Lunar New Year Prank

A long, long time ago, before your grandfathers were born, there were two children. On the Lunar New Year's Eve of 1532, the older child told the younger child that he was getting the gong and waking the family up with a bang.

           "I don't think that it is a good idea, but it sounds like a great prank," said the younger child.

           Later that day, the elder child went into town to buy a gong. He had been saving money since the Lunar New Year of 1531. He went into ten shops until he found a gong with a price of 46 US dollars. He hid the gong, which was arduous because of the gong's size.

           When the younger child was eating, he almost spilled the beans. The older brother kicked his leg to prevent him from telling the family about the prank.

           "OWWWWWW!" cried the younger child. "Why did you do that? It hurts!"

           Soon the children were fighting over nothing. The older child threw an uppercut then the younger child threw a jab.

           "STOPPPPPPP!" yelled the mom. "WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING?" The mom was raging.

           The children instantly stopped because they saw their mom that angry. They knew that the mom was super serious.

           "The next time I see you guys fighting, you will need to clean the whole house." The mother calmed down.

           Both children knew that cleaning the house would take ages because the residence was big, at least one million square feet. Nobody would want to do that labor.

           That night, the older child woke up at 2 A.M. to set up the prank. He placed earplugs in his ears and the younger child's ears. After that, he moved the gong in front of the room where his family was sleeping. Suddenly, he realized that he forgot to buy a mallet! None of the stores were open, so he had to make his own. He got a hammer and started making one until he realized that he had the answer in his hand for the whole time.

           He finalized the plan and prepared to bang the gong. Wham! Smack! Boom! The older child ran as fast as a cheetah to his bed.

           The next morning, the house was decorated with numerous Lunar New Year ornaments. The older child got red envelopes with 70 US dollars. He was super happy until that evening. That evening while he was eating, he got in trouble.

           "Yesterday at night, someone rang a gong and woke me up," said the dad. "The person who did it will be in trouble and also get bad luck."

           The older child started to regret his decision. I'm getting terrible luck, thought the older child. "I did it as a prank," said the older child.
​
           "You're in hot water!" exclaimed the dad while the older child ran away.
​

Brendon Wang is a fourth-grader at Medina Elementary School.
​His work has also appeared in our November and January series.