Indonesia
The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
Have you ever plan something carefully beforehand, where everything goes well but then suddenly ruined? Well, welcome to Lucy Wu’s world! Just like most six grader, she was preparing for the greatest closing year of her school. She aspired to be the captain of the basket ball team, and having a grand combo birthday and Halloween with her best friend Madison.
To add more excitement, for the first time in her life, Lucy will have her own room. Her sister Regina had gone to continue studying out of town. But then the table turned in an instant. The dream became a nightmare. Yi Po, her late Grandma’s sister from China, was coming to visit them. Yi Po was going to stay with them for months until Christmas. And the punch line was, she was going to share room with Lucy! As if it wasn’t enough, a Chinese school was about to open nearby, and her parents told Lucy to go there every Saturday morning – her supposedly basketball exercise schedule. So much for a perfect plan.
Lucy greeted an unwarm welcome to Yi Po. She built a border wall by arranging book cabinet and other furniture to split the room in two, separating her territory and Yi Po’s. Even worse, when some random thug made fun of Yi Po and called her names, Lucy acted like a stranger to her. For Lucy, her own life was already a heavy burden because Sloane Connors, a school mate, had picked her for bullying target.
Weeks passed by and Lucy was getting to know what Yi Po is made of. She also learned to accept who she was, a Chinese-American girl who posed inherited Eastern and Western cultures. More than the book cabinet wall, Lucy had built an even bigger invisible wall to close herself up. Would she kept the wall, built it even higher, or instead destroy it? Find out the answer in Wendy Wan-Long Shang, “The Great Wall of Lucy Wu”.
HAFIDA INDRAWATI
PHOTOS: HAFIDA INDRAWATI
