Once upon a time, in the dark, enchanted forest, there lived a Sheepy. Sheepy and all her animal friends shared two houses near a lake. Sheepy and her friends Lulu, Coco, Bobo, Slush, Rosie, Zeb, Leah, Meg, Lexi, Sunny and Greeny lived in house 5000 Mooncake Corner.
One day, very early in the morning, Sheepy woke up. She couldn’t sleep. She normally sleeps till lunchtime, but today, she couldn’t sleep.
And if you know Sheepy, she never sleeps again after she wakes up, except naps.
It was exactly three o’clock in the morning. She wanted to wake up her best friend, Lulu. Lulu was an active, smart husky. She carefully slid off her pink bed, and tiptoed across the room to Lulu’s blue bed. Creak, creak. Sheepy stopped whenever she creaked. But it was too late.
Lulu rubbed her eyes, a yawn escaped from her mouth, and she woke up too. Sheepy jumped up and down with excitement.
“Wake up Lulu, wake up!” Sheepy yelled into Lulu’s ear.
“Oww, stop Sheepy! What are you doing at three in the morning? You’ll wake everybody!” Lulu covered her ears with her paws, put a pillow over her head, and hid under the blanket.
But Lulu did wake up, and remembered that she had to have Sheepy and Slush fight Nirami the Rhinoceros. Nirami the Rhinoceros and his team wanted to rule every kingdom in the forest. She was told by her fairy godmother, Cara, that only Sheepy and Slush could go.
“Sheepy, Remember Nirami? I need your help. It’s a long story, but just go outside. See? That plant?” Lulu said. “I’ll send Slush, my cousin, to come with you. OK?”
Lulu waved her paw around and her pink tongue stuck out in concentration. Then she smiled, satisfied with her new magic trick.
“Perfect! Now you are as small as an ant,” she said.
“OK, be quick because I want to go now!“ tiny-Sheepy squeaked as she ran out, leaving also-as-small-as-an-ant-Slush behind.
“Wait, Sheepy, wait for Slush!” Lulu said, rolling her eyes. She was used to Sheepy not being patient.
Slush hurried after her. Once Slush was out, she found Sheepy gasping for breath and climbing the ladder to the exact same thing Lulu was talking about. When Sheepy was inside, Slush heard her echoes.
Meanwhile, Lulu was making another spell. “GongXiFaCai!” She couldn’t wait to find out how Sheepy would react when she found out that she had sent a letter!
“Wow, Slush, you have to come in!” said Sheepy, in the mysterious plant.
When Slush reached the plant, she studied it carefully. “It’s… it’s a magic bamboo!” she exclaimed. “That means that it’s magic, so it won’t eat us!”
“Wow!” Sheepy said.
Slush stepped in too and said, “I agree with you Sheepy! This is the best place in the world!” Sheepy ran around, tripping on a rolled-up piece of paper.
“Slush! Lulu left a letter for us!” Sheepy unrolled the paper excitedly as she fell on her white but dirty bottom. Here is what it said:
Dear Sheepy and Slush - I am really grateful that you are completing a mission for me. Not just for me, my friends, you and your friends. You are completing a mission to stop the villains Nirami the Rhinoceros and his team as I told you. Please search for a glowing dumpling. Thank you, stay safe and even if you don’t, I will come. Have fun!
Love,
Lulu
“OK I will stay safe and I will have fun.” said Sheepy. “Look at that cute thing, Slush! It’s that painting on the wall!” By “thing” she meant panda. Sheepy has never met a panda before. “I wish I could cuddle with it.” said Sheepy, completely in Dream-land.
“Whoa!” Sheepy and Slush exclaimed. The wind blew faster and faster. Then everything turned quiet. Extremely quiet.
When they opened their eyes, they were amazed. Sheepy’s wish came true! Slush stumbled along with Sheepy, heading towards the panda. I guess we’re normal sized again, Slush thought. When she saw what was happening, she started to panic.
“Wait! Wait, Sheepy!” Slush yelled. Her voice was drained in the big crowd like water in a sink. Something in her heart pulled her back and would not let her go after Sheepy. Slush was the North magnet, and Sheepy was another North magnet. An invisible force separated them, forcing Slush away from Sheepy.
Sheepy was in trouble, like always, and somehow found two painting buckets. One black and one white. Sheepy dived into the white bucket, as if it were a swimming pool. Then Sheepy fell into the black one and looked like a… sheepanda. A messy one.
“Sheepy, get down!” Slush yelled. Again, her voice was nothing but a squeak in the crowd, but somehow, Sheepy just knew she had to sit still and be a panda. Or maybe a sheepanda. The storming sound of the zookeeper’s footsteps froze Sheepy and worried Slush.
“Sheepy! Sheepy! Sheepy! Sheepy!” Slush continued. Sheepy picked up a bamboo and started gnawing it. The elephant over the fence sent a splash out of its trunk. Sheepy was dripping wet, and the crowd realized that this little panda was just a silly little sheep. The crowd laughed, thinking it was part of a show. Sheepy marched angrily out and Slush walked along with her, who was gloomy and wet. The zookeeper had his hands on his hips, his eyebrows were squeezed together and looked like he would explode.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” he asked Sheepy. Sheepy slunk away from the crowd quietly. Her tummy grumbled loudly. Slush asked if Sheepy wanted to go to a restaurant.
“Yum, of course,” Sheepy said, dreaming of all the mouth-watering Chinese food in the restaurant. Sheepy’s little black eyes were closed and she wandered into the restaurant, not paying attention to the name of the restaurant.
“Ummm, Sheepy?” Slush asked worriedly. She pointed to the sign. The sign said “The RED Restaurant” in Chinese. Slush took Chinese class.
“Mmmmmm,” was all Sheepy said. She paid no attention to Slush and the sign. Slush sighed. Sheepy was busy dreaming and clearly carefree. There would be no way to convince her to get out. Well, Sheepy would get the cost.
They walked into the restaurant and finally Sheepy stepped out of Dreamworld and stepped into the restaurant.
“Everything, everywhere is red, red,” Sheepy sang happily, her grumbling stomach making earthquake-like sounds. “Everything, everywhere is super red, red,” Sheepy skipped down the hall and sat at a table of two.
“Sheepy, what would you like?” Slush said, her mouth watering. But Sheepy didn’t hear Slush because she was too busy singing.
“Everything, everywhere is red, red…” sang Sheepy.
“Spicy, not red,” Slush corrected. But Sheepy still couldn’t hear Slush. “Whatever,” Slush rolled her blue, shiny eyes. “Dumplings, Za Jiang noodles, gan guo, mapo tofu, ma la beef, and for dessert, tangyuan, ice powder and mooncake.” Slush mumbled to herself, while flipping through the pages of the menu.
Slush watched a waitress come over to their table of two. “Hello,” she said in Chinese. Slush was an expert at speaking Chinese, so that was another reason Lulu chose Slush. “I would like dumplings, noodles and tangyuan,” she continued.
The waitress scurried through the hall and gently placed the food on the table. “Thank you,” Slush said. Sheepy immediately dug in, without wasting half a second. She took a huge bite of her tofu, then spit it out.
“EW! Sheepy!” Slush made a face. Sheepy was not trained to eat spicy stuff. Especially This Sheepy. I guess she didn’t read everything in the menu, Slush thought. Sheepy couldn’t eat any more spicy stuff, so she ran to the river and ate some raw fish. Then, she fell asleep. Slush sighed. She ate like a normal person-- or wolf. Once she was done, she went to check on Sheepy. It felt like a kajillion minutes before Sheepy woke up. Tick tock, tick tock, went Slush’s watch.
“SHEEPY! SHEEPY! SHEEPY! WAKE UP!” Slush yelled into Sheepy’s ear when she thought she had had enough. Sheepy woke up and gobbled a dumpling from Slush. Slush sighed a big sigh, and walked and talked with Sheepy. On the walk, Sheepy decided to sign up to be a performer in Mo Li Hua.
“What’s Mo Li Hua?” Sheepy said.
“Flower Jasmine. It’s a Chinese show,” Slush answered, but Sheepy wasn’t listening. “Apparently Sheepy already knew,” Slush muttered.
“Sh… ee… py…” Sheepy said slowly, writing it down at the same time. “Ta-da!”
“Nuh-uh,” Slush said. “Incorrect spelling. Why did you spell it like S-E-P-I? It is S-H-E-E-P-Y. Whatever.” She scribbled Sheepy’s name fast and neatly. “There,” she said. “Go ahead.” Sheepy squealed with excitement and ran ahead clumsily, wasting no time. “That silly little sheep,” Slush muttered under her breath. She ran up ahead and found Sheepy staring at a beautiful Mo Li Hua costume. I bet Sheepy will be one of the clumsiest, Slush thought to herself. She gasped and opened her eyes wide. Is this true? Do I actually see Nirami the rhinoceros? In his Mo Li Hua costume? Slush thought. “Sh… sh...ee...py…?” Slush stammered.
“Ye--?” Sheepy caught her breath. Slush and Sheepy dashed into the locker room. “What is our plan, Slush?” Sheepy whispered.
“I don’t have a plan yet,” Slush said. “Maybe we just play it by ear and fight him when he bothers us.” Sheepy peeked out of the locker room. Nirami was struggling to put on his costume with an evil look on his face. He ate so much Tang Hu Lu that he was really, really fat, and he broke the costume.
“Great,” Slush muttered. “A fashion model in white and a green wig is all we need.” Slush peeked out and saw Nirami borrowing the librarian's glasses. He definitely sensed Sheepy. He peeked this way and that, but couldn’t find Sheepy. Sheepy and Slush heaved a sigh of relief after Nirami passed by. Sheepy slipped her skirt on carefully and gave a little twirl. Then, she struck some poses, expecting Slush to take some pictures.
“No, not now,” said Slush. Slush was tired of all of the trouble Sheepy caused. Sheepy was carefully picking up her lotus flower fan as if it were her most precious crown. They stepped out of the room together. Slush sent Sheepy a look that said, I feel jittery about this. Sheepy slunk into the makeup chair. Blush. Brush, brush. Eyeliner. Scrape, Scrape. Eyeshadow. Rub, rub. Lipstick. Slide, slide.
“There you go,” said the makeup designer. Sheepy struck one pose then another, and gave a little twirl. Then, she made a kissy face and walked away from the mirror.
“Fantastic!” Sheepy told the makeup designer. Then, she walked into class. Open, close. Open, close. Sheepy said in her head. Tilt to the side,hold and close. Stand up, step, step, step. Twirl, open, close, kick. Twirl, wave. Into groups. Turn, up and down. She felt like a professional ballet dancer, what she always wanted to be.
When Sheepy was done, Slush said, “I am so proud of you, Sheepy! Well, even though you stumbled and tumbled, you tried your best! And that’s what matters.” The makeup designer gave Sheepy a bottle of jasmine perfume. Sheepy was flattered, and her eyes opened wide and she sprayed it everywhere. Soon, it was empty.
Sheepy was staring at the clock with wide eyes. “It is still 3AM! But we’ve been gone for more than a day!” Sheepy exclaimed. “How did that happen?!?!!” But Lulu just smiled. And Slush, Sheepy and Lulu went to China again. On an airplane.
