Fight

Squirrel and Panda are having a fight. It started with a big argument about who won at acorns. They yelled at each other, “I won!”

“No, me! I did!”

Louder and louder. Then Squirrel hit Panda on the head with a stick and fled up a tree.

“I never want to see you again,” Panda roared. She made a sturdy bamboo screen and sealed the mouth of her cave with it. Completely. You couldn’t see through it at all.

Now Panda is growling to herself inside the cave and Squirrel is outside, feeling sad.

“I’m never coming out again!” Panda shouts.

Never? Squirrel thinks. Have I lost my friend forever because of a stupid argument?

For two whole hours they don’t say a word. They just sit around sighing and sulking. Then Squirrel climbs up onto the screen.

“Shouldn’t you make a little hole in it?” she calls through the bamboo.

“A hole?” Panda asks. “What for?”

“In case you’re ever unwell,” Squirrel says. “If there’s a hole I can see if you’re sick and go for help.”

It’s a while before Panda replies. “Yes, that might be a good idea.” She pokes a finger through to make a hole.

Squirrel puts an eye to the hole and looks in. She sees Panda’s eye. Their eyes are almost touching.

“That’s a beautiful eye you’ve got there,” Squirrel says.

“Yours too,” says Panda.

They sit down again on either side of the screen. For a whole hour. Without saying a word. Then Squirrel has another look. Panda is stretched out on the floor resting.

“You need to make the hole a lot bigger, Panda!”

“Why?”

“So I can throw in some bamboo. Otherwise you’ll starve!”

“Yes, maybe that’s a good idea,” Panda says after a while. She tugs at the bamboo until she’s made a large opening. Now there’s a window in the screen.

Squirrel collects tender bamboo tips and throws them into the den. Then she sits at the opening and watches Panda munch and chew.

“What if you get really, really sick, Panda? Dangerously ill? We won’t be able to take you down to the village.”

“Why not?” Panda asks.

“Nobody’s strong enough to lift and push you through this hole. You’re far too heavy.”

“That’s true,” Panda says after a while. “And...ah... I already feel a little bit sick, I think, so maybe...”

“Exactly!” Squirrel cries. “You have to make a very big hole. All the way down to the ground!”

Panda tugs and tears until there’s hardly anything left of the screen. They look at each other and feel a bit shy. Suddenly Squirrel winks. Panda winks back.

They sit side by side in front of the cave. In silence, they listen to the singing of birds and the rustle of bamboo in the wind.

Squirrel puts her paw in Panda’s big paw.

Together they watch the red ball of the sun sinking over the mountain.