“Bored bored bored.” The slight teen turned away from the windows and threw herself down into the plastic chair. “Bored bored bored.”
“We noticed,” remarked the similarly built but slightly older woman. “It’s inevitable. Just live with it.”
The teen gave her a dirty look. “I suppose you have eons of experience with it,” she sniped.
The older man poring over a laptop grunted. “She doesn’t. I do. She’s right. Live with it.”
The teen directed the dirty look on him. Before she could come up with a snappy retort, he continued, “And don’t complain. You have no idea what boredom is yet.”
“No, you can’t ‘play’ with my computer!”
“You can borrow my Gameboy Advance,” offered the equally tidy preteen, proffering the device.
“I have no desire to employ your plebeian entertainment engine,” retorted the by flanked by a man in what might have been a formal bath robe and a woman in a fashion designer’s reimagining of a traditional maid’s uniform. “Especially at the risk of you corrupting months of work on sequencing the double helix!”
“Hey, I got the latest Final Fantasy cartridge. Or you could play Yoshi’s Island…”
“I have no desire to be distracted by the puerile fantasies of lesser minds…”
“Young man, Timothy is being very generous offering to let you play with his Gameboy. It would be much better for you to play nicely togethe-eep.”
“Lord Talon has indicated that he does not wish to be disturbed,” intoned the ninja at her left shoulder.
What alarmed the society wife was that he hadn’t been there a second before – or indeed in sight in the departure lounge. Her jaw worked a little as it penetrated that her husband’s security personnel were never quite this intimidating. Slowly, hoping not to set off the shadow warrior, she took her son’s shoulder and drew him away.
The ninja stood impassively until they were both seated at a table across the lounge before turning to his employer. “Your hot chocolate, Lord Talon.”
“Thank you Daishi.” With ill grace, ‘Lord Talon’ took the steaming mug from his minion and set it on the table next to his laptop. Grumpily, he asked, “Why do I have to put up with commercial flight for this critical mission?”
“Your mother reserved the family jet for a journey to South America, Lord Talon,” intoned the ninja, taking his place as a rather obvious bodyguard behind the boy.
“I’ve been planning this mission for three weeks, couldn’t she have gone some other day?”
“She decided not, sir,” said Daishi, who knew his mother’s trip to Brazil had been planned two months before.
“Hmp.” ‘Lord Talon’ pecked at his laptop and slurped the hot chocolate noisily. “Doesn’t she understand how important this trip is? I finally have a clue to the location of the red werewolves!”
Genma lounged idly on the straw bedding and awaited his chance. The distant noises of people peering into the outside enclosures had faded, and the other pandas had been let into their indoor sleeping areas for the evening although the youngest male seemed to want to stay outside. The keepers had thrown another bundle of bamboo shoots into his cage and were going around collecting personal belongings and moving tools to their homes, obviously preparing to leave for the night.
It was all rather like his experiences in burglary, only backwards. If he waited an hour or so after the last sight of a keeper, there would be no one around when he picked the lock of his cage – it was a pathetic thing, not much more than a latch really, and he was certain he could pick it with his claws. Once he had the door open, he could make his way to the rest area he thought was around the corner, and use the kettle there to turn human. Then he could appropriate some overalls and just walk out, a keeper working late – no one would even bat an eyelid.
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(Posted Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:10)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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