Playing

What a lovely, fine day, Panda thinks. She does a little dance that makes her stomach wobble—boink-boink.

What shall I do today? she wonders. I’ve already had a nap. I’ve just eaten. Maybe I’m bored.

“Pom-pom,” she mumbles. “Pom-pe-di-pom.”

What now? Um... Play a game? Like hide-and-seek. With Wolf or Mountain Goat or Deer or any large animal. But she can’t see any animal larger than an ant. Can you play hide-and-seek on your own? Panda wonders.

She crouches behind a bush. But nobody comes to look for her.

“Here I am,” she calls. “Here!”

Not even a beetle comes looking. With a sigh, Panda crawls out from behind the bush.

Panda sees her shadow in the sunlight. “I’ll hide from my shadow,” she shouts. “It’ll have to hunt for me!”

But her shadow follows her everywhere. She can’t shake it off.

“Pom-pe-di-pom,” Panda sighs. “I’m bored silly.”

Lucky for Panda, Squirrel turns up. She’s been off gathering nuts and berries.

“A friend!” Panda cries. “Hi, Squirrel! What shall we play?”

“Hide-and-seek?”

“I just played that,” Panda replies.

“Who with?” Squirrel asks.

“By myself. It was no fun.”

“It’ll be fun with two of us,” Squirrel says. “Shall we? I’ll hide first and then you. We’ll see who finds the other one faster.”

Panda thinks. “No,” she says.

“That’s not fair. You’re a lot smaller than me. It’s much easier for you to hide. Shall we play who can roar loudest?”

“No,” Squirrel says. “That wouldn’t be fair. You’re big and round. Your belly’s like a drum. You can roar much louder. We already know that. Shall we play who can climb the fastest?”

“No,” Panda says. “That wouldn’t be fair. You’re small and fast and I’m big and heavy. You can climb much faster.”

“And if we know who’s going to win, the game’s no fun. Shall we play who can eat the most bamboo?”

“You, of course!” Squirrel shouts. “I don’t even like bamboo. And even if I could get it down my throat, you have a much bigger stomach. You could fit a whole clump of bamboo in there!”

And so they keep trying to think up a fun game. Running? No, pandas waddle, they don’t run. Swimming? No, squirrels don’t swim—not unless they have to.

Leapfrog? No, Panda might crush Squirrel. They keep thinking for hours, until the sun goes down.

“The day’s over and we didn’t even play,” Squirrel sighs.

“No?” Panda says. “We’ve been thinking together for ages. That’s a fun game, isn’t it? I wasn’t bored for a moment. Were you?”

“I’m never bored when I’m with you,” Squirrel says. And she tickles Panda through her thick fur.