Short Story-- Gregory Archibald

Short Story – Gregory Archibald
Student: David Z. He Course: ENG2D -12 Teacher: Mr. Andrew Bryce
Location: Toronto Airport
He could still felt his family watching; tried his best to conceal the grief by putting on a sun glasses. He turned around and waved to his beloved family and faked a smile on the face, yes, he is indeed a decent actor. He could feels the tears coming down from his eyes—he is glad that the glasses work; the airport security checked his documents and let him in, he didn’t turn around—“this is place is horrible, I can’t stay here anymore.” He thought, “Why are they still watching me? This only gives both sides a hard”, he increased his pacing speed, walked towards a tax free liquor store and picked a bottle of single malt whiskey. He is 22 but he seemed like a lot older than his appearances, he sat on a bar and started to drink, hoped that the alcohol could clear his mind but it only made it worse with nauseas in the stomach.
“Jesus, I have only 13 minutes to board the plane, God, can’t I just stay a little longer?”, he griped and walked towards the boarding gate. “May I have your boarding tickets and passport, sir?” the steward asked, he remained silence and handed the things to her.
“Hi. Mr. Archibald, welcome aboard. You destination is Hong Kong, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is” he said.
“We wish you have a pleasant flight, thank you for choosing us.” She said with a smile.

Location: Hong Kong
“Mr. Gregory Archibald, where did you come from?” the CIQ [1] asked.
“Canada, my home.” Greg answered with a sense of helplessness.
“Sir, what’s the purpose of your visit to Hong Kong this time?”
“Study, college, I’m here to attend the Globe Acting University, I’m a new student there, they have one of the best acting program in the world you know.” He said.
The CIQ officer said nothing and kept on looking at his paperwork, after a few minutes, he said “Thank you, welcome to Hong Kong.” Greg smiled and went for the luggage. “7A, 7A, aha! Here it is.” He had felt a lot better by sleeping for 12 hours, seemed left Canada behind. After half an hour, he managed to get out of the overwhelmed airport and got on a taxi.
“To Global Acting University, please.” He said to the driver and loaded the luggage.
“What? To where? ” the driver asked with a strong Chinese accent.
“To Global Acting University, you know, the well-known campus here.” He repeated the sentences again, “oh, here is a card from the professor there, it should have an address on it.”
The driver looked at the card and sighed with impatient attitude, “okay okay la, I know.” He started the car and drove. Now Greg felt comfortable and relaxed, he looked outside the window to sightsee the night of Hong Kong and hoped that it would make him feel more like home. But this ease was interrupted by the violent movement of the car and the strange language coming out of the driver’s mouth. Greg was trying to figure what was happening, he could fell the car moving fast and agilely but yet dangerously among the traffic jam. He couldn’t help to start to worry, at the same time, the car in front of theirs stopped abruptly due to the sudden change of the traffic light; the driver seemed well-prepared, he stopped in time and rolled down the window and started shouting at the car driver. Although Greg doesn’t understand what he is talking about, but he was sure that was not something nice.
“People are brutal here; you don’t drive by and swear at someone because they stop in the road” he wondered, “OH. I really missed Canada, the Timmy’s, ice-hockey and the Canadian Moose Beer. Why am I really here. I’m even doubt if they have Starbucks here…” he can’t start questioning himself if he had done the right things; then he got intruded by the sound of the break. The driver turned around and said: “Sorry, but I don’t know where that is.”; “What? This is a joke right? How
could you tell someone to get in if you didn’t even know the destination?” Greg asked with slight anger.
“Sorry, I don’t understand English, you, must go!” the driver said calmly which agitated this friendly Canadian more.
“NO! You can’t leave your customer in the middle of a street, it’s unprofessional and immoral!” he shouted out load. However, the driver ignored the complains and started to take his things out of the car. “Stop. NO. You stop.” Greg shouted fretfully, “this is ridiculous.” He said to the driver, “It’s obligatory and your duty to accommodate the customers, instead of ditch them in the alley!”. The driver said nothing but “I don’t know the place, it’s as far as I could get, now the total is 80 HKD.”
“What the heck is this all about? A robbery or something?” Greg questioned.
“80 dollar, you must pay, sir.” The drive answered.
Greg knew that there is no point kept arguing with this kind of people, one of them have to back up, “I’m a foreigner in this land, how am I supposed to get advantages or justice?”. He stood silently and then opened his wallet, paid the driver 100 dollar “Just keep the change”, he said and grabbed his luggage and left the car.
Greg stopped another taxi and asked him to take him to the campus; the taxi driver said “Yes” and let him in. He said nothing during the ride, meditated and depressed about the incident happened to himself; “We are here.” The driver said, Greg seemed to regain consciences again, he looked outside the window and saw the perfect symmetric campus—elegant, contemporary but suppressed—, “wait, is it really right? I come all the way here for an unacquainted university and a stomach-full of chagrins?” He paid and went along into the campus, thinking “Maybe I’m just tired, perhaps it’s the Jetlag, Yes, it must be. I will explore here, I have to, I will survive here. Be the change you want the world to be.”
Tomorrow will be another day…

To Be Continued…
[1] CIQ: Custom, immigration, quarantine, a customs inspection.