

(Note that the Japanese words may not be put in the correct order, as I did not ask the embassy, the Japanese government or anything. I only checked the internet. But the words are correct.  Any inconvenience regretted. For the next chapter, the cat will interpret most of the time.) 

Chapter 3: Watami. 

(This is a short chapter, so if you are rushing to go to the toilet, read this chapter first. Any misfortunes, do not blame Tan Kian Ann! Thank You!)

‘He is saying, hello, my name is Watami. Sorry, but are you lost? You look lost.’ The cat explained.  I suggest you reply ‘はい、我々は道に迷っています。すみません、けれども我々は英語をいっそう上手に話します’, which means ‘Yes, we are lost, and we speak English.’

“はい、我々は道に迷っています。すみません、けれども我々は英語をいっそう上手に話します” I said. It seemed like a tongue twister, and I didn’t even know what I was talking about. Could the cat be making fun of poor, old me?

‘If you don’t trust me, forget it.’

Sigh… I hate it when the cat reads my mind. 

‘Too bad’

“Are you really able to speak English?” Watami said, shocking me and Yi Qian, “You could have said so earlier! Do you have places to sleep or things to eat? I can provide you all of those…”

“Yes yes yes… thank you…” Yi Qian blurted out.

“No problem...”

(No comments, so nothing funny here, look at the next chapter…)

Chapter 4: You have to believe us!

After taking a bus, we reached Watami’s house. It was a beautiful terrace house surrounded by dandelions and apple trees, and was rich in bright colours. When we went into the house, Watami’s parents rushed out and asked “らは誰ですか？”.

  ‘They are asking Watami ‘Who are they?’. 

The boy explained “らは私の新しい友人たちです。らは眠るために供給あるいは場所を持っていません、それで私はらを招き入れました。らは英語を話します。

‘He said ‘They are my new friends. They have no supplies or places to sleep, so I invited them in. They speak English.’ Hey, am I a translator or something?’

“You speak English? Me also. But me English bad. Me son and wife better. Oh yes, no kitties in house. Wife allergic.”, said a really fat looking man. The only clothing he has on him is a white underpant, so he looked like ‘sumo’ wrestler, or maybe he is just obese. The cat gave a snarl and went out, and was never seen again. “Oh yes, me not introduced self yet. Me name is Howami, and people always ask me ‘how am I.’ This is me wife.” A pretty and elegant woman stepped out of her room, smiling while waving. She seemed like having spendthrift habits, wearing big pearl earrings, diamond necklaces while holding several jade pendants.

“Hi, I am Kian Ann, and this is Yi Qian. We have something really important to tell you. We come from the future, and-“I was cut by Mr How am I.

“You come from future? Which date?”

“2013.”

“How will this area of Senbai look like by then?”

“Horrible”, I confessed “In ruins.”

“What?”

“I was going to tell you earlier on. An Earthquake and a Tsunami is coming 2 days later.”

“You sure you come from future?” Mr How am I asked.

“Sure! From Singapore!”

“Sure?”

“Sure!”

“Sure?”

“Sure!”

“Confirm plus chop sure?”

“Hey, you stole my line. I was supposed to say that.”

“Oops! Sorry…”, he said, “Anyway, since you so sure, let’s go packing!”

“Growl!”

“Wow, what was that?” I asked.

“Must be my stomach!” Yi Qian laughed.

“I’ll cook some sashimi for you to eat” Watami suggested.

“Maybe I’ll go to the washroom first…” Yi Qian’s face flushed in embarrassment.

“The toilet’s just by the kitchen” I pointed out.

Chapter 5: Evacuate! Earthquake! Tsunami!

March 11, 12 46, 2011:

“Kian Ann! Wake up! Let’s go!” Yi Qian exclaimed. I woke up with half-opened eyes, as the orange –tinged sun shone its light in the coasts of Senbai, Japan. “Quick, Kian Ann, there is only 2 hours left to evacuate! Eat your lunch and let’s go, go, go!” Sigh… Yi Qian must be the only guy in the entire world to be so enthusiastic about getting attacked by an earthquake and a tsunami…

Once we left the house, the time was already 1316hrs. Mr Howami started his striped blue ‘Toyota’ branded car and prepared to set off. UNFORTUNATELY, the car couldn’t start up. When it did, the door wouldn’t open! When it did, the car couldn’t set off ! Some car…

“Sorry, car buy 15 years already!”

Until everything was ready, it was 1416hrs. 30 more minutes until the earthquake! Mr Howami drove as fast as he could. UNFORTUNATELY, the car broke down at the middle of the road. At 1445hrs, the car started going again. But... this time, the ground was already cracking and was ‘chasing’ us while Mr Howami tried to drive all of us to safety from the next natural disaster, the Tsunami. By the time we reached there, we already saw the sea draining up. A few seconds later, a ‘white line’ was rushing towards us from the sea. Some people were already running for their lives and stampeding on people who fell.

“Quick, drive to the nearest mountain!”  I shouted. Once we reached our destination, we stopped. The tsunami was already crashing into the coastal towns of Senbai, like a piece of glass cup shattering abruptly onto the ground, exploding into thousand pieces. After a while, almost all the buildings were destroyed, including the terrace house we lived in for 2 days. People were clinging onto anything they can grab. The cries of the children and the noise from the tsunami almost made the whole place like our 4B classroom during Science period. All of us looked at the scene, flabbergasted.

“Hey, isn’t this the marble that brought us here? Maybe we can use it to go home!” Yi Qian exclaimed out of a sudden, as he picked up a blue marble hidden behind a bush.

“Are you sure it’s not just another marble?” I asked.

“Let’s just try…”he said.

“But what about Mr-“

“Don’t worry, we can manage.” Mr Howami said, “Thanks for telling us about these natural disasters, or we would be one of those dead bodies lying there…” 

“Hey, your English has improved!” Yi Qian pointed out.

“Thanks!”

We took a final glance at the scene, and shivered. Reluctantly, we bid farewell to the family, then rubbed the ball and said, “We wish we can go back to school.” And, we spun…and spun… and spun……

Chapter 6: A conclusion.

Once we opened our eyes, we found ourselves back in school, we realised that the time had not changed by a second, and the blue marble was nowhere to be found. Everyone was still in the verge of discussion on the topic of the Japan Tsunami and Earthquake in 2011. 

We told everyone about our adventure during recess, but no one believed us. When we told our parents, they said “Good imagination!”  After several times I repeated the story, most of my friends responded “You can add that to your new story, just with a little more details, ‘Mr Makan Makan Tan Kian Ann’!” So, I decided to write the story they have suggested, and here you are, reading the story right now. The only question I have is… was the blue marble related to the blue cat?

To be continued in Book 2…

(Hi! Remember in the introduction, I mentioned ‘read each word very carefully, they all have a hidden meaning.’? Well, that was just to make you read it word by word… Anyway, from this story, I just wanted to tell all of you to cherish what you have. Should you have friendship problems, please, for your dear Kian Ann, do not hold a grudge between each other anymore. The time is unforgiving, as we may separate into different classes. Therefore, you have a choice, ‘To reunite with your friends or to remain enemies forever.’ You would most likely choose option 2. Well, we shall see sooner or later. Lastly, for the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, I have something to tell for both the survivors and the deceased. For the survivors, ‘Do not grieve, time cannot rewind itself.’ For the deceased, I would only say, ‘May all souls rest in peace.’)

Thank you.☺