Panda Panic by Jamie Rix Page A

don’t see why you think it’s so funny.”
    â€œBecause you’re a lazy panda, not a fit, muscled action hero! The only way you could guard the Emperor is if you wedged yourself into the doorway of his bedroom so that nobody could get in.”
    â€œIf you must know, I was dreaming that I was actually doing something for once.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause I’m bored!” he shouted. It wasn’t that Ping didn’t like eating bamboo, or digging a hole in the forest forty-seven times a day so that he could take yet another poo, or even that he objected to smiling continuously for the visitors’ clickety-clack cameras, but when that was ALL he ever did, his life quickly became rather boring.
    â€œI’ve had an idea,” he said, jumping to his feet enthusiastically.
    â€œOh, here we go,” said An with a sigh.
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘Oh, here we go’? I haven’t gone anywhere yet,” protested Ping. “If you don’t mind me saying so, An, that’s a rotten thing for a brother to hear from his sister just after he’s woken up.”
    â€œIt’s because you say the same thing every morning,” she explained. Then, adopting a look of mock excitement, she mimicked Ping’s voice. “‘Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! An! Listen. I have a completely brilliant idea. I was wondering how you feel about climbing a tree today?’” She stopped imitating Ping and spoke in her own voice again. “The same as I always feel about climbing a tree, Ping. The same as I feel about swimming across a river, or rolling down a hill, or running in a race, or throwing a stick. I would rather I was sitting here eating bamboo with Mommy.”
    â€œYou’d never make a good adventurer,” Ping observed.
    â€œI don’t want to be an adventurer,” she said. “I’m happy at home.”
    â€œAs should you be, Ping,” his mother interjected. “ A stranger who walks in a strange land knows not where to hide from the toothsome smile of a predator .” Ping had never been able to understand his mother’s sayings. It seemed to him that she just picked out unrelated words and arranged them at random into baffling sentences.
    â€œYou don’t understand what Mommy’s just said, do you?” jeered An. “You’re trying to look like you do, but you haven’t got a clue!”

    â€œOf course I understand,” said Ping. “It’s got something to do with going on vacation and forgetting your toothbrush… I think.”
    â€œWrong,” said his sister, smugly. “It means that I am the clever one and you are not, because I do understand it. It means that panda cubs are safer at home, because the rainy season’s just finished and the snow leopards are coming down from the mountains looking for food!”
    â€œI’m not scared of snow leopards!” Ping scoffed. “Is that why you won’t go exploring with me?”
    â€œYes,” said An. “When I’m at home I know where to hide. And that is why, in case you were wondering, I’m so much better at hide-and-seek than you.”
    â€œNo, you’re not!” said Ping. Then, realizing he could turn this to his advantage, he added, “Prove it!”
    An yawned.
    â€œYou won’t convince me that easily,” she said. “Besides, I’m too young and pretty to be a snow leopard snack, but you go ahead if you want to.”
    Their mother chuckled.
    â€œNobody’s going to be eaten by a snow leopard,” she said.
    â€œAt least it would be a bit of excitement,” Ping replied, without thinking.
    â€œThat is a ridiculous thing to say,” his mother sighed. “ The wise panda searches not for what he does not have, but is content with what is his .”
    Ping was baffled again and scratched his head.
    â€œ Master the art of boredom ,” she explained further,