Red Panda Goddess

Luck is the Eye of the Beholder

Before he starts the car he takes a deep breath and sighs, “you were only a moment faster than I was. I had thought about helping you, but I also wanted to see how you would act. I wasn’t testing you, but you didn’t fail. I want to know, what made you do what you did?” He turns to me with a father like expression. I sat there for a moment trying to understand his angle, but finally the words came to me as if I had no choice to but just be honest. My body felt as if lying were not an option even if I wanted to.

“Well, I saw the kids and woman and thought she was eating more than her kids were and they were poor so why not give them some candy, then the guy was being an obnoxious prick to the cashier girl, who was very cute. I’ve seen her working there for a few days but I’ve never seen her on the register so I assumed with having only one register open she was already under too much pressure and that guy wasn’t giving her much room. All honesty I hate people who bully others, plus I wanted a chance to talk to her after seeing her in here a few times...”

He interrupts me, “I can understand that, the girl was very attractive but I want to know why you stopped the robbery.”

“Well...” I sat there thinking for a couple of minutes before speaking again, “it just felt right since I saw her start choking I knew I would have to get rid of the two guys first...”

He interrupts again, “but why?”

“Because! If I had went straight for the girl they would’ve either tried to kill me and get the money or just get the money and get away! I didn’t want to have to risk anyone else getting hurt but myself, I don’t mind taking a hit to save someone else, life is precious I think. I would rather see someone who deserves to live get saved rather than the bad guys. I wanted to get to the girl as soon as possible and they were in my way. There are you satisfied?”

“The girl is my late wife’s niece. So yes, I am satisfied. A persons motives make them who they are, not just their actions.” He turns the car and starts to drive off, “where do you live?” I started to give him directions and he interrupts, “no I know where your house is, I want to know where you live?”

I hesitated for a few moments before giving up, “I’m not sure what you’re asking...sir.” He looked at me and then back to the road, then he pointed to his chest and nodded to me. “Oh, I’ve been so lost for past six months I couldn’t honestly tell you. I’m just...”

He interrupts again, “you come to my house after work tomorrow, you work for me until you pay off what you owe for me getting you out.” He paused a moment and then continued, “then I’ll teach you to live.” I just nodded and listened to him. He continued talking and told me that his niece was single and could very well be looking if I was interested, since she only lives a mile from him. I stayed silent until he pulled into my driveway.

“How did you know...”

“Don’t worry about the details, you will learn one day. For now get rest and be at my house at 5pm...do not be late. Good bye.” He did the same hand gesture as before and I returned it to him already bowed over from looking through the window. I walked up to the side door from the garage and unlocked it and walked in. My brother was laying in the floor with a controller in his hand and his Xbox still playing Call of Duty Black Ops. So I grabbed a blanket off the couch and threw it over him and went into the kitchen. I started to make myself a bowl of cereal when he appeared right behind me with a bowl of his own and it scared the daylights out of me.

“Jeez! What the hell dude? You could’ve given me a heart problem!”

“What did you get arrested for? Did you call Mom?” He sat his bowl down and made himself some cereal.

“Vigilantism, and suspect to robbery. And no she doesn’t need the worry.” I fix my bowl too and write milk down on the to-get list.

“So that robbery at Gregersons food mart was you? I heard they had guns and one guy stopped the whole thing, he also stole two candy bars and saved a girl from choking on some gum...that couldn’t have been you.” He walks off without waiting for an answer. “Make sure to clean the kitchen before you go to bed.

“Yes sir master sir.” I took 2 hours cleaning up his mess that he leaves behind whenever he cooks. It wouldn’t take so long if he would just wash as he used like I do, looking around all I see are his dishes everywhere...wait, where are my dishes? I start looking around avidly for my black plate, white plate, chop sticks, favorite fork, favorite spoon...oh right in my favorite bowl, and my 3 cups are gone. I walk back to my room eating my second bowl of cereal and notice he had starting packing my stuff up. “Hmm guess he thought I wasn’t coming back or he’s thinking of kicking me out. Either way, I’d better be prepared.” So I pick everything up and start loading all of my necessities into my tote bag and proper clothes into my duffle bag. “The rest is just gonna have to wait I guess...” I then decide to plop down on my bed and check my phone for any messages...nope. Of course not. Not soon after I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, “hello?!” I answered it without looking.

“Mr. Mark Venomi? We need you to come in to the office before heading to the job please. It’s urgent.” *click* she hangs up before I can answer. I jump off of the floor and get ready to start the day. Once out the door I grab my neighbor asking to take me to the grocery store to fetch my motorcycle and he agrees since it’s on his way to his business which is a block down from the store. Once there I thank him and run in the store, and inside I’m greeted by the two managers who were hiding in the booth yesterday.

“Here’s your helmet, and we understand the cops confiscated some money of yours? We managed to sort out everything so here’s the money back, here’s a gift card to the store and if you’ll come back after 2pm we will have someone else who wants to thank you.” They both pat me on the back and I thank them for helping me and leave. Once out the door I noticed that they had kept the bike in the back for safe keeping and rolled it out front for me.

“How nice, hmm.” I got on it and it cranked right up like usual but it felt different, like it had gotten a tune up, “that’s odd, you seem to run better than normal. Did someone show you some love while I was gone?” It seemed to purr like a happy cat between my legs. “Oh well let’s go!” I took off towards the city heading to the temp office. I got there in a short time and noticed that they were already waiting for me outside, with the same guy from last night. “What the hell? This guy shows up at my job now too? He really has it in for me.” I turn the bike off, take my helmet off, pull the earphones out and hop off staring directly at the guy. When I start walking up they all walk inside aside from the man who stands there with his hand on the door.

“Look kid, I have to report these things to the jobs of people. I can’t have violent people in the world like this, so it’s just business right?” He gives me a sly sideways look and trots inside with a grin.

“Right,” I stab him in the back with my imagination so many times he bleeds out before he can even turn around to see who does it. He reaches the back room and opens the door for me. I walk in and see the three managers sitting at the table looking worriedly at me. “Look you don’t have to say anything, I already lost one job for helping remove an employee who was causing a scene and harassing my boss at the job, so you want me gone I got it. Enough said I’ll go on my way and find something else to do.” I turn around and the man shuts the door and blocks my path.

“Wait!” The middle manager yelps at me before I even take a second step. “You won’t be able to find work in this county anymore. So you might as well listen. Take a seat.” I turn back around and sit in the most uncomfortable chair I’ve ever had the displeasure of planting my fat ass in.

“I’m listening.” They straighten up papers and rustle around nervously, “I said I’m listening! You have about 5 minutes left of my time before I walk.” They all look up me like scared animals before a s*******r.

“Because of your violent behaviorism several work places...”

“Whoa?! What? No! I’ve never been violent to anyone who wasn’t already violent to me! I only act in self defense and defense of others who cannot defend oneself. At flavor dome it was mike who was causing the scene and Sheila asked me to help get him off the property. He was about to r**e her in her office if I hadn’t stopped him you would’ve asked me what kind of monster I was. At huhdamaki it was Steve, Jim, Larry, and rocky who were taking turns r****g Diane in the underside of plate press 3 I just simply couldn’t run away and get help. I jumped in and wrestled them to the ground and made sure they couldn’t get back up then I helped Diane to the front where an ambulance took her from there. At James and co it was the big burly woman in welding that started her quarrel, I was eating lunch outside and then I lit up a cigarette. That’s when she came over and took my cigarette and crushed it on my face. I’m sorry but when you have a cigarette put out on your face it hurts and therefore your self defense instincts kick in. There’s my defense, and don’t you ever accuse me of being voluntarily violent for no reason again. I did what other people lack the v****a to do! And if you can’t get that reference then it’s not worth explaining.” I paused to let my anger subside, “are we done here?”

They all looked at each other with worry and concern. Finally after what seemed like an hour the cute one on the right spoke up, “we didn’t come to this conclusion, we were just told by this man how you were. And we took his word for it. But I was the one who convinced them to listen to your side of the story. Of course I got blamed for being naive and biased because I think you’re cute, but I’m a part of this council nonetheless.”

“Amy!” The big one in the middle exclaimed.

“What?! I do think he’s cute.” She blushes and looked at the table.

“Enough! The both of you!” Yelled the man from behind me. “You need to wrap this up so I can arrest him again and put him where he belongs! So let’s go!”

“I say no...” Amy said in a low voice.

“No.” Said the one on the left.

“Yes.” From the middle one.

“Alright then Mr. Mark, you’re free to go.”

“Thank you Amy and other girl. For the big girl, I never liked you anyways for your snobby attitude.” I walked around the table to Amy’s seat and propped onto the table. She looked at me with big nervous eyes, “I quit,” I grabbed Amy on the back of her neck gently and kissed her, she embraced me and kissed me back then I let go and she fell back into her seat fanning her face. “See you later.” I walked out the door without looking back, my face wanted to smile because I felt like a badass...but I knew I had a lot to deal with after that. I got back on my bike and went around town hunting for another job.

It didn’t take long before I realized that they had already gotten the word around that I was not to be hired, every place I went to was a definite no. Then I decided to start doing some odd jobs. I went to the local newspaper and asked to put my ad in and they accepted. It read, “Determined College Student teaching, tutoring, photography, and graphic design. Teaching includes music and musical theory, with all instruments excluding bagpipes, koto, guzheng, and Indian sitar. Tutoring includes English, chemistry, physics, biology, regular science, natural science, math+algebra+geometry, and reading-speech therapy. Photography includes modeling, weddings, scenery, portraits, design influence, etc. all props are natural. Graphic design includes self drawn art, computer drawn art, and digital designs from paper to computer. Call or text (xxx)xxx-xxxx, email xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com, 8am-9pm everyday.” I was sure to get someone’s attention since my callsign was just the letter V instead of my full name. Surely enough I did get a few calls that day and I even started a lesson with a junior high kid wanting to learn piano. That afternoon around 3pm I was getting bored and decided to go over to Mr. Cheng’s house early, so I grabbed the slip of paper with directions out of my wallet and started to read...and it’s in Chinese. “Well, no problem, I’ll just go to Panda Tree and get them to tell me.” So I took off own my motorcycle heading to my favorite authentic Chinese restaurant and got there within a few minutes. I went inside and was greeted by Chou Wein and his family. I knew Chou through work and helped him on his English whenever they opened the Panda Tree, his two little sisters seemed to love me like a brother and would always bring me an Erhu and a violin bow to play it with. Now, granted, I didn’t actually know any traditional Chinese music, but I loved the way it sounded and I would just play and play. Sometimes when there weren’t too many customers, Peixiu and Peipon, Chou’s little sisters, would dance like traditional Chinese dancers would. Quizong, Chou’s father, and Feihan, Chou’s mother, would also dance. Shortly after they opened the Panda Tree and I made very good friends with them Quizong gave me a fan that he said the twins painted the back of, and Feihan did the front on. The fan was exquisite and beautiful, to be only 6 years old the twins both painted a half of the fan. One side being a dragon rising out of the water and the other side was Phoenix over the land, on the front was a white tiger in front of a castle with the words, “*****” on the top of the fan which in English means “Large Friendly Demon” And I knew they didn’t mean demon as an insulting term. Getting back to current events, I greet Chou at the door with a hug and the twins come running down the corridor to greet me each yelling “Vemo!” As they jump into my arms and I struggle to pick them up, “my my, you girls are getting heavy for uncle Vemo to carry around. How’s the shop today?”

They both in unison answer, “no good! People aren’t hungry today!” I laugh and set them down, they run back to the play room. Chou looks at me with suspicion and gestures for me to follow him to a booth. We sit down and Feihan brings us over some tea and dumplings.

“I guess you hear the news about you? People saying you two different guys?” He sips his tea and picks up a dumpling.

“You mean the grocery store? Or the thing those people passed around about me not getting a job anywhere?” He shook his head yes to basically both. I explain to him what was going on and why, then I pull out the paper with directions on it and sit it in front of him. “This man is the one I met and who I have to go see for getting me out of jail.” His eyes widen and he looks at me with overjoyed expressions.

“You get to go work for Mr. Cheng?!” He says loud enough to be heard outside. Then Feihan drops her tray and turns to look at us and Quizong comes bursting out of the kitchen.

“What?! Cheng?! Are you sure?!” He and Feihan both run to our table and grab the piece of paper looking at it extremely hard.

“Yeah that’s him, but if you’re gonna burn a hole in the paper can I please get a translation first?” I say calmly and curiously. I’m kind of confused as to why everyone is so excited about this man, I mean yeah he’s cool and wise, but I didn’t see any kind reaction from anyone else.

“Cheng is Feihans Brother in law, and he is very skilled martial artist, very famous in big city China. He come here as much as you do for our good food. He also love the same shrimp egg roll and lo mein you like. You basically are brothers.” He then mutters something in mandarin to Feihan, and she runs back to the kitchen. He looks at Chou and says something in mandarin to him as well. “Come Vemo, we make you dinner to go as well as Mr. Cheng and you send our regards please? And no charge! Just come back soon ok?! Oh wait before I forget...” he stumbles off forgetting his English for a few minutes talking to me in mandarin. Of course after being friends long enough I can pick out a few words here and there but totally lost as to the plot. I’m following him back to his main office and he sits me down in a chair. “Remember a few months ago you asked me about real chop sticks for you so you could stop using the crappy ones out front?” I had to think for a minute but it comes back to me. I remember asking him for some ebony chop sticks that were real ones and very nice, I didn’t mind having to pay for them I just wanted some for myself so when I came to eat there or at home I would have nice utensils. When my mind drops back down to earth I see him pull out a beautiful mahogany box from behind his desk. “Hehe, I hope you like them. I ask my sister back in China to get these for you, very special, hand made box and hand made chop sticks. My sister made these just for you, it’s a gift for you!” He hands me the box and I glaze over it’s beautifully carved portrait on the top of a tiger running to a Phoenix, the tiger leaving behind blue flames and the Phoenix rising from black flames and a yin and yang in the middle. “The yin yang is made from pearl and obsidian, very rare! Go ahead open!” I push the latch open and open the box and see four sets of cloth with the two polished chop sticks on top. The words “****” (eat with peace) on one and “****” (share peace) on the other. The silver embossing is beautifully designed on them and they have the most wonderful feel and weight to them, the gloss ends around where the food will touch them and it has lotus leaf properties that are hydrophobic and easy to wash. The four cloths are handkerchief style cloths and each a different design, “I told sister what you like and she said she picked out the prettiest things she thought you like, also sister is single and very good woman...” he pulled out a picture of a very beautiful Chinese woman standing next to him in a wood crafting shop, “here she is, so beautiful. If you ever go to China I will introduce you to her! Ah? Lucky man meet good woman! Haha!” He pats me on the back and laughs hardily, he sticks a picture of her in the box and closes it. Then he sticks it in my tote bag. “Come on let’s get you on the road!” He leads me out the door and grabs a heater tote off the shelf and starts packing napkins, food boxes, cutlery, condiments, and fortune cookies inside. “Alright be safe and tell Mr. Cheng we say hello!” I stutter for a moment...

“Uh, I still don’t know how to get there?” I’m hardly able to speak after hearing and seeing so much.

“Oh! My bad Vemo! Here you go!” Chou speaks up and walks over handing me the piece of paper back, “I wrote the English part on the back so...wait! Here!” He reaches in his back pocket and hands me an English mandarin dictionary, “just in case you know.” He waves by to me and everyone says bye and waves with him. I get out to the bike and strap the heater tote on the back seat and hop on. I look at the paper and notice that he lives about a mile up from the college which is nice because I know exactly where that is.

“But wait, that would mean...ah forget it.” I lost my thought and took off towards the college.