Red Panda Goddess

Or an Unwelcome Guest?

Morning comes too early when Mr. Cheng knocks on my door to wake me up. I open my eyes looking for the girl but only see Juki laying at my chest. I get up and put on some clothes for the day, then I grab the iPod, camera, and hat and head out of the room leaving Juki asleep on the bed. I leave the door open as I smell something good cooking and I know Juki will smell it soon. I walk into the kitchen and ask Mr. Cheng if there’s anything I should do before breakfast.

“I need you to grab the flour bags and put them in here in the counter, then take all of the Vegetables and wash them then put them in the refrigerator, then go and see if the garden has any fresh fruit.” He continues to cook while telling me all of this. “Take the north path and take the left path at the fork, when you reach the wooden post with the flag on it you’re at the garden. There should be plums and berries right now, keep an eye out for snakes and pandas.”

“Pandas?” I laugh at him, “really? I thought they were big cuddly fun bears?”

“You would be surprised at how territorial they can be and aggressive sometimes. Just walk like you mean no harm and do not approach them.” He gestures for me to get started. So I walk to the front door and take the pieces of paper off the door before unlocking and opening it up. I sit down and put my shoes on looking up to see someone left the outside door open. I give it no thought thinking the lady from last night must’ve left it open but I notice the papers have been removed from it too. I peek outside and look around for anything unusual and step out, and then realize it was probably Mr. Cheng that left it open to air out. I turn to the pile of supplies and grab as many bags of flour as I can possibly carry in two arms then try to squeeze through the doors and into the kitchen. Mr. Cheng looks back at me and laughs at my struggling. “Maybe you should try hanging them on your back Vemo.” He says still laughing at me. I put them down and return for the next stack, I grab as many as I can and sling them across my back. I realize I can get more this way and fit through the door but it’s heavier on my back. I go through the doors with ease and make it into the kitchen straining hard. “Much better, help build up strength in your back, and make it tough.” He says as I’m passing. I walk outside and get one less every trip I take. After I’m done I don’t feel as tired as I thought I was going to be. I grab a sack of vegetables and take them down the northern path, I reach the river, sit the sack down on the bank, and start taking the vegetables out laying them in the eddy, washing them, and sitting them back in the sack. The sounds of the water and forest around me is soothing. I finish up and take the sack back to the house and set them in the refrigerator, then take the other sack down and repeated my process. When I got back I took the two empty sacks and headed out to the garden. I walked up the northern path, took a left at the fork where a right would take me to the river, and reach an old worn out wooden post that had a very nice flag on it. I walked around the bed in the path and came out into a gorgeous orchard full of trees, vines, and bushes that looked full of life and color. Although the cherry trees had all of their blooms already gone it was beautiful to see all of the pink petals everywhere. The one plum tree in the middle of the whole scene with its white blooms in full. I walk around keeps my an eye out for anything besides me while picking various berries. I try to make my way to the plum tree and out of the corner of my eye I could swear I saw something pop out of the forest and back in. I stand there for a moment looking in the general direction and blame it on the morning sun. I reach the plum tree and grab three plums off the higher branches to save the lower branch fruit for the animals. I turn to head back and catch another small glimpse of something in the corner of my eye but still see nothing. As I come back to the bend where the forest begins I notice a mother panda with a baby on her back walking into the orchard. I feel around my pockets and realize I left the camera on the counter at the cabin, of course because I didn’t want the sacks to crush it or fall and break. I watch the mother walk over to a bush and sit down and the baby falls off her back. The baby crawls around to the bush and grabs a handful of leaves and berries then starts munching leaving red juice stains on its mouth. The mother does the same on another bush beside it with purple stains. “If only I had my camera...” I think to myself as I stand there taking in the sight. I decide to head back and follow the path back to the house quickly. I reach the house exhausted and sit the sacks down on the porch to rest for a moment and I hear Mr. Cheng talking inside. I’m thinking he must be talking to Juki so I grab the sacks up and walk into the front room and slip my shoes off. As I walk into the cabin I look to the dining area and notice a man sitting in the fourth spot of the table.

“Ah! Vemo, I was getting worried about you.” He looks at me and smiles.

“I saw a panda mother and baby walk into the garden as I was leaving and realized I left my camera sitting in here so I stood there watching them for a few moments. Plus the whole area is beautiful and I would love to go back and take some pictures.” I walk into the kitchen and sit the sacks on the counter pouring the fruit into a straining bowl.

“Vemo I want to introduce you to Kankuro, he is an old friend of my family.” I walk over and offer my hand to shake and Mr. Cheng gestures to bow, so I pull my hand back and bow to him. He bows back to me.

“It’s nice to meet you Vemo, I’m glad to see you were a good soul in the orchard this morning.” He smiles at me. His golden hair laying across the floor. His robe was elegant and looked like it had been made by very skilled tailors. The whole color scheme was a golden color with black accents and red embroidery. It had more designs on it than a emo rock band shirt. It had red and gold tassels hanging from the shoulders and ties that would line across the area and looked as if they were frozen in time but moving with every move he made.

“What do you mean good soul? Were you in there as well?” I looked at him shocked and confused.

“Yes I was busy keeping the animals away from you until I realized you were a calm good soul that had no weapons for hunting. I try to make sure all of the animals in this forest stay safe and secure during the day.” He said while munching on some toasted bread.

“I could see how that would be a very strenuous job, what about some of the people that hunt at night?”

He looks at me suddenly with his expression lost, “that job belongs to another...” he said with a tone in his voice that was telling me to drop the subject. “But I was very pleased to meet you today Vemo. I hope to see you again sometime!” He says smiling while standing up. Mr. Cheng stands up with him and I decide to go ahead and stand as well. We all bow and Mr. Cheng ushers him out of the room. I can’t help but to think to myself about how he and that woman from last night were very similar. I wonder if they are related somehow. Mr. Cheng walks back into the room and stops at the table smiling.

“Such a wonderful day so far! We’ve got plentiful food and good visitors today.” He looks around the room and then sits down.

“Where is Juki? I haven’t seen her since I left for the garden.” I say thinking aloud while looking curiously around the room. I notice a difference in the lighting as it is darker now than it was when I walked in. Which was strange because the sun has already risen past the horizon so it should be getting brighter.

“Oh yes! I forgot.” He stands up and walks to my room and opens the door, “there’s my girl! I apologize for forgetting about hiding you in there.” She walks out curiously looking around and then walking to the table. “I had to hide her again when I heard the knocking after you had left. He actually wasn’t here for very long, I think he only wanted to make himself known and meet you.” He serves Juki and me a plate.

“I wonder why these people keep showing up and taking an interest in me?” I start to dig in and notice the food tastes different. Strange, very delicious, but strange tasting. “What did you do to the food this morning?”

“Kankuro gave me a special herb and told me it was great for seasoning and also supposed to give you energy for the day without the crash that those energy drinks you like give you.” He laughs and finishes his plate.

“Ha ha very funny, you know I actually like the taste of them. It’s not often that I find something that I love the taste of you know.” I give him a sideways look.

“Oh I’m aware. I remember it taking ages for me to find something you would eat and then when you finally brought some of that Italian food over I realized that you loved rice and noodles. So that’s when I started doing my egg noodle more often.”

“I would like to know where this herb is, I could mix it in with some berries and bananas and make a killer smoothie with it.” He looks at me with a frightened look.

“Killer? I don’t want you going around poisoning anyone or yourself!” He comes back at me with angst.

“No, no, no! I mean really good smoothie. I said killer in a slang term. I meant it is very good.” I said while laughing so hard I almost choked on my food. I finished off my plate and grabbed them all up to take to the sink to wash. “So Mr. Cheng, what’s on the agenda for today? Anything special?” I look back at him while washing the dishes and setting them in the strainer.

“Well, let’s see.” He rocks back and forth while pondering, “we need to check the bridges, the shrine, and the hot springs. We will take everything with us when we go we don’t have to come back to the cabin until we are done. We will start with the bridges and make sure everything is well and clean up anything we might see out in that area. Then we will move on to the shrine and make sure it is well and the area. Then we will finally come to the hot springs and that’s where we will end our journey and take a bath then come home for the day.”

“Sounds good. Do you think we will have to make any repairs? I didn’t see anything wrong with the bridges but then again I didn’t really pay much attention to the condition other than they were built by someone with a really talented skill.”

“I’m hoping we won’t find anything to repair, maybe some water damage or treatment repair. Then clean up at all of them. After that and before sundown we all get a bath and return home fresh and refreshed. Sound good?” He looks at me while standing up.

“Sure thing. I’m almost done with these dishes.” I stack the last of the dishes up and dry my hands off. I walk into my room and grab my bag, walk back into the kitchen and grab my camera, then offer to let Juki ride in my bag so she wouldn’t have to walk the whole time and she hops in gleefully. “Alright I’m ready to go.” He smiles and we walk into the front room and get our shoes on and I grab my hat. We head around the house and grab some supplies and tools and head for the bridges. We arrive at the bridges see and unfamiliar sight in the middle of the bridge...