smugglers

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Smugglers in Hong Kong

Chapter One THE SURPRISE (first posted Jan. 25 2000)

Jack and Jenny Carlton jumped off the school bus and raced up the road to
their house nestled under a big oak tree at the end of the lane. Bursting
into the house, they let out whoops of joy as they shouted, “It’s over!
School is out for the summer.”

Mrs. Carlton was startled by the sudden commotion which shattered the
quiet afternoon, but she looked admiringly at her exuberant
twelve-year-old twins and exclaimed, “Oh, that’s wonderful. Since you
both have done so well in school this year, Dad will have a surprise for
you when he comes home tonight.”

A second chorus of shouts erupted. “Oh, Mom, tell us what the surprise is
now! Please?” begged Jenny.

Well, if I told you what it is, there would be no more surprise when Dad
comes home. Right? You’ll just have to wait, but won’t be long now. He’ll
be here in just two hours.”

No matter what they tried, the twins could not get their mother to give
them even a hint. They finally settled down, but watched the clock move
ever so slowly toward five o’clock.

“Jenny, what do you think the surprise will be?” asked Jack. “Maybe it
will be new bikes! Mine is so old it’s ready for the junk heap.”

Or, maybe we will be going to Grandma and Grandpa’s farm in Iowa again
this summer,” suggested Jenny. “That would be lots of fun. I’d like to
ride old Hank again like we did last summer. Oh, I wish that clock would
hurry up and get to five.”

After what seemed like forever, the twins heard Dad’s car turn into the
driveway. They both tore out the door, trying to be the first one to
reach him.

“What’s the surprise? What’s the surprise?” shouted Jack.

“We’ve been waiting all afternoon,” begged Jenny, “and Mom won’t give us
any hints.”

Now it was Mr. Carlton’s turn to try and quiet his jumping twins, “Give
me a break,” he said with a laugh. “I’m tired from a long day’s work. I
think I need to take a short nap first!” he teased.

“No, no, no,” the twins shouted in unison.

“We’ve been waiting forever to hear about the surprise,: groaned Jack.

“Tell us Dad,” pleaded Jenny. “You can take a nap later!”

As they walked into the house, Dad pretended to look puzzled.

“Surprise? Mother, do you anything about a surprise? He said.

Dad knew exactly what their reaction would be and was prepared for
another blast of, “No, no, no!”

“Come on Dad, tell us now. Mom said you would tell us when you came
home.”

“All right, let’s sit down and Mother and I will tell you about the very
special surprise we have for our family this summer.”

Mother stopped her preparations for supper and they all settled into
chairs around the kitchen table. Jack and Jenny could hardly contain
their excitement and waited breathlessly for Dad to share the big secret.

“Well,” he began, “how would you like to go all the way to Hong Kong?”

“Hong Kong!” Jenny exploded. “Wow! We just finished studying about Hong
Kong last week.”

“Oh yeah!” exclaimed Jack with enthusiasm. “It was a British Colony but
has just recently been returned to China. You mean, we could all go with
you and actually see Hong Kong?”

“Yes, that’s what we’ve been thinking of doing,” smiled Dad. “My company
has asked me to go there to meet our chief representative, a Mr. Chen. I
will have to take care of business first, but then, Mother and I thought
we could all enjoy a very special vacation after that.”

“But if we go to Hong Kong this summer, it means you two would have to
give up the trip to the farm.” Mother added seriously.

Jack looked forlorn, because he had been looking forward to being with
Grandpa. Last summer he had been allowed to steer the tractor around the
farm and Grandpa had promised that when he was twelve, he could drive the
tractor himself.

“I sure want to go to the farm,” Jack said sadly, “but I don’t want to
miss Hong Kong either. I guess we can go to the farm any time.”

“Yes,” agreed Jenny, and don’t the Whiteheads live in Hong Kong?”

“that’s right,” Mother answered. “We will be able to see our friends’
missionary work and meet the Chinese Christians we have prayed for so
many times. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for all of us and
it certainly would help you children understand more about the geography
of that important part of the world.”

“We can try out the harbor ferry and maybe even take the train further up
into China,” suggested Dad.

“And besides that.” Responded Jack, “we might even run into smugglers.”

Jenny shook her head emphatically. “That’s right. Our teacher told us
that Hong Kong was once a famous place for smugglers and pirates.
Remember the story she read about the opium war years ago, Jack?”

“Boy, wouldn’t that be something to meet some pirates!” added Jack
excitedly.

“Now, now, Jack, the opium war is long past,” said Dad “And pirates don’t
sail those waters anymore. No, there are no pirates there and I don’t
think we’ll meet any smugglers either, but we will have a great time
visiting our friends and seeing the missionary work first hand. And
besides that, we will be living in an apartment overlooking Repulse Bay
where there is a beautiful beach. Our representative, Mr. Chen, has it
all arranged for us to live near them so his children can get acquainted
with you two. Their English names are Tim and Ruth.”

“Boy, oh boy, that will be neat,” said Jack. “But do they speak English?”

“Yes they do,” answered Dad. “They lived in California for awhile, so
their English is very good.”

“Oh, that will be great,” Jenny interjected. “And maybe we could learn
some Chinese while we are there. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“It sure would,” replied Mother.

“Well, unless I hear an objection,” said Dad, “we’d better begin making
plans for the trip to Hong Kong in about five weeks.”

That night the twins had a difficult time falling to sleep. Jenny was
thinking about Mr. Chen’s children. Maybe they could go places together.
Jack had an even worse time. All during the night he kept dreaming about
pirates rushing up the beach at Repulse Bay to bury their treasure in a
nearby cave.

TO BE CONTINUED IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS

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