A Long Journey

The sun is nice and warm. A gentle breeze rustles through the bamboo grove. A bee buzzes by.

“What a lovely day,” Panda says. “Shall we go on a journey, Squirrel?”

“A journey?” Squirrel asks. “Don’t you have to prepare carefully for that?”

“Not at all,” Panda says. “You just put one paw in front of the other. Then you put the other paw in front of the first one, and so on. And then you’re on a journey. Coming?”

“Where to?” Squirrel asks.

“I don’t know,” Panda says. “But that’s the exciting part. A journey is an adventure! And you know what? The first animal we see, we’ll ask to come along. And the next one, too, and the next, and so on. Until we have a long procession with everyone chatting, laughing and singing!”

“What a great plan!” Squirrel says. “Shall we go?”

Right away, Panda takes five big steps and Squirrel twenty little steps.

They see Snail creeping along with his little house on his back.

“Are you coming on our journey, Snail?” Panda asks.

“Where to?”

“We don’t know yet,” Squirrel says. “It’s an adventure.”

Snail thinks for a whole minute, then says, “Okay. I have a pretty boring life. A little adventure would be welcome.”

He creeps forward, slithering over a dry twig in his way. It takes forever.

With every step forward, Panda and Squirrel have to take one step back, so Snail doesn’t fall behind.

“You’re so slow, Snail,” Panda says. “Doesn’t it annoy you?”

“No,” Snail says. “It gives me plenty of time to think.”

“Think?” Panda asks. “What about?”

“Um... Where the sun goes to sleep, for example. Or why I have no legs.”

“Weird questions,” Panda mumbles.

Squirrel has the fidgets from all this dawdling. She runs up a tree trunk and down again.

Panda has the fidgets too, and walks in a circle, then another. Snail is so slow.

“I never stop thinking,” Snail says. “Why is mist always wet? Why doesn’t the moon stay round?”

“Tough questions,” Squirrel says.

“And where does the wind come from?”

Snail goes on asking questions.

Panda and Squirrel sigh.

Panda runs down a hill and back up. Squirrel scampers five times around a large bush.

Meanwhile Snail has passed three blades of grass.

“Where do the clouds go?” he asks. “And why do moles spread out while ants live close together?”

Panda and Squirrel’s sighs grow deeper. They rummage around, while Snail struggles over a stone.

“That’s enough for me,” Snail gasps. “I need a rest. A little nap.” And he pulls his head into his shell. Panda and Squirrel sit with him.

“What a strange journey,” Panda says. “A journey of about two steps.”

“And a journey that gives you a headache from so many weird questions.” Squirrel scratches her head and stares into space.

“Do you know what I’m wondering now, Panda? Why don’t fish need to breathe? And where do spiders get their thread from? And why is the sky sometimes blue and sometimes grey?”

“Are you starting now too?” Panda grumbles. “This is the last journey I’m going on!”