The Stuff of Dreams

Let's Try a New Route

The next day went slower. Po got up, grabbed his wallet AND money, hopped on the bus, got to his work early. "Panda!" 

"Yes, sir?"

"What are you doing here so early? You're not trying to get extra pay are you?" Boqin glared. 

Po huffed and glared right back at the snow leopard. "No, Boqin, I was just held up at gunpoint and me and the robber wanted to make sure that you were paying both of us more money." Boqin stepped back. He shook his shock off and looked hard at the panda again.

"Watch it, panda. Remember I'm still your manager." 

"I. Don't. Forget it," Po said through gritted teeth. He could see Boqin gulping. "Is the bread truck back?"

"Y-Yes. Here's your schedule," The snow leopard nearly tossed it to him. "Dumb panda," He muttered under his breath. Po grumbled lowly. He never thought hatred would be so welcoming and warm, but he could feel the drops of venom seething his skin. 

"Hey, Po? Are you okay?" Monkey asked. The panda took a long breath. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just having a rough day," Po replied, walking with his friend to the back. Along the front side of the grocery store was a bulletin board for the Feng Shui community. As Po passed it, something caught his eye. "Wait, is that-" Po looked at the paper. "That's incredible!" 

"What?"

"Tai-Lung Fu is giving a nightly writing class at the Feng Shui community center!" Po exclaimed. 

"Who's Tai-Lung Fu?"

"Only one of the greatest authors and writing critics in all the world. You've heard of Gordon Ramsey, right? Well, this is the Gordon Ramsey of writing!" 

"Ah," Monkey sniggered, "So he's mean, yell-y, and British."

"Actually, he lives here in Feng Shui. What I wouldn't give to get him to teach me."

"Well, why don't you take the class?"

"Nah, I wouldn't really be up to his level," Po said.

"But that's why you're there. To learn. So you can be at his level. I mean, come on, Po. You talk endlessly about your stories, and you've got some awesome ones! Why not get some training from the best?"

"I've heard he's really strict about his students."

"So he's passionate about writing," Monkey shrugged, "I'm just saying, you have one life, why not try and do something worthwhile." 

"I-" Po's mind flashed to last night. He looked at the poster. Two worlds stood before him. One of comfort, the other of adventure or chaos. He knew the fate of one and not of the other. Failure was possible in either, but he had lived in the one of comfort. He only had one life to live. Might as well. Po took the poster and kept it in his pocket. 

After work, Po got back to his apartment. The apartment staircase was closed off to the elements, so the panda didn't have to worry about being cold. The faded green hallway carpet had several stains and blemishes, but it had become home to many in the apartment building. As he opened the door, Mei sat right in front of it, leg over the other, arms crossed, glaring at Po. "Nope," Po muttered, about to leave. 

"Po get in here!" Mei shouted. Po sighed and walked in. "I just heard from the police that you were involved in a robbery at gunpoint. Why didn't you tell me!" 

"Are you upset?"

"YES!"

"That's why."

"Po!" 

"Look," the panda sighed, closing the door behind him. "I didn't want you to have nightmares about losing me or something. I knew that it would scare you senseless."

"But not knowing the truth is still scary! You can't just not tell me. What if you had been in the hospital and you lied to me? And then I heard you were dead the next day? I could have picked you up or sent someone! But... BUT!" Po wrapped his arms around Mei. She was shaking, and tears dropped from her eyes to Po's chest. "Po, I don't want to lose you. There's only one of you."

"I know, I know," The panda sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I just didn't want you to worry."

"I'm always worried about you Po," She said, burying her head into his chest. "Please be more careful," She said muffled. 

"It's okay. I'm sorry," Po smiled, rubbing her head. "On a better note, I'm thinking of doing a writing course at the Feng Shui community center." 

Mei's head popped up. "That's great! Who's teaching it?"

"Tai-Lung."

"Your favorite author?" Mei grimaced, "Isn't he a little... brutal?"

"Well, it's better than what I'm doing. Besides, you told me to try and publish my stuff. This is my chance to get the practice and training I need."

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Mei sighed, walking over to the kitchen. "You have to realize that you're gonna fail."

"Wow, thanks for the confidence."

"No, Po. That's just me being truthful. You never had a healthy relationship with failure. You know that. That's why you never asked anyone out in college," Mei said. Po rubbed his arm. "I just want you to realize that failure is bound to happen. I don't want you to get bogged down by it."

"I know, but I really have nothing to lose." Mei looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I mean... I don't know. Mom always said we learn more from our failures than our accomplishments. Maybe I should start changing how I look at failing."

"But are you sure that getting criticism from your idol author is going to be the right thing?" 

"I only got one life," Po exhaled, flopping his arms to the sides. "And I'm tired of playing it safe." 

"Hey, hey," Mei said, placing a hand on his cheek. "What caused this?" Po's lip trembled. 

"Mei, when I was in that alley, all I could think about was what my life has been. I didn't want to take a useless major, so I went with general studies. I didn't want to get my heart broken, so I stayed in the friendzone. Every time I chased after being safe, I got met with disappointment. It's only when I got to that alley and a gun was pointed at me that I realized that I was never safe. I could have died and no one would have said anything about me and what I did because I actually didn't do ANYTHING! NOTHING!... And I'm sick of it, Mei."

"Po, that's why I want you to be careful with this course," Mei said. She didn't say she wanted him to not take it. "Because I know you feel like this. Po, you have to realize this: You don't fail because you made a mistake; you fail when you stop trying and don't learn anything from it. You're going to have failures, Po. You have to learn from them and never give up. Promise me that if you take this class that you'll see it all the way through."

Po sighed, "I promise." Mei grabbed his cheeks and forced his eyes to look at her. The jade orbs looked blackly into his very soul. "Yipe!" 

"Promise Po."

"I promise, I promise!" 

"Good," She smiled, releasing his face. "I'm making ramen. Do you want some?" 

"Uh, yeah," Po fumbled out. The panda now had an ultimatum: Charge headfirst through failures or successes and not stop. Or die at the hands of his sister. Either way sounded scary, but he decided to go with the first one. 

To be continued