Wait For Me

Wait for Me

 

“Ouch!”, Mei Mei said. She grimaces and walks as fast as she can. She grumbles and groans. Bak Choy won’t wait. He’s too busy looking for bamboo.

Mei Mei wishes she could trot as fast as other giant pandas, but she can’t. Her back paws are weak. They ache if she moves quickly. Mei Mei and Bak Choy look for bamboo because that is all they eat. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Mei Mei loves eating bamboo flowers as pale as the morning sky. Now the bamboo trees are yellow and dying. All the pandas are moving higher up the mountain to find leafy green bamboo stalks.

All except Mei Mei. Bak Choy is so far ahead of her she can no longer see him. She can barely hear the sound of his paws on the forest floor. There’ s the faintest scent of her mate.

Suddenly Mei Mei knows she’s completely alone. Bak Choy is gone. She collapses and cries giant panda tears. Then she sniffles and smells his scent. She hears his quiet footsteps. Bak Choy is back!

He leads her up, up, up, the steep snowy mountain until they are surrounded by tall shoots of arrow bamboo, their favorite kind. Mei Mei sits down at last, a smile on her face.