a terrifying scream designed to befuddle the snow leopard’s senses, and a cry of, “Claws off my mummy!”, Ping leapt out of the night sky, landed on the back of the animal, and keeping hold of the two ends of the creeper, forced the middle section in between the stalker’s jaws.
Pulling on the creeper like a rein, he tugged the snow leopard sharply to its left, dug his heels into its sides, then rode the beast into the bamboo forest while his mother and sister slept on… safe and – more importantly – saved!
Only when Ping reached the top of a mighty waterfall did he and the snow leopard part company. As the big cat tumbled into the deep pool at the bottom of the fall, Ping, who was standing on an overhanging rock at the top, dusted his paws, shaded his eyes and looked out towards the wide horizon with all the puff and swagger of a mighty hero.
And then he woke up.
His sister was staring down at him, giggling.
“What have you just been doing?” she asked. “You were shouting something about saving your mummy, then punching the air with your paws and bouncing your bottom up and down on the ground as if you were riding a lying-down horse.”
Ping sat up, confused to find himself back in his bed.
“Oh,” he said disappointedly. “I was dreaming.”
“I bet you were fighting a snow leopard,” she sniggered, as if such a thing could never happen.
“I might have been,” said Ping indignantly. He was feeling a little foolish now. One moment he was Ping the Leopard Slayer; the next he was just plain old unexciting Ping again.
“I bet you were winning too,” added An.
“Why?”
“Because it was a dream, and boys who can’t fight are always brilliant fighters in their dreams.”
What annoyed Ping about his sister was that she was such a know-all, who had a knack of knowing everything about everyone, even when she hadn’t been told a thing.
“I jolly well can fight,” he said unconvincingly.
“No, you can’t,” she laughed. “In real life, you couldn’t even fight a fly. Well, you could, but you’d lose.”
“I could beat you!” he said, rising to the challenge.
“No, you couldn’t,” she said, “because I am a lady and I wouldn’t let you fight me.”
“And I am a man and wouldn’t listen to you,” he retorted.
“If you were a man, you would do what a lady said,” she replied primly.
“You’re not a lady,” he scoffed, “you’re my sister, so that doesn’t count.”
“Actually, it counts more.”
“No, it doesn’t. When have you ever said anything remotely interesting that I would want to listen to? Never! That’s when.”
“What about this, then?” she said. “The rat that gnaws at the cat’s tail is asking for trouble. That’s interesting.”
“That’s one of Mum’s sayings, not yours,” scoffed Ping. “And anyway, it’s not interesting because it’s obvious. Only a mad rat would chew on a cat’s tail.”
“Exactly,” said An. “That is why Mummy and I forbid you to get into a fight with a snow leopard because you will NEVER, EVER win!”
All of a sudden, the game was over and An was being serious.
“All right,” said Ping. “Keep your fur on. You’ve made your point.”
“Good,” she said. “Because I am telling you now that if you are bonkers enough ever to take on a snow leopard, don’t expect Mummy and me to scrape you off the forest floor.”
Ping sighed. How could he ever expect to inject a little excitement into his life when his mother and sister were always warning him off danger and telling him to be sensible?
“I’ve got a saying too,” he said glumly. “All food and no play makes Ping a dull panda!”
“Food makes you healthy,” An said smugly.
“Food makes me poo,” said Ping, standing up and disappearing into the bushes. “If anyone wants me, I’m contemplating.”
And so started Ping’s day. It was just like every other day in the Wolagong Nature Reserve: eating bamboo, disappearing into the bushes, suffering the mocking jibes of the golden monkeys and posing for the clickety-clack cameras of the visitors.
Ping’s only real friend in the reserve was an electric-blue grandala bird called Hui, who had glossy feathers that gleamed like polished metal.
Just at that moment, Hui flew into the clearing and landed on the end of the bamboo stalk that Ping was slowly turning round in his mouth like a stick of seaside rock.
“Hui!” Ping cried. “How lovely to see you!”
Ping always liked talking to Hui. It was Ping’s belief that the brightly coloured grandala bird had a colourful life to match, whereas he, Ping, being only black and white, was condemned to a life without colour.
“Exciting news!” tweeted the grandala bird.
Ping pricked up his ears at the mention of excitement.
“I have just overheard the fat ranger talking about a panda exchange programme.”
Wolagong Nature Reserve was looked after by a team of friendly rangers. The fat ranger was the one in charge, not because he was fat, but because he had more buttons on his jacket than any of the others.
“Oh,” said Ping, who had never heard of a panda exchange programme before. “Is that exciting?”
“Well, I think it is,” said Hui. “I overheard the rangers discussing it last night. Admittedly, I was a little distance away, but from what I could make out, they are planning to send one lucky panda from Wolagong Nature Reserve to London Zoo in England.”
“On holiday?” Ping said. “I love holidays!”
“I suppose it is a sort of holiday,” replied Hui. “It will certainly be different. London’s not like Wolagong at all.”
“That’s my kind of town,” declared Ping. “How do I get there?”
“That’s simple,” Hui replied. “We just have to make sure that the rangers choose you!”
Ping’s heart sank. Now that he thought about it, he was sure they’d choose Gao. Gao posed for more photographs than any other panda in the nature reserve. Like Ping, he was still a cub, but he had the cute factor. It
