“Panda, do you copy?

“Of course I don’t copy,” Panda responded, sounding a little miffed. “You know Mom taught us to always do our own work, and never copy! It wouldn’t be honest!”“Oh my word!” I groaned. “That’s not what I meant! Do you copy? is police language. It’s how they ask if you heard them or not.” Panda looked confused. “So now you’re learning police language? Aren’t cat, panda, and human languages enough?”“Well,” I replied. “You know how much Mom likes languages. She says the more languages you can learn, the better. That’s why I’ve been studying those vintage dictionaries on the hearth in the back living room.”  Panda nodded. “OK, but why are you learning police language?”“Well,” I began, “last night when I was on the windowsill, Mom was listening to the online police scanner and it was really interesting. There was a police action across town and she stayed up till 1:00 a.m. to see how it was going to end. Then it was all in the paper this morning!”Since Panda seemed to be listening, I went on. “So I started thinking it would be cool to fight crime.”  Panda’s eyes widened. “You mean like join the police force? Do you really think Mom is going to let us do that? I doubt it!”“She’ll never know,” I said. “I noticed she left the computer on Pixabay.com. when she was working on her blog this morning. Let’s go get some ideas for our adventure!” “Okay,” Panda conceded. “But if we get in trouble I’m going to say it was all your idea!”

“Hey!” I exclaimed when we got to Pixabay. “Look at this cool light saber! Watch me twirl it! Hiiii-Yah!”  “Dude,” Panda said, rolling his eyes. “The police don’t use light sabers.”  “Well, they should,” I replied. “Let’s go look for a police car.”“Okay,” Panda said, “but this time I’m driving!” We found the car and I have to say, Panda really drives fast! As I watched the traffic fly past us I began to think this police thing might not be such a good idea after all. Eventually we heard a message on our police radio. “Possible 459 in progress, report to kitchen, Code 3.”When we got to the kitchen we were amazed to see that someone had apparently broken into the cabinet! It looked like someone had been trying to steal Mom’s cleaning supplies. Panda was just about to call for backup when I remembered…”Uh, I think I’m the one who did that!”  Panda looked irritated. “Dude,” he said, “how can we fight crime if you’re the criminal?” Before I could answer we got another call.“All units, reports of a UCM in distress, location kitchen counter. Closest unit please respond.” “That’s us!” Panda said. “What’s a UCM?” I looked at my list of police codes. “Hmm…it says Unidentified Catnip Mouse!” Panda frowned. “This better not be another one of your escapades. I know how you are about that water bowl!” “Oh, heh-heh! I guess I did that one too,” I confessed sheepishly. Panda picked up the radio to call dispatch. “1-Panda-Foster, we’re Code 4 at this time.” “Copy,” replied the dispatcher. I looked at my code list and saw that “Code 4” meant all clear, no assistance needed. I guessed we were ready for our next call.Our next call took us all the way out of town. We requested additional units for backup, but the suspects had too much of a head start. One of the officers held Panda out the widow so he could see better, but it was no use. We had to abandon the chase. But it was probably a good thing because right then we got another call. “1-Panda-Foster, missing person report, location sewing room.” “Uh-oh, that must be Mom!” I exclaimed. I wasn’t surprised. That sewing room has been majorly out of control lately. Fortunately our motorcycle was ready. There was no time to lose!We entered the sewing room cautiously. She’d been here, all right. We could tell by the Starbuck’s on the ironing board.

We searched the sewing room to no avail. “Panda!” I ordered. “Request air support!” Panda obeyed. In no time the helicopter unit arrived.“I’ll go with them,” Panda shouted. “You stay with the car. I’ll let you know if I see anything.” “Copy that,” I replied. As I waited for information from air support, I suddenly realized that we were spiraling through outer space just like we did when we went to China. Soon we found ourselves back home. We landed by the sliding glass door. “Panda!” I said. “I see Mom in the back yard. Looks like she’s planting some flowers!” Panda groaned. “Well, their days are numbered,” he replied. “Remember what happened to Sunny over the summer?” I nodded. “Well, I hope she wasn’t listening to the scanner while we were gone, or we are going to be in big trouble.”

“Copy that!”