Authors: Jamie Rix

Panda Panic (12 page)

BOOK: Panda Panic

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They arrived home just as dawn was breaking over Mount Tranquil. An ran to greet Ping as he walked into the clearing, and they hugged each other warmly. His mother had her back to him and was chomping on a stick of bamboo. Remembering what a scene he'd made yesterday morning when he'd stomped out of the clearing, Ping tiptoed up behind her and spoke softly in her ear.

“I'm sorry I was rude to you,” he said. “Can you forgive me?”

His mother turned around, startled by the sound of his voice.

“Ping!” she gasped, letting the stick of bamboo fall from her mouth. She jumped to her feet and wrapped him up in a giant hug. “Where have you been, you naughty boy? I've been so worried about you. You missed supper, you know!”

“Sorry,” Ping muttered sheepishly for the second time.

“What have you been up to?” she asked, pushing him away from her so that she could check him for cuts and bruises. “You haven't been doing anything dangerous, have you?”

Ping suddenly found himself faced with a choice. He could tell his mother the truth, about the rushing river, the roaring waterfall, the scary forest, the bandits, and the snow leopard that wanted to eat him, or he could save her some worry and tell her a little white lie instead.

“It wasn't a dangerous day at all,” Ping said calmly. “In fact, as days-out go, I'd say it was rather boring.”

And that, as Ping well knew, was exactly what his mother wanted to hear.

Later that day, after a leisurely breakfast in bed, Ping, his mother, Mao Mao, and his twin sister, An, retired to lounge on their backs on a bed of rhododendron leaves, chewing bamboo and spotting cloud shapes in the sky.

“Frog,” said An lazily.

“Chicken,” said Mao Mao.

“Snow leopard,” said Ping.

“Where?” asked his twin sister.

“Can you see the cloud that looks like the tall ranger's hat?”

An nodded.

“It's next to that.”

“How do you know what a snow leopard looks like?” asked his mother, eyeing Ping suspiciously. “I thought I was the only one who'd seen one. Or am I wrong?”

“Hui told me,” lied Ping, speedily covering his tracks.

There was a long silence while his mother stripped a leaf from her bamboo stick and chewed it seventy-two times before swallowing.

“So after yesterday,” she said at last, “would you say you've learned your lesson?”

“Which lesson's that?” he asked.

“
The wise panda searches not for what he does not have, but is content with what is his
.”

“Yes. I would definitely say I've learned that lesson,” said Ping.

“And the other?”

“Was there another?” he asked.

“
Master the art of boredom, and you will conquer the world
,” she reminded him.

“Done that too,” he said. “I can be bored silly now and it doesn't bother me at all.”

“Good,” said his mother. “So you won't be going off on another big adventure soon, then?”

Ping smiled a knowing smile to himself as his thoughts wandered. And while he dreamed of exploits yet to come, somewhere in the background his mother's distant voice called out, “Ping. You haven't answered meâ¦ Ping? Ping! PING!”