Short Story 5

Xiao Zhuang and the Trip to the North Pole

Xiao Zhuang was on the way to take the school bus to Marymount Kindergarten with Mommy.

The bus soon arrived and she bade farewell to mommy.

As she entered the bus, she realised that the bus is not like what it used to be. It was much bigger than it looked from outside, and practically the whole Violet Class is in it. In addition, Mrs Toh and 林老师 were also on board.

"Children, now that all of you have boarded the bus, we shall go on our excursion. Does anyone know where are we going this time?" Asked Mrs Toh.

"Zoo!", "Birdpark!", "Beach!" were amongst the many suggestions thrown up by the children.

"Well, the destination is alot further than all these places. I will give you a clue, this place is extremely cold and we need to put on winter clothes..."

The children were clueless, but one smart one that has been to places in Singapore shouted "I know, it's Snow City!".

"Good try, but that's not correct. I will tell you, we are going to the North Pole!" said Mrs Toh and with that, the whole bus was already approaching the sea and transformed into a big ship. Mrs Toh became the Captain of the ship christened "Violet".

The teachers help the children changed into thick winter clothes, scarfs around their necks, thick woolen socks and shoes, and also hand gloves. All this while, the ship was speeding in presto towards the North Pole.

As the ship approached the destination, the sky became clear of clouds, and the sun was beginning to appear too bright for the eyes to open. Mrs Toh and 林老师 gave each child a pair of sunglasses to reduce of the glare.

By the time the last child got all the clothes and apparels put on and ready for the cold, the ship arrived at the North Pole.

"Look! There is a white furry ball moving over there!" shouted Xiao Zhuang excitely while the children were getting off the ship and everyone turned their attention to the direction where she was pointing.

"It's a polar bear, and a little one too." said Mrs Toh when the vision became clearer.

Then, the children started to hear some cries from the baby polar bear, which seemed like saying "boo-hoo, I want my mommy... boo-hoo."

"We must help it find its mommy." the children discussed and concluded. Very soon, all the children from Violet class were shouting for the polar bear's mommy.

"HULLOOOOO! Polar Bear Mommy....... Where are you.....???"

With high level of noise through all the concerted shouting by the children, how could the mommy polar bear miss it?

From behind an huge block of ice, came a gigantic polar bear running out and rushing towards the baby polar bear. Both the baby and mommy gave each other a big bear hug and tears flew down their faces.

The children all cheered and high-fived with each other on seeing the reunion.

Soon, they all moved further into the land of ice. At the very next bend, the children came to a stop because their path was blocked by a school of baby seals, who were also white and furry.

They too, were crying. However, they were crying for a different thing. "We are hungry, our mommies have gone fishing for a long time and they are still not back..."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhuang immediately took out her packet of milk from her bag but soon realised that her packet of milk would not be enough to feed all of the baby seals.

The next moment, she heard the opening of velcros from her friends. All of them were also taking out their packet of milk to share with the baby seals! In this case, there will be enough milk to feed all the baby seals.

In no time, all the children were feeding the baby seals with their packets of milk and the baby seals could be seen beaming with joy and satisfaction, now that their tummies are filled.

Another good deed done by class Violet!

Mrs Toh and 林老师 brought the children through the baby seals and came to a big open flat piece of nothing but ice!

The teachers had been pulling a box on the sledge that the children had been wondering but did not ask about what were inside the box. The box was opened and the teachers took out many pairs of ice skates!

Without a moment of hestitation, the children were busily putting on their skates with the help of the teachers. When all were done, the teachers taught the children some basic steps on ice skating and let the children practice.

The intelligent class of Violet were all so smart that they were soon skating like experts on the ice! Some making turns while others making figures of eight.

After much fun skating, the class moved on towards the direction where some smoke could be seen.

A while later, they came upon a village. This village housed the Eskimos, who have houses made out of ice called igloos. The Eskimo children came out to play with the children from class Violet and they taught them how to fish from holes made in the ice.

All the children managed to catch at least a fish from the hole and Xiao Zhuang caught the biggest one of all!

They had barbecue lunch with the fish that they caught. With consumption of the hearty meal, the class bade goodbye to the warm and friendly Eskimos, it was also time for them to get back home.

"It was certainly a special trip made today, I wonder where will we go next?" These were the thoughts that were going through the minds of all the little children of class Violet, while at the same time they were dozing off from all the fun and weariness of the trip.