Red Panda Goddess

The Land of the Rising Sun

We land in Beijing in the early morning and get into crowded airport when Mr. Cheng pulls me to the side. “Vemo, the air here in the big cities is very toxic at times, so we need to get the masks I bought back in Alabama before going outside.” He points toward the luggage conveyor. I walk over to it and wait for our things to come around. While I’m waiting I feel my backpack squirming a little bit so I take it off and unzip it a little bit.

“Hey we are almost out of here I promise. Once we get on the train I’ll let you out I promise.” Juki looks at me like she’s saying, “you better be glad I can breathe in here or I would be much more angry.” And I reach into my pocket and pull out the blueberry packets I saved from the flight. I open the packet and dump them in there with her and zipped it back up. I look up and see our luggage rolling out and swiftly walk over and grab them. I go back over to where Mr. Cheng was standing and he opens up his suit case and hands me a mask and a smaller mask for Juki. I slip it into the front pocket of the backpack and he closes his suitcase. He points towards the west side of the airport and we walk over to the exit desk. He goes up to the clerk and talks in mandarin in such a way that I can barely make out a couple of words in the whole conversation. He grabs his ID and shows her two things and the woman scrambles after seeing his ID and hands him a set of keys, a black leather messenger bag, and a plastic bag full of something. He puts the messenger bag around his neck and walks back over to me smiling.

“Looks like we don’t have to take the train,” he holds up the keys, “the clerk over there was so helpful she gave us a rental car that’s a hybrid so we should be able to drive halfway there before needing to stop for gasoline. And we can make it there sooner with you driving.” He hands me the keys and starts walking towards the front door. I follow right behind him still confused and wondering about his ID he keeps showing to everyone that makes them want to just give him things and it makes them so nervous. I catch up to him and he stops at the edge of the parking lot looking around. I put my sunglasses on and hand Mr. Cheng a pair I picked up for him in Los Angeles.

“I noticed you didn’t have a pair and it helps better than just shading your eyes with your hand...” he takes them and puts them on.

“Did you buy these for me?” I nod to him and smile, “cool, thank you Vemo! So how do I look?” He smiles and strikes a dorky pose. I can’t help but laugh a little and I decide to pose with him and I take a picture of us together.

“I think you look pretty darn cool Mr. Cheng, those shades don’t make you look cool, you make those shades look cool.” I laugh while saying it, but I meant it. He laughs with me and then he spots our car.

“Aha! I see it over there!” He points to a powder blue Toyota Prius about 100 yards away from us. I let out a big groan but then suck it up and follow him towards the car. And here I was hoping for a Dodge Viper, Lamborghini Aventador, or Porsche Carerra 911 GT, but nope, just little Prius that’s probably safer for the environment, but probably not for pride. We get to the car and I open the back hatch and realize there’s a ton of room back there that I could fit everything in the back, even the guitar. Now the backseat would be completely empty just in case we need to help any cute stranded women.

*Smack!*

“Oww! What did you do that for?” Mr. Cheng slaps me in the back of the head.

“Stop daydreaming about pretty Chinese girls and hurry up, driver seat is on the right ride...” he walks over to the left side and gets in. I grab my backpack and unzip it letting Juki out and out her mask on, she reaches her paws up and fixes the mask so that it’s comfy then strikes a cute pose and walks around stretching her legs. I get in the right side drivers seat and check the car out. I adjust my mirrors and seat, check everything making sure it’s all in order, and crank the car up. I look down at the gear shift knob and realize it’s very odd looking.

“What is this?” I say thinking out loud.

“I don’t know, I’ll grab the manual.” Mr. Cheng replies to my comment and I realize I said it out loud and I know that he won’t listen to my reason so I sit back and wait. He decides to read it aloud to me. “There’s not an English book in here, so I’ll just read it aloud to you.” He reads off the instructions very slowly and in monotone. He finally gets to the part where it shows you how to figure out what the gear shifter is about 15 minutes later. “Ah! Looks like there are three options. The parking button and release, then there’s forward for drive and backward for reverse.” It’s just a simple automatic, great. I put it in reverse and back up out of the parking space and push the gear shifter forward but it doesn’t move so I come to a stop and then try it again and it moves.

“Well that’s going to be annoying,” I say thinking aloud again. And I take off while Mr. Cheng puts in the address on the gps and I head for the nearest store to stock up on drinks and snacks.

“Just so that you know Vemo, stores in China are not the stores in America. There are different stores for different things.”

“But that’s in the smaller places and villages right? Here in Beijing they should have convenience stores right?”

“You know, I’m not sure. It’s been a long time since I’ve done shopping in the big cities. We should find out.”

“Well I hope so, I’m dying for a Reese’s and a Dr Pepper.”

“I’ll make sure to come with you just in case you need some help...”

“I shouldn’t need any help to find an orange candy bar wrapper and a red bottle of soda...” I pull into a store that looks like a normal American gas station and we walk inside. I go over each aisle and see lots of different candies and candy bars but they’re all in mandarin. Then I walk over to the coolers and see nothing but mandarin labels on all the drinks. “Okay Mr. Cheng, I need your help,” he smiles and walks around the candy aisle picking up several things and then hands then to me, then he moves to the coolers and picks out several bottles of this, and that, and 5 of those, and 4 of these. “Jeez Mr. Cheng, do we need all that? I mean yeah I get thirsty a lot but wow.”

“It’s summer in China Vemo, it’s very humid here so you going to sweat, a lot!” He finishes up and we walk to the cash register and ring the bell. The clerk comes out of the back and comes around the counter and starts ringing us up. I notice some cool looking knick knacks in a case above some neat looking candies.

“Hey Mr. Cheng,” the cashiers face lights up when he hears me call out his name, “can I get one of these here? And what are these candies here?” The cashier just starts putting everything into bags and cancels out the charges.

“Those are cinnamon apple cherry caramel candies, and the ones next to them are cinnamon apple plum caramel. They’re good if you wanna try them.” He looks back to the cashier and he smiles and talks in mandarin asking for the Knick knack I wanted behind the window. He reaches down and grabs it and hands it to me then he pushes the bag to the edge of the counter and bows repeatedly to Mr. Cheng saying.

“Take it please! Thank you! Just take it, it’s free! Thank you! Thank you for coming to my shop! Take it! It’s a gift! Thank you!”

Mr. Cheng bows to him respectfully and puts his hand on the back of my head forcing me to bow too. Then he leaves enough money on the counter to cover what we got plus a tip even thought he was offering to gift it to us. As we were walking back to the car I asked him why he paid for it anyways.

“Because Vemo, it was a gift from a man we do not know, so in return for his generosity I gave him a gift as well. It’s respectful to repay those who bestow gifts to you with gifts of your own.” We get in the car and start back on the road.

“But what if you don’t have anything to gift back? Like say I were to go to a restaurant and get some extra food for a homeless man that was hungry and I gave it to him? He has nothing to give back to me...” he looks at me curiously.

“Are you talking about the man that stands out in front of the Walmart around the gas station?” I look at him with guilty confessions in my eyes.

“Yeah, how did you know?” He smiles with a sly grin.

“Because I remember seeing the receipt in the bag of the McDonald’s you brought to my house one day and it had 3 extra burgers, an extra order of large fries and a large drink that wasn’t in our bag. You were just being nice to me by bringing me food after you got your paycheck, but I see now that you didn’t just be nice to me. So all that extra food went to the man huh?”

“Yeah when I was on my way there I noticed he was holding up a sign that said homeless and hungry. So when I stopped I got the extra food and stopped and give it to him. He said oh man thank you so much, god bless your soul man, this should get me through the next couple of days for sure! I can’t thank you enough man thank you. You got a kind heart, some people give money and don’t realize they don’t like me coming in their stores because I don’t smell good, but here comes my savior with good food. And I started making these things out of stuff I find laying around and I want you to have one hold on a second please? And he walks over to his little plastic buggy on his bicycle and opens a crayon box and grabs something out of it and sets his food down. He hands me this beaded necklace with a mushroom charm that’s really neat looking. And I told him he should sell these and I wasn’t looking for anything in return...”

“I understand Vemo, those who give gifts out of the kindness of their heart do not expect anything in return. They just want to know that their gift goes on being appreciated.” He interrupts me, but then gestures for me to keep on.

“So he says for to keep it. And he tells me that when someone makes a kind gesture to him like anything over $5 he feels like that’s too much help and he has to give them something for it. Like he’s working for it. He said he started doing this when an older looking...” I trail off and my mind starts putting two and two together. “Wait you were the one that gave him the $100 and gave him the advice?” He nodded to me smiling, “Wow, I can’t believe I never noticed it until now, he said older looking Chinese guy gave him $100 and told him that while he’s not doing anything while walking around he should pick up the random things he finds and get himself some string at the store since it’s cheap and make random things like jewelry or keyring decorations. And that was you all along. Ha. No wonder you wanted me to keep going.” He laughs and keeps nodding his head.

“I never told him to start giving them to people or start selling them. I just gave him an idea for a hobby to pass the time and some money to get him through a couple of days. What he decided to do with the things he made was completely up to him.”

“So when you receive a gift from a person who is just being kind hearted you feel the need to be nice in return? Or is it just respectful?”

He turns to me and leisurely said the word yes. I just smiled, nodded, and kept driving. I already knew that we were going to driving a long way, and I knew that wherever we were going was very important to Mr. Cheng. But what I didn’t know was that once we left the city it was going to be beautiful countryside everywhere you looked.

“If I had known it was going to be this beautiful of a drive I would’ve just said let me ride shotgun so I can look around and take pictures.” He laughs and grabs the camera out of my bag and starts taking pictures left and right. “I guess I’m glad I showed you how use that thing and that you’re a pretty decent photographer.” We both laugh and I plug my MP3 player into the auxiliary port of the radio. We go for hours just listening to my driving mix playlist and watching the scenery pass by and eventually it gets dark and we stop for gas.

“I’m gonna use the bathroom, when I get back I’ll watch the car, would you mind getting us some snacks and stuff when you go in?” He nods and watches the car while the gas pumps. When I come back out he’s leaning against the back of the car and the nozzle is already hung back up. “What’s wrong? Are we out of money?” He laughs and stands up straight.

“No, it just stopped a few minutes ago. It surprised me too. This car doesn’t hold much, that’s a good thing though because we are only halfway there. But I was thinking we should rest for the night.”

I keep walking and stand next to him and stretch my arms and legs, “but I’m still good to drive for a long while, I’m not that tired, really.” He looks at me with a silly grin.

“I know Vemo, but if we continue at night, you’ll miss some of the most beautiful parts of this part of the country. So if we leave in the morning we can get some food pictures and be at our destination by the afternoon. That way we will have time to unpack and get our things ready.” I nod in agreement and get in the drivers seat to wait for him. I roll down the window to let air in just enough a hand could out of it. A man walks up and sticks a gun through the window speaking mandarin. Of course I can’t understand what he’s saying but I’m pretty sure he wants to rob us and take our car. I have the keys in my hand still so I quickly jab the key into the hammer slot of the gun and rolls the window up on his wrist. Then I turn the safety on, eject the clip, and pull the slide back ejecting the bullet in the chamber and take the key out. I open the door slamming the guy into one of the stopper poles next to the gas pump and grab with two fingers and my thumb into his armpit where a pressure point is. I hold him there partially paralyzed while I stick the key in and roll the window down off his arm and he drops the gun. I walk with him to the edge of the gas station and let him go kicking him in his butt as he attempted to run away. I walked backwards back to the car watching him run and got back to the drivers seat and picked the gun up.

“That looked fun, did he want the car?” I jumped out of my skin when I heard Mr. Cheng speak to me for he scared me with me not knowing he was back from the store.

“Jeez Mr. Cheng you scared the s**t out of me. I’m not sure what he wanted he was yelling in mandarin I couldn’t tell. I could make out money, car, and girl. But I don’t know what else he said.” I pick up the stray bullet and magazine then feed the bullet into it. I slide it back in and put it in my backpack.

“Why are you keeping the gun?” He looks at me with a stern suggestive look.

“If I leave it here, he will come back for it and try again with someone else, if I throw it in the trash he’ll find it, if I take it into the store they’ll think I’m robbing them. So if I keep it now, I can dispose of it later. Or I could just keep it because spoils of war and I might need it for something bigger and meaner than myself.”

“Do you mean a person?”

“No I mean like if I’m walking through a forest and a bear walks up on me. Or something of that nature.”

“And you’re sure about this?”

“Yeah I’m sure, look Mr. Cheng I know you hate guns, but I know my way around them, I left the safety on and there isn’t a bullet in the chamber so it’s safe where it’s at. And I’m not about to use it another human unless they threaten you or Juki with a gun. Because I can’t move faster than a bullet.”

“If you’re going to make that promise, then only make it for Juki, not me.” He extends his pinky to me for a pinky promise.

“But I care for you just as much as Juki. You’re like the Grandfather I never got to have...”

“Just promise me Vemo, I don’t want to see you get hurt for anything that could happen to me.” I nod my head and grab his pinky with mine and we both squeeze tightly. “There’s a house up here on the right about a mile up the road. Just drive up and I’ll tell you where it is. So we pull out from the store and he shows me where this house is and we pull up the driveway. “Wait here.” He gets out and walks to the front door and knocks four times, scratches across the door, then knocks three more times. After a moment an elderly Chinese woman opens the door and hugs Mr. Cheng and he points to me and the car. She says something then motions for him to come in and uses sign language to tell me to grab our nightly stuff and come in. So I grab our stuff and Juki and walk to the house. I take my shoes and hat off in the first room and walk through the second door and Juki jumps from my arm and runs over to the lady. She speaks in mandarin but the tone of her voice is excited when she reaches down and grabs Juki, picks her up, and starts petting her. Mr. Cheng walks over to me and grabs his bag from me then leads me over to the lady.

“Vemo, this is my aunt Mifuon Dun.” I bow politely to her. And he introduces me to her and she bows to me smiling. She talks to me and Mr. Cheng translates for me. “She says she wants to welcome you to her home, anyone who is adopted grandchild of me is adopted nephew to her. There is leftover dumplings and vegetable soup in the refrigerator, and you can stay in the room behind me here. The bathroom is down the hall behind you, the hot water works just like at my house. She says make yourself comfortable and sleep well.” I bow to her again and motion that I’m going to take a bath. I walk down to the bathroom and turn on the hot water and make my way over to the room she gave me. The room is pretty empty aside from a bed and desk with a chair, so I sit my things on the bed and walk into the kitchen and make myself a serving of the soup and dumplings. It turns out to be very delicious even though it was reheated with a microwave. Once I’m finished I go back to the bathroom and get out of my clothes I’ve been wearing for three days and dip down into the bath. I notice the door slide open a little and Juki slips in and hops up onto the side of the tub and dips her paws in the water testing it. She slowly dips into the water and rustles her fur and shakes her head.