Friendship by: Matthew It was a very humid day in China when Bartholomew the panda was sitting on the grass eating bamboo. He was a very lonely, plump, and friendly panda. Unfortunately, there are only 27 pandas in the part of the country Bartholomew lives in. This alone makes it even harder for him to lure another panda to be his friend. Also, it is hard for him to find a friend because he is plump so it is hard for him to move around easily. ”I wish I was like the other pandas in the area, not so fat,” Bartholomew said in a very disappointing way. ”I also wish I was not so lonely,” “I have an idea,” Bartholomew shouted. “I’m going to try to make a friend,” Bartholomew said proudly speaking to himself. ”I will search all day and all night for a friend.” One random day in July, Bartholomew roused himself up to go and search for a friend. Bartholomew was so excited to go and search for a friend, that he didn’t even eat any bamboo, which was his favorite breakfast. He was just too excited. Three hours later Bartholomew was still searching for a friend and he saw another panda! He ran as fast as he can, which wasn’t very fast. He came so close to meeting the panda. The other panda escaped from Bartholomew’s reach. The other escaped from Bartholomew because Bartholomew is so plump that he scared the other panda away. Bartholomew starts to sob really loudly, like he is in a lot of agony. After he stops sobbing, he starts walking home. When he got home he just sat in the damp grass and ate some bamboo while rain was falling on him.
The next morning there was a very disturbing noise that woke up Bartholomew. The noise came from a panda eating bamboo in a tree. Bartholomew went to go and meet that panda. He had to be very serene if he wanted to meet that panda. So he tried to go up the tree to find the other panda. Suddenly, he slips on a branch and falls on the ground. “Owwwwwwwww!” Bartholomew hollored. The other panda looked down to see Bartholomew yelling, and after he saw what happened he just continued eating his bamboo. There was nobody there to help Bartholomew up, so Bartholomew just lay there for hours with a hurt foot and hand. ”I can’t get up, and I am in a lot of pain,” Bartholomew blurted out to the other panda. “That was a very foolhardy thing you did,” the other panda hollered. ”If you are seriously injured it is not my fault.”
“I think I can get up,” Bartholomew said in shock. “I am going to try to make crutches out of bamboo.” “Why?” The other panda hollered to Barthalomew. “That is very dumb, you must have a balloon for a brain.” Bartholomew starts to sob again so loudly that all of China could hear him. “Could you keep it down”, the other panda screaming. His eyes bulged out looking like he was surprised about something. No came to help Bartholomew, so he just lay there for hours and he had to sleep there for the night. The next morning, Bartholomew woke because of a disturbing noise. “What is that noise?” Bartholomew said with his eyes half open.
Two minutes later he saw two men walking by talking to each other. “Hey, could you keep it down over there.?” yelled to the 2 men. “Who are you?” Bartholomew asked. “We both work at the zoo,” The 2 zoo staff members said. “Sorry,” The 2 zoo staff members said. “Are you ok? You look like you're in a little bit of pain.” “Yeah I am” Bartholomew said crying. “Oh we better take you to the zoo,” one of the zoo staff members said. “What is a zoo?” Bartholomew asks with a questioning look. “A zoo is where we take animals that are in need of something. We have them live our habitats that we hand built.” “Oh, I didn’t know what a zoo was,” Bartholomew said with spirit. ”Yeah, sure you can take me too the zoo.” The next day Bartholomew wakes up and notices that all the pandas living the same habitat as him are staring at him. “Who are you?!” One of the pandas asks with a puzzled look on his face “I am Bartholomew, I am new here,” Bartholomew whispers acting shy. “What are you doing here?!” Another panda said shouting to Bartholomew. “Guys guys, leave him alone,” A panda named George said sticking up for Bartholomew acting like he is the leader of all the panda. “Thanks for sticking up for me, Mr. Panda,” Bartholomew says. George asks Bartholomew to call him George. “Ok George,” Bartholomew said. George asked Bartholomew how he likes the zoo. Bartholomew starts to shiver because he is scared. “What is the matter Bartholomew?” George asks Bartholomew. “I’m, I’m scared,” whispers Bartholomew while shivering in terror. George asks why Bartholomew is so scared.
“I am so scared because the other pandas are asking me questions in a mean voice.” George yells at some of the other pandas that were being disrespectful to Bartholomew. “Sorry George, we will never do it again,” multiple pandas say with their heads down in sorrow. “I am not the panda you should be apologizing to,” George said with a grin on his face The other pandas realized who they should be apologizing to, and they apologize to Bartholomew. Bartholomew forgives the other pandas and they go somewhere else in the habitat and try to decide what to play. “What activity should we play now boys?” George asked.
“I think we should let Bartholomew decide what game we play because he is new to our habitat.” One of the pandas blurted out. George asks Bartholomew what game he wants to play. “Um…can you give me a couple minutes to think about what game I want to play?” Bartholomew asks George. A couple of minutes later, Bartholomew comes back from his bed and shares his decision with the other pandas. “So, what game did you decide to for us to play?” One of the pandas asked. “Um...we are going to play tag,” Bartholomew said. And so Bartholomew, George, and the other pandas played a very long game of tag and all became friends. Bartholomew is now very thankful that he lives in the zoo because he has so many friends.