Weigh Out Way-In

CHAPTER 2

A bit later Magpie comes around. This time his vision is sharp and he can see the huge creature towering over him and exposing his sharp teeth.

- Goodbye my friends back home, farewell McDonald's, my end has come!

But nothing happens except that the same voice speaks him again.

- I asked you a question but you wouldn't answer. How come?

- Where am I? What is this place?

- You are by the road, not in the middle of it any more.

- What is this place?

- This is Shenzhen.

- Shenzhen? Where are my delicious hamburger leftovers?

- Hamburger?!

- And the colorful book that...

- Book?!

Magpie doesn't want to elaborate and thinks to himself, 'I'm not going to tell him that a book sucked me in and brought me here. He won't believe me and may laugh at me.'

Now that he can think a bit more clearly he decides to stay quiet and give himself some time to rearrange his confusing thoughts.

Panda seizes the opportunity and starts chatting with him, to ease up Magpie's tense nerves.

- Look at our colors. You are black and white like me. But I have to admit I haven't seen anybody quite like you around here before. How did you end up here?

- Well, the thing is ...

But then he falls back into his dizzy thoughts, thinking about his fine friends.

- What's your name, stranger?

Still confused, Magpie, to jog his memory, recites the names of the nine fine friends:

- Elk, Fox and Lynx,

Magpie, Reindeer and Saimaa Seal,

Brown Bear, Whooper Swan and Wolverine.

- Wow. Is that your name? Are names that long in your country?

- Oh, no, no. You got it all wrong. These, these... are my friends, eight of them on the whole. And I'm ...Magpie. They call me Pekka.

- Nice to meet you Pekka. I'm Panda, and my friends call me Xìngyùn.

- Nice to meet you too, ...Xìngyùn. My friends wouldn't like to be here though.

- How come?

- They like forests. But I like cities although this city is bigger than anything I've ever seen.

- Yes, and I think this is the fastest growing city in the world.

- What country is this?

- China.

- China?

- Yes, China. There are more people in China than in any other country in the world.

- Really?

- Yes. But back to my original question. What were you doing in the middle of this road?

He is about to say, 'A book swallowed me and here I am now!' which actually is true but sounds unbelievable so he doesn't breathe a word for fear of sounding ridiculous. So he decides to keep that part of his story to himself, at least for the time being.

But then he blurts out,

- They don't stop to give you way, do they?!

- No, they, you mean cars, no, they don't. If they stopped, this city would come to a standstill, no more food would come to the grocery stores and people would become hungry and then angry because their bellies would roar like hungry tigers.

- I see. In my home town cars usually stop to let you cross the street. At least if you are on the Zebra crossing or about to step on it.

- Okay. That doesn't happen here though, nor in any big city in the world I guess, so you'd better be more careful next time.

- Okay. I don't want to be surprised again, like a deer in the headlights. Or should I say 'like a reindeer' because back home there are more reindeer than deer.

- What?! deer? reindeer?

- Never mind. Anyway I miss my friend Rudolph the Red-Nosed a lot.

- Rudolph?... Who is this Rudolph character?

- You don't know!?

- No, I don't. Tell me more about him.

- Well, Rudolph is one of Santa's reindeer.

- Santa's?

- Oh, it seems you don't know who Santa is and who Rudolph is.

- No, I don't. Tell me.

- Once a year, at Christmas, Santa Claus, or you can call him Father Christmas too if you like, brings presents to nice kids.

- I'm nice, aren't I! I just helped you out of harm's way, didn't I.

- Yes, you did.

- Well, I've got a father but how can I get presents from this Father?

- Well, he comes to you.

- How can he know where I live?

- Well, you'd better write him an email or you can do it the old-fashioned way by writing a letter on paper. Or even better if your father, mother or one of your grandparents or some other relative writes to Santa. Because it is better somebody else gives a good account of you. It is more credible that way, isn't it.

- Well, come to think of it, I suppose it is better that way. For example I know a Xiao Tang who claims she can fly like a bird but I have never seen her fly. I doubt she can fly at all.

- That's it. Better ask somebody else to write about you to Santa.

- I'll ask my mom to write!

- Okay. That's been settled then.

- And one more thing!

- What is it?

- I want to meet this Santa. Where can I meet him?