Po Finds His Family

Po the Panda Bear lives in the jungle in eastern China. He spends his days eating bamboo, climbing trees and exploring the land around him. Po longs for a family, but cannot seem to find a mate. He is too clumsy, loves a little too much and is very forgetful. When he was little, he would play with his sister and brother in the trees. They would try to climb them and fall when they lost grip. They loved falling because they fell into the soft leaves and luscious grass below. Po loved his family and learned his compassion, happiness and love from them. One day, Po went out to find some bamboo. His family was still sleeping together. When he came back, the tree that he once learned to climb on was gone and only dirt was left. Po cried out for his family in fear that he would never find them again. Po’s fear was right.

Po never found his family again. He searched for them everywhere but eventually became lost in his own home. Po moped and slept all day in grief of his family’s disappearance. All of a sudden, Po realized that he should just start his own family so he can protect all of them. All Po wants is love. He wants to create his own family. 

In search for a family, Po needs to find someone who he can take care of. But Po can’t find any other pandas. Where are his friends, family and neighbors? Po is saddened by the fact that he hasn’t seen anything that looks like him in a long time. Po wants to see fluffy black and white bears again. He wants the life had before back. 

Po reflects upon the time that another bear was taken by a poacher and was never to be seen again. He then thinks back to mysterious disappearances of some bears near him. Po hopes that’s not what happened to his family. 

Po walks for days on end, through mountain ranges and stops to chow down on his bamboo for energy. Po imagines a world where him and his family could play in the trees all day and eat bamboo. But Po soon realizes that his dream is not longer a reality.

One afternoon, while Po is eating his bamboo lunch, he spots a bit of black fur in the distance. 

He thinks, “ Could that be another Panda?!”

Po runs to the black fuzziness through the forest. He can’t take his eyes off of what he sees. All of a sudden, he trips and falls into a ditch. He struggles to get back up because he just ate 30 pounds of bamboo and his stomach was trying to carry all the weight. When he gets back up he looks to where the black furry creature was and it was gone. Po looks around and keeps walking in the direction he saw the creature in. He eventually reaches a spot where he smells the scent of another panda bear. Po tracks the scent and follows it. His nose sniffs and snorts to follow the path another panda made. He could also see it because the panda indented the vegetation it was walking on. Finally Po makes it to the end, where he finds a den. Po doesn’t want to threaten or try to take some other Panda bears territory so he waits nearby and tries to think of what to say to these pandas as a peace offering to show that he does not want to harm them. Po then comes up with the idea to pick some flowers to make a bouquet for the pandas he is hoping to meet. Po gathers purple weeds and yellow dandelions and other vegetation from the ground and ties a bending stick around the stalks of the flowers. As Po is finishing his bouquet, he hears ruffling in the leaves nearby. He walks towards the sound to see two panda cubs wrestling. They are rolling in the leaves and climbing the trees just like Po did with his siblings. Po couldn’t contain his emotions. His eyes swelled up and water began to poor out. Po let out a loud and sad cry. His cry scared the cubs and they ran away. 

“Why do I have to ruin everything?” Po thought to himself. 

Po continued to walk with the bouquet of flowers, slowly parading away his happiness. 

“What is the point of this?” Po thought to himself.

“What is the point of life when you can’t share it with someone else?” He asked out loud to the forest. 

“ There is no point. Everyone needs somebody to love” A voice of a girl says.

Po looks to his left slowly and quickly turns to the right. A beautiful Panda is sitting next to him, eating bamboo and relaxing in the shade. Po’s eyes light up. For the first time in forever, Po is seeing a real panda. He sniffs the panda. 

“Hi my name is Eva!” She exclaims.

“ My name is Po. Are you out here alone?” Po asks her with a concerned expression.

No, my family is back at the den watching the cubs. Po realizes it was the den he saw earlier and holds out the bouquet of flowers he created. 

“Here these are for you and your family. I saw the den earlier in hopes that I would meet whoever lives there because I have lost my family.” Po explains. 

Very flattered, Eva tells Po “ Why thank you. I can take you back to my family. May I ask what happened to your family?”

“ I am not sure. I have been searching for them for a long time. Have you seen any other Pandas around here?” Po asks in hopes she will say yes.

“ No, many pandas have been disappearing. We are not quite too sure what is happening but we heard it has something to do with the word “ Extinct”, whatever that means” She explains.

They walk together back to the den. 

Eva says “ Wait here Po, let me talk to my family first”.

Po waits for a few minutes and snacks on some bamboo sticks. He sees Eva and her parents talking but can’t make out if they are upset or okay with meeting him. 

Eva walks back towards Po and says “ They seem willing to talk. They are a little uneasy because you are mail, but want to take care of our kind”. 

Po says “ Okay I will try my best to please them. Did you give them the flowers?” 

“Yes of course I did! That was part of the charm to welcome you into the family” She exclaims.

“Welcome me into the family?” Po thought. His eyes gleamed with joy. A sight and feeling nobody has seen Po do in so long. Po couldn’t contain his excitement. He began to do his own little dance and hum. Po felt like himself again. 

“ Mom, Dad, this is Po. He is a very sweet guy and is looking for other pandas in the area.” Eva explains. 

“ I haven’t seen any in ages. We are being completely wiped out by those humans” She says angrily.

Po looks down, holding back tears. His excitement went straight down to sadness and sorrow. Po couldn’t believe the terrible news. 

“ I lost my family long ago. I guess I am too hopeful because I have been looking for them this whole time. All I want is to be loved and to take care of my own family” Po says, trying to hold back the struggle in his voice. 

“ We are all Pandas, so we are all family. And as for my daughter, she is looking to start a family of her own soon. Maybe you can show us you are fit for her and we will give you the okay” Eva’s mother says. 

Eva blushes and bats her eyes at Po. Po is embarrassed, he has never felt this way before. A majority of his years he has spent in solidarity and never thought he would need a partner to have a family. Po is so silly, he doesn’t think logically, he lives in the world of imagination.

Po responds “ All I want is love, all I need is love and I want to live a happy life”.

Soon enough Po is hanging out in a den with Eva and their three cubs. The cubs are playing together in the trees, learning how to climb and rolling down the hills wrestling. Po is content with his life and is thankful for the family he has. He remembers his parents and their unconditional love. He gives that to his cubs and promises to never let them out of his sight. He loves Eva and prepares her perfectly chopped bamboo for dinner every night. Po and his family cuddle together in a big warm ball of love. Po has found his family again.