The toy maker's pet

The summer that Chen turned nine, he began helping his father cut down and collect bamboo. He lived in a small home with his parents and four younger siblings. In China, there was an abundance of bamboo, and Chen's parents were very good at crafting objects out of it. They made jewelry boxes and small toys. This was how they made a living. This was also how Chen became a toy maker. One day, when Chen was in the rainforest with his father collecting bamboo, he came across a small panda cub. Chen broke off some bamboo leaves from the large stems he had found. He fed them to the panda. He decided to call the panda Jinshu. Every day, he looked forward to going out and collecting the bamboo. He knew he would always see Jinshu waiting for him. Several years went by with Chen taking care of his secret pet, Jinshu. Chen was now an adult and owned his own toy shop. For each toy he made, Chen would carve a tiny bamboo heart and hide it somewhere on or inside the toy. These hearts made the toys special. Sometimes, when a child would play with one, gold coins would suddenly turn up in their backpack for no reason at all. Word spread of Chen's magical toys and soon there was no bamboo left for him to make anymore, so he closed his shop. He spent all of his time in the rainforest taking care of Jinshu. One day, while out in the rainforest, Chen heard a noise. He hid behind a tree and looked around to see what it was. There was a poacher out hunting for pandas. Chen raced over to Jinshu and pulled one of the tiny bamboo hearts from his pocket. He fed it to Jinshu, who became still and quiet. Jinshu also began to shrink and when he had stopped shrinking, he was small enough for a young child to play with. Jinshu had turned into a toy. Chen picked him up and began to walk home. When he was almost there, a little girl stopped him and pointed at the panda with a big smile. Reluctantly, Chen handed Jinshu to her. He knew he was getting old and could no longer take care of him. The little girl was delighted and took very good care of Jinshu. When she grew old, she passed him down to her daughter, then her grandaughter, and so on. At some point, he was given away again. Now, he exists somewhere out in the world and one day when you come across a small toy panda, it might just be Jinshu.

Behind the sakura tree

Andrea was a very curious girl, who still believed at the age of ten, that magic was real. It was the only thing that allowed her to occasionally escape the dark world that was ruled by her stepmother. She would constantly daydream about her real mother and wonder what happened to her. In these dreams, she always saw a cherry blossom tree. She had no idea what it meant and whenever she was close to finding out, her stepmother always somehow managed to interrupt these thoughts with demands. Andrea wasn't able to make friends because she was always trapped in the house, by the stove, cooking from a neverending book of unusual recipes. Andrea's stepmother, Claudette, had appeared out of nowhere one day. She had knocked at the door, selling truffles. Andrea and her mother,Julia, loved chocolate and didn't hesitate to buy two boxes. The boxes were beautiful, round packages wrapped in silver paper. Each had a small card and crystal trinket attached. Julia's card read: THE GIFT OF DANCE. Julia had always dreamed of being a dancer. When she was younger, she had attended a play where women,who were dressed as geishas,seemed to float across the stage waving pretty fans. This card made Julia smile as she reminisced about that childhood dream. She walked happily to her room with the box of truffles where she devoured them within seconds. Andrea's card had read: THE GIFT OF FOOD. Her trinket was a small, crystal acorn. This seemed strange to Andrea at the time, but the chocolate looked decadent and so she had eaten it. Shortly after all of the truffles were gone, she had fallen asleep and her mother had disappeared. Three days later, Andrea's father, Victor, had come home from work with Claudette next to him, exclaiming they were engaged. He had been holding a similar round box. His card had read: THE GIFT OF LOVE. His trinket had been a maple leaf. Andrea constantly recalled these visions in her head. The shiny boxes, the taste of the chocolate, the sparkling trinkets. She wished she could remember what her mother's trinket was. If she knew, she felt like she would be able to find her. She had been acting like a spoiled brat before her mother's disappearance and now she longed to have her back so she could make up for it. She missed having her mother braid her hair and sewing her costumes for school plays. Most of all, she missed collecting acorns from the tree at the park and watching her mother paint tiny scenes around each one. Andrea could tell that her father really missed Julia too. Victor seemed like a prisoner to Claudette's beauty and temper. He sometimes got this far away look in his eyes as though he was entranced within a daydream too. He hadn't been very nice to Julia either. He had met a woman, while walking home from work one day. She was selling flowers and suggested he buy some for his wife. He declined and instead could not stop gushing over how beautiful she was. He went home and continued to talk about how the stranger was so much more beautiful than any woman he had ever known. He had dismissed his wife's tears as signs of envy and took delight in having this sort of power over her feelings. Now, here he was on the opposite end of the spectrum. While Andrea created a pasty looking, green concoction made of rose water, lilly pads, and basil leaves, she wished she hadn't forced her mother to spend extra hours in the kitchen because she had turned down the surprise dinner her mother had spent all day preparing especially for her. It had looked delicious (curried chicken and roasted vegetables), but Andrea had been angry with her mother. She was nine at that time. She was too young and spoiled to have any concept of money or bills. Her mother hadn't been able to afford the ruby ring that she had so desperately wanted. Andrea thought about how childish she'd been and felt disgusted with herself. She hated that small jewelry shop and it's creepy looking owner now. Somehow, she felt like it was their fault her mother was gone. As she was waiting for the stew to finish, Andrea took off the necklace she was wearing and twirled it around in her hands. One of the acorns her mother had painted was dangling from the chain. She carefully inspected the tiny picture. There was a miniature forest, river, geisha, and cherry blossom petal. Suddenly, Andrea jumped up and quickly snuck out the kitchen window. She raced down the street toward the realtor office where her father worked. Meanwhile, in his office, Victor was sitting at his desk holding up the crystal maple leaf. He held it to the window and watched as the prismatic colors filled the room. It reminded him of why he'd become a realtor in the first place. He used to walk with Julia around the park that was nearby. It was filled with maple trees. Julia had loved going there, especially during the Fall. There were houses across the street from the park. They were huge brick houses. He and Julia always discussed what it would be like to live in one of those houses. They imagined what the insides must look like and Victor had taken this job to see if what they imagined was true. He wanted to give Julia one of those houses and felt unworthy of her because he couldn't. This was why he'd been acting so hostile toward her. He knew she was happy just dreaming about the houses, but he couldn't help feeling like he was letting her down. Now he wished he wouldn't have let those insecurities get the better of him. Just then, Andrea ran in. She claimed she had finally figured out what the trinkets meant. They needed to go to the park. Victor grabbed his keys and without questioning his daughter, he drove to the park. As soon as they stepped out of the car, Andrea took off running into the forest, along a trail of maple trees. This was the same place where Victor had proposed to Julia. It had been during the Fall and the ground had been covered in maple leaves. It had been perfect. Now, it was spring and the trees were lush and green. Victor followed his daughter through the woods until they came to a cherry blossom tree. It was strange seeing this beautiful, pink tree at the end of the maple trail. He hadn't even known it was there. Andrea motioned him to follow her and they walked behind the tree toward another small trail. At the end of that trail was a glittering river. There, in the middle of the water, wearing a blue, silk kimono and white makeup, was Julia. They watched in awe as she danced around, delicately waving a golden fan. Her hair was pulled up into a bun and there was a sparkling barrette on the side. Andrea looked carefully and realized it was her mother's trinket. It was a cherry blossom. Tears of happiness streamed down her and her father's cheeks. They ran toward Julia and embraced her. During this embrace, Julia seemed to wake up from some sort of enchanted dream. Together, the three of them walked home. When they got there, there was no sign that Claudette had ever been there.