Chill Panda Loses His Cool

Chill Panda was the calmest animal in the Mighty Zoo. When Drama Llama had a crisis, she went to Panda. When Smarty Pants lost an argument, he went to Panda. When the water pump broke, even Workhorse came and sat in the bamboo grove for a while.

“You’re so calm,” everyone said. “You’ll know what to do.”

Panda always listened. Panda always nodded. And Panda never mentioned that he’d been sleeping badly, or that his favorite bamboo patch had been trampled, or that sometimes he wished somebody would sit in his grove just to keep him company.

One afternoon, Drama Llama arrived with a Very Big Problem about a scarf. Right behind her came Smarty with a question, and Chaos with a frog, and Natalie with a worry, all talking at once.

“ENOUGH!” Panda roared.

The bamboo shook. A bird fell off a branch. Everyone stared.

Panda covered his face with his paws. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t know where that came from.”

The others shuffled away, unsure what to do with a Panda who shouted. But Workhorse stayed. He knew exactly where that came from. He’d shouted in the feed barn once, after too many early mornings and not enough help.

“When did anybody last ask how YOU are?” Workhorse said.

Panda thought about it. Nobody had. Not for a long, long time.

Later, Drama came back, without the scarf problem. She sat down beside Panda. “So,” she said. “How are you, really? Tell me everything. I’ve got all night.”

For the first time in a long time, Panda talked, and somebody else listened.