A Perfect Time for Pandas

by Mary Pope Osborne

  The giant panda was much more amazing in real life than in photos, Jack thought. She looked like a gigantic stuffed animal that had come alive. Her nostrils quivered as she sniffed the air. Her black ears twitched.

  “Hello, Bing-Bing,” Master Lee said.

  Jack and Annie jumped in surprise.

  Master Lee pushed a cart loaded with bamboo through the back door of the cage.

  “Can we go out in the yard and pet Bing-Bing?” asked Annie.

  “Oh, no,” said Master Lee. “We always keep our big pandas separated from our visitors. They won’t hurt you, but we don’t want people intruding on their space.”

  “Really?” said Annie.

  “Pandas are not pets,” said Master Lee. “They are wild animals. We want them to live as naturally as possible.”

  “That makes sense …,” said Annie. She let out a big sigh as she stared at Bing-Bing. “It’s just that she looks so soft and cuddly.”

  Jack felt sorry for Annie. He knew how badly she wanted to be close to the panda. “At least we get to actually see one,” he said.

  “Now that we have found Bing-Bing, I have one more job for you,” said Master Lee. He handed each of them clipboards with paper and pencils. “I need you to record data. If she stays in view, observe her and write down every sound and movement she makes. Can you do that?”

  “Sure. Jack loves to collect data,” said Annie, trying to be cheerful. “And I love to watch animals.”

  “So you are true scientists. Good,” said Master Lee. “Now I will get more bamboo.” The panda keeper dumped the cartful of bamboo onto the floor, then left Jack and Annie alone.

  Jack and Annie took off their gloves and observed Bing-Bing through the bars. They held their pencils, ready to record data.

  The giant panda didn’t pay any attention to them. She sat against the maple tree and scratched her back by rubbing it up and down the trunk. Then she scratched the top of her head with a forepaw and her belly with a hind paw.

  Annie giggled. Jack wrote:

  scratches back, head, and belly

  The panda raised a paw and scratched her nose. Jack added:

  and nose

  The panda swatted at a fly to shoo it away. Jack wrote:

  swats fly

  “Hey, I think she’s coming over here!” Annie whispered.

  Bing-Bing had stood up. She was staring in Jack and Annie’s direction. Then she started moving on all fours with graceful rolling steps. She came right up to the bars of the cage, sat down, and peered at Jack and Annie.

  Jack held his breath. He felt as if he and Annie were zoo animals and the panda was a curious visitor observing them.

  The giant panda tilted her large head. Then she covered her eyes with her paws.

  “Oh my gosh!” Annie whispered with delight.

  The panda put her paws down and looked directly at Jack. He stared back into her bright, intelligent eyes. Holding her gaze, he lowered his pencil and clipboard.

  Jack felt as if he were falling through time. For a moment, the panda wasn’t eight years old. She was three million years old. She was filled with wisdom. She knew things he could never understand. He didn’t know what to write—words couldn’t possibly capture the wonder of her.

  “I’m back. How are you doing?” asked Master Lee.

  Jack snapped out of his dreamlike thoughts and turned to the panda keeper. “Uh … fine,” he said.

  “How unusual that Bing-Bing came so close to you,” said Master Lee, walking over to them. “Did you record her behavior?”

  Silently, Jack and Annie handed him their pencils and clipboards. Annie’s paper was blank, and only a few words were written on Jack’s.

  “Ah,” said Master Lee with a smile. “Well, if you ever come back, you can observe more.”

  Jack nodded, but he knew he’d observed a lot—only it was more with his heart than his head.

  “You have to go now,” said Master Lee. “I saw your grandmother headed to the bus with everyone else. I’m surprised she didn’t come for you.”

  “She’s a little forgetful sometimes,” said Annie. She turned back to the panda, who was still staring at them. “Bye, Bing-Bing.”

  “Bye, Bing-Bing,” Jack murmured, looking into the panda’s eyes once again. He hated to leave. Their time together had been too short.

  “Hurry,” said Master Lee. “You don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

  Master Lee ushered them out the back door of the cage and along the path. He stopped at the goldfish pond. “Follow the stone path to the entrance gate. Don’t forget to leave your volunteer clothes in one of the bins there.”

  “Thank you, Master Lee,” said Jack.

  “Good-bye,” said Master Lee. Then he turned and headed back to Bing-Bing’s house.

  “I have to admit, that was really, really great,” said Jack. “Ready to get back to our mission now?”

  “Yes,” said Annie, “but first, let’s follow the path the other way. Maybe we can get a quick peek at some more pandas.”

  “Okay, but a really quick peek,” said Jack. “We have to solve that riddle.”

  Jack and Annie started down the path that led away from the main entrance. They went around a corner and stopped. “Oh, wow!” they said together, and then they burst into laughter.

  A dozen little panda cubs were playing in a huge fenced-in area. A sign said:

  PANDA KINDERGARTEN

  The cubs were the size of chubby human toddlers. Some were swinging on rubber tires and wooden swing sets. Others were climbing logs or sliding down a slide. Some rolled in the grass, while others wrestled, tumbled, or did somersaults.

  “Oh! Oh! Oh! I love them!” said Annie. “They all look just like Roly and Poly! I love them so much, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I do. They’re really cute,” said Jack, laughing. “Look at those guys on the—”

  “Hey, what are you two still doing here?” someone said.

  Jack and Annie turned in surprise.

  Dr. Ling was hurrying down the path toward them. “Everyone has left! Your grandmother and the rest of the group must have forgotten all about you! How irresponsible! Go! Go! Try to catch them!”

  “Grandma!” cried Annie. She and Jack took off running. Laughing, they tore to the front entrance. They yanked off their volunteer clothes and shoes and threw them into a bin by the gate. Then they dashed across the bridge.

  The tour bus was turning onto the highway as Jack and Annie charged into the parking lot.

  “Bye, Grandma!” yelled Annie, waving.

  Jack laughed. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s grab our bikes and go—before Sylvia gets in trouble.”

  Jack and Annie were both laughing as they climbed on their mountain bikes and started back toward Wolong Town.

  The sun had come out from behind the clouds. It made the wet green fields in the valley sparkle. Not only was it a beautiful ride, Jack thought, but pedaling back to the town was a lot easier than pedaling uphill to the panda center. For a little while, he was able to coast without pedaling at all.

  “I hated to leave the pandas!” Annie shouted.

  “Me too!” Jack yelled back. “I loved Bing-Bing and the cubs and the newborn baby! But the sooner we get back to Wolong Town, the sooner we can help save Penny! What time do you think it is?”

  “I saw a clock near the center’s entrance,” said Annie. “It said two-fifteen. That still gives us lots of time.”

  “Good!” said Jack.

  “Where will we look for that healthy, tough, round food?” said Annie.

  “I guess we need to visit more restaurants,” yelled Jack.

  “Yes!” said Annie. “I’m starving!”

  “Me too!” said Jack. “Bring on the green bean jelly and fried stinky tofu!”

  Annie laughed. She yelled something back, but Jack didn’t hear her. “What did you say?” he called.

  Before Annie could answer, a deep rumbling sound filled the air. Then the r
oadway trembled and buckled, and everything around them—bushes, rocks, and trees—began shaking and moving.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Dragon Wakes

  Jack put on his brakes and jumped off his bike. Annie did the same. A huge boulder crashed down the mountain slope beside them. The boulder slammed onto the road right in front of them. They looked around wildly. Rocks were sliding and tumbling. Trees were whipping back and forth and then breaking apart. Branches, rocks, and dirt cascaded down the slope.

  As Jack tried to figure out what to do, another boulder tumbled down—and then another! Jack pulled Annie off the road. They scrambled into a rocky crevice and huddled down. Clods of dirt hit their bike helmets.

  The ground finally stopped shaking and rumbling. For a moment, neither Jack nor Annie said anything. Then Jack uttered one word: “Earthquake.”

  “I know,” Annie said hoarsely. “Like—like that earthquake we lived through in San Francisco.”

  “Except there, buildings crumbled around us,” said Jack. “Here, it’s mountains.”

  “I think it’s stopped,” said Annie. “Let’s look.”

  Annie started to stand up, but Jack pulled her back down. “Wait!” The ground had started shaking again. “Aftershock!” he said. “Watch out—more stuff might fall.”

  No sooner had Jack said that than another enormous boulder crashed to the ground. Then another one tumbled down. The earth stopped trembling again, but the air was so thick with dust and grit that it made Jack’s eyes burn.

  “I wonder if the pandas are all right,” said Annie.

  “Oh, man!” said Jack. “Bing-Bing!” He pictured the giant panda in her yard, trapped under a rock or a tree!

  “We’ve got to go back!” said Annie.

  “I know!” said Jack. They both scrambled out to the road. “Where are our bikes?”

  Jack and Annie looked around. As the dust settled, they saw massive damage up and down the highway. Fallen rocks, mud, and trees blocked both the way to Wolong Town and the way back to the panda center. A boulder the size of a car had crushed both their bikes.

  Jack and Annie took off their helmets and dropped them to the ground. “We can’t go back to the panda center now,” said Annie. “We can’t go to town. We can’t go anywhere.”

  “No kidding,” said Jack. “You’d have to be King Kong to get over this stuff.”

  “King Kong,” Annie repeated. Then she looked at Jack and grinned.

  “What?” he said.

  “King Kong. No problem,” she said. “We can do it.”

  “Do what?” said Jack.

  “Turn into King Kongs!” said Annie. “Well, not quite as big as King Kong, maybe, but we could be five times bigger than we are now.”

  “Ohhhh,” said Jack. He’d forgotten all about their magic potion!

  “It’s perfect,” said Annie. “It’s the only way we can get out of here.”

  “Yeah …,” said Jack, letting out a long breath. He reached into his backpack and took out the small bottle that held the potion.

  “Five times our size,” said Annie. “You’re almost five feet tall. So you’ll be almost twenty-five feet tall. And I’ll be just a little shorter.”

  “Right,” said Jack.

  “But we can only use it once,” said Annie. “And we only have an hour. And we have to choose which way to go: back to Wolong Town or back to the panda center. If we go to town, we can keep looking for the special food to save Penny—if the restaurants are still standing.”

  “Plus we can leave in the tree house whenever we’re ready,” said Jack.

  “Right,” said Annie. “But we’d have to leave Bing-Bing and the rest of the pandas behind. And we wouldn’t know what happened to them, and we wouldn’t be able to help.”

  Jack stared at the bottle. It was a terrible choice. Then he thought of something. “Remember on our last mission, you said that when we do the right thing, it feels like it somehow helps Penny—even if it seems to take us away from our goal?”

  Annie smiled. “Yep, and everything worked out on that mission, didn’t it?”

  Jack nodded.

  “Panda center!” they said together.

  “You take a sip first,” said Annie.

  Jack popped the tiny cork out of the bottle. He tilted his head back and took a quick sip. He licked his lips, then held the bottle out to Annie.

  Just as Annie took the bottle from Jack, the ground trembled with another aftershock.

  Jack started to shake.

  “Yikes!” cried Annie.

  The aftershock ended, and the ground stopped trembling. But Jack kept shaking.

  Annie yelled something, but Jack couldn’t understand what she was saying. His body was still quaking. He had started to grow!

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jack the Giant

  Jack felt as if someone was gripping his head—and pulling him up, and up, and up! He looked down and watched his arms and hands stretch out. His legs grew longer, his feet bigger.

  Jack rocked back and forth, then stood still. He had stopped stretching and growing. His shoes, clothes, and backpack had all grown bigger to fit his new body.

  “Jack!” Annie’s voice sounded distant.

  Peering through the dust, Jack looked around for Annie.

  “Jack! Down here!”

  Jack looked down. Annie was standing next to him. She only came up to his knees! “I dropped the bottle and it broke!” she said. “I didn’t get to drink the potion!”

  “Oh, no!” Jack boomed. Even his voice was bigger. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re huge!” said Annie. “How does it feel? Is it fun?”

  “Not yet,” said Jack.

  The earth trembled again with another aftershock. Annie lost her balance and fell. Jack leaned over and picked her up with both hands. He placed her on one of his giant shoulders.

  “Whoa,” said Annie. “This is cool! Now I’m taller than you! I can be your lookout.”

  From their new height, Jack and Annie could see over the rubble to the vast devastation. Trees down in the valley had been uprooted. The river was wild and raging. The mountaintops were shrouded in dark clouds.

  “It’s starting to rain again,” said Annie.

  “That’s the least of our problems,” said Jack. “I just hope the earthquake didn’t destroy the panda center.”

  “I know! Let’s hurry! We only have an hour!” said Annie.

  Annie held on to Jack’s head, and Jack held on to Annie’s legs. He lifted one giant foot and stepped over the boulder that had crushed their bikes. Picking his way through the rubble, he headed back to the panda center. He stepped over fallen debris, power lines, and deep cracks in the road. His enormous sneakers crushed twigs and brush.

  Jack stepped over huge mounds of mud as if they were anthills. He kicked away boulders as if they were soccer balls. He tossed aside fallen trees as if they were broken branches. He leapt over a river of water coursing down from the mountain as if it were a rain puddle.

  “This is incredible!” said Jack.

  “Watch out!” said Annie. A boulder was rolling down the wet road toward them.

  Jack spread his legs wide, and the boulder went between them and kept rolling downhill.

  Jack and Annie laughed. “Now are you having fun?” she said.

  Jack nodded. “Maybe a little bit.”

  Suddenly a tree crashed across the road. Jack stumbled over it. He fell to the ground just as a wall of mud came cascading down the mountain slope. The black ooze was filled with rock fragments and plants.

  Annie! thought Jack. He lifted his head out of the mud before it smothered him. He reached around and felt Annie’s kicking feet. He pulled her out of the thick, wet goo.

  “You okay?” Jack shouted.

  “Yes!” sputtered Annie. “But we’re sliding over the cliff!”

  Annie was right. With the force of a tidal wave, the mudslide was pushing them across the highway toward the cliff! />
  Jack clutched Annie under one of his huge arms. Then he struggled through the grimy ooze until they were clear of the mudslide. Covered with mud from his hair to his shoes, Jack felt heavy and uncomfortable. He even had mud in his mouth. He put Annie down and sat on the road.

  “At least we’re—we’re safe,” Annie said.

  Jack coughed, gagging on mud.

  “You look like a giant swamp monster,” Annie said.

  Jack couldn’t talk. As the rain fell harder, he threw back his head and let rainwater wash his face and fill his mouth. He choked and spit and coughed until his throat was clear. With help from the pelting rain, he washed the mud off his bare arms and his shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Finally he looked at Annie.

  “How long do you think I’ve been a giant now?” he asked hoarsely.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It seems like a long time.”

  “We’d better get moving. We only have an hour,” he said.

  “What’ll we do if you’re still a giant when we get to the center?” asked Annie.

  “I’ll hide outside,” said Jack, “until I’m small again.” He figured the last thing the staff needed now was to see a twenty-five-foot-tall kid.

  Slowly they both stood up, soaking wet, but cleaner. Jack lifted Annie back onto his shoulder. He began striding uphill again, sloshing through mud puddles and stepping over crushed rocks. Jack walked through the falling rain, never stopping. But by the time they reached the panda center, he was so tired he could barely take another step.

  With Annie on his shoulder, Jack stood on the bank of the river and they stared across at the damage wrought by the earthquake.

  The parking lot was filled with mud. The center’s sign had been knocked down. Portions of the bridge had collapsed into the river, and fallen brush and debris were piled up on the other side of the entrance gate.

  The slopes that surrounded the center were now gray and bare. Landslides had stripped them of foliage.

  “If it’s this bad outside the center,” said Jack, “I wonder how bad it is inside.”

  “How do we even get inside?” said Annie, staring down at the raging river.