The Stuff of Dreams

I don't own Kung Fu Panda

They say you can't feel in dreams. I think they say that to keep you from dreaming.

He cut the ropes holding him, looking to his comrades. The fires drew closer and closer to them. He didn't know if he would make it. The laughing, jeering crowd in the wooden stands enjoyed the panic in their eyes. Their backs were against the wall. They were huddled together like Christians holding each other in front of raging lions. Suddenly, the ropes broke, yet the fires came charging toward them. The panda quickly cut the others' ropes. It grew hotter. He could feel it. Just then, the fires vanished like a cloud. The panda looked to the back wall. It wasn't a wall, it was a curtain leading down a small stony corridor to bright light. "Run!" He shouted to the others. They all did, somehow magically free from their ties. The panda ran and ran. The shouts and disappointed screams grew colder and further. Then, bright light hit them. They were outside. Wide stretches of grassy earth only interrupted by gently breathing hills. His comrade, a small white pigeon, took to the sky.

"Come on! To the hills," said the pigeon. The panda could see it too. In fact, he could see it from the height of the pigeon. He looked down and saw his feet floating off the grassy earth. His comrades, some running others flying, stormed the grassy sea and away from their captors. A song whispered through the air and entered their ears:

And shall hear the trumpet sound in that morning

Oh, Shout of glory for I shall mount above the sky

When I hear the trumpet sound in that morning

A line of trees suddenly caught the panda's sight. His feet found the earth again. The leaves partially blocked the sun in the heart of the woods. The panda drew closer. The trees, growing taller, slowly formed a hallway. The warm grass changed to hardened tile, though not too cold on his bare feet. He walked slowly into what now seemed to be a conference room where a family hugged a large round gorilla. Maybe their uncle? The panda wouldn't remember. But he looked onto another hallway, separated by two double doors with windows. Through the windows, his eyes locked onto another creature, dressed in a black and white striped tank top. It was a tiger. A female one. She looked like she was jogging until she saw the panda. The tiger bolted for the other way. The panda chased her. He could feel his lungs exhausted from the initial sprint, but he ran faster.

"You know," The panda called out as they entered the beginning of a massive, gallant, and airy hotel lobby, "it's supposed to be the tiger that chases the prey." The tiger might have said something under her loud laughter, but the panda couldn't figure it out. The tiger darted into an elevator that shut just as the panda missed it. She must be going down to the subway. The panda got into another elevator and went down only to feel the shaft shake like an earthquake. The panda opened the door and found himself in the frigid, lonely graveyard to the left of the hotel, and icy snow laughed at his face. The tiger had slipped away.

"Po, wake up!" shouted Po's sister. The male panda grumbled out of his warm bed and yawned. The female's voice came from Po's door. "Come on, it's 6 o'clock. You have work at seven."

"Okay, okay," Po sighed. "Give me a minute." Po quickly grabbed his phone and opened his recorder app. He normally recorded any strange dream that was so significant that he had to get down as much as he could. And something like this dream was definitely worth recording. His foggy head and tired mouth mumbled out the words, and once he got the gist down, he got dressed for his work at the grocery store. He slipped into his black work pants. He grabbed a dark green polo shirt, XXL of course, and shuffled out his small bedroom to the kitchen where his sister was waiting for him. "Hey, Mei."

"Hey," She sniffed. "Did you shower last night?"

"Huh? Oh not really," Po yawned. "I was writing and-"

"Yeah, yeah. The muse couldn't leave you, had to write it out, yeah I know. Tell me again why you didn't major in English?" Mei asked.

"And be a teacher? No."

"There are other things you can do other than teach, Po."

Po shrugged, "For now, I'll be fine with my grocery job."

"Hmm." Mei pursed her lips. She was shorter than Po and less puffy and round in the cheeks like most pandas. Her jade eyes, like Po's, were very large, sparkling, and cute. She took her pendent flower out from her ear and looked at it. "And are you looking into jobs that help you with your writing career?"

"Mei."

"I'm serious Po. I know you want to be the best writer that you can be, but you can't do that unless you get out there-"

"And do what?" Po interrupted. "Look, writing is just a little hobby for me."

"Really?" Mei rose her eyebrow. She scraped the pastry stuff onto her apron. "A hobby where you're writing a hundred stories and thirty poems?"

"It's small. Besides, it's just something small until I get a new job somewhere else."

"Hopefully it will be before your manager drives you insane," Mei muttered. Po sighed as he ate the cereal with soy milk in front of him. "Po, you have to hurry. It's already-"

"On it!" Po threw his big thick coat on and rushed out the door.

"Po, your shoes!" Mei shouted from the apartment door. The panda commuted to work through a slowly waking city. Po took the bus. He had a car but parking was like Gladiator fighting. The grocery store job paid well, better than most, but it was in the richer side of town. That's probably why it paid more.

Po looked at his phone on the bus, flipping through posts and memes about comics, news, and writing. Though he graduated college about two years ago, the panda took the first job that could pay well. He needed to get out of his parents' house so Mei and he split the pay. The bus ride stopped just before the store, which was on the outskirts of the richer side of the town, much more spacious than the city. While every block had concrete, construction, and a store or apartment on each square foot in the city, the richer side could "afford" more space. This side of the town was called Feng Shui. Anyway, Po walked past the sleepy streets and bolted into the grocery store. "Po! Hurry up, you're nearly late," said a simian friend. The panda quickly ran to the clock-punch and clocked in.

"Whew," Po sighed. "That was close. Okay, Monkey. What do we have to do?" The simian looked at his chart and passed it to Po. The panda grumbled when he saw it. "You're kidding."

"Nope, the 92-seed bread is delayed," Monkey sighed.

"Aw, man! That's the one everyone complains about," Po grumbled. Monkey shrugged. The panda roped his green apron on and went onto the floor. "We're on bread duty, right?"

"We're always on bread duty when the bread is delayed," Monkey groaned, "Why, I don't know. But come on, we have to get moving before Boqin shows up."

"I thought the other manager was supposed to be here."

"Nope."

"Darn it!" Po grumbled. Just then, the manager came to them. Boqin was a scrawny snow leopard with a half-lidded glare that only rose whenever he was shouting at anyone. He was like an old grouchy man trapped in a 28-year-old body; he even had a small hunched back. Boqin marched straight to Po and glared up at him. He was only a little shorter than the panda.

"Panda!" He shouted, "Did you know that the bread truck is late?"

"Yes sir I-"

"And what do you think the customers will do about it?"

Nothing, like the last thirty times, Po thought but said audibly, "I don't know, sir."

"Riot! They'll riot for all we know. I want you and Monkey to work and make sure that no customers come complaining to me. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir," Po sighed. The snow leopard rudely sniffed and walked away; his back crouched over more. This happened regularly. Because the store was a highly respected health grocery store, things came in much slower. Po did the inventory and stocking and helped the customers find the "seemingly" hidden things of the shop. Monkey helped the days go by easier when Boqin was in charge, and the other two managers weren't nearly as bad to deal with, but Boqin owned the store. Actually, his father owned the store and put him in charge of it.

The panda struggled with the customers who wanted bread. "Excuse me, where is your bread?" They would say.

Po would slap on a wide smile as quickly as he could and told them about the delay. "But don't worry," He would say, "It will be coming back Thursday or next Tuesday." Most of the customers frowned but nodded and left. A few became upset, and Po had to calm them down.

But Monkey and Po remember this one particular person that gave them a headache. "Excuse me, sir," said an elder goat with a cane in his hand. "Would you happened to have Bread Mush?" Po smiled sadly and replied.

"I'm sorry, but the bread truck has been delayed."

"What?!" shouted the goat in a voice Po didn't expect him to use. "What do you mean it's delayed?! I travel all the way from the north side of the city to get it."

"Oh?" Po simply said. He never saw the old man before. "Well, I'm terribly sorry but-"

"How am I going to enjoy my food now?! Don't you know that this is the only bread that I can actually eat? It's prechewed!" Po clamped his mouth and summoned every muscle in his gut to keep his lunch down.

"Well, I'm really sorry, sir, but I-"

"Oh what would you know about being sorry," the goat coughed out. "A big guy like you could probably eat everything in the store in one day." He poked the panda's stomach with his cane. "I can't believe this." Po sadly looked at his round belly. Fortunately, Monkey came to help.

"We are really sorry, sir, but there is no reason to be... upset." A staff member can never say that a customer was rude. "We will get your food-"

"When?"

"If the truck comes on time, around Thursday or-"

"And what am I going to eat then?!"

"I'm sure that the store has other things that you can digest," Monkey replied.

"No! I eat from this brand only. The others give me a stomachache," said the goat.

"I'm sure we'll find something," Monkey smiled forcefully. The goat's sour face glared at him before walking with the simian, grumbling and cursing. Po's other co-workers helped him feel better, but his belly was still a problem for him. That day was particularly hard for Po and it made a lasting impression on him about the nature of his job.

While that customer was extraordinarily hard for Po, it was still a surprise to every one to hear his death the next week.

As Po's day went on, the dream he had still lingered on his mind. Stacking and counting the products was tedious, but it did allow him a lot of time to think. Po stared at the shiny maroon floor, absentmindedly walking into Monkey. "Oh! Sorry."

"Po, what's wrong? You're in the clouds more than normal."

"Ah, just daydreaming."

"You know," Monkey chuckled, "there is such a thing as too much daydreaming." Po rolled his eyes. "Anyway, there's a palate in the back that's supposed to go on aisle fifteen. Could you get it for me?"

"Of course," Po sighed. The panda walked through the small crowd of older wealthy customers. That's usually who comes to health stores. They were the only ones that could afford the herbal teas, "all-natural" creams, and pure organic foods. Po went to the back where palates, boxes, and shelves as high as three stories were rammed together. Once he found the palate, he brought it to the front near the cash registers, where Boqin seemed to be "waiting" for him.

"Panda! What are you doing with that palate? That's supposed to be in the back for registering," Boqin grumbled.

"I'm sorry sir, I... I didn't..." Po trailed off. He never got distracted on the job; there was very little to get distracted with. Unless it was an emergency, the mundanity of the store could put him to sleep.

But not this time.

Po's eyes looked past Boqin and saw something out of a dream. There, heading out from the cash register, was a beautiful female tiger in a crimson blazer with elegant dress pants. Her lips full and shiny in their black undertone. She smiled at the cashier. Her half-lidded eyes, so cheerful yet so seductive, slowly moved towards Po. The panda froze. Did she see him? Those amber eyes looked like they could pierce through any man. She looked around as if she were trying to find who was looking at her.

"Panda!" shouted Boqin.

"Wha, huh?" The panda awoke. The tiger walked out the door. Po sagged his shoulders.

"Were you even listening to me? I'll have you know that-"

"Yes, yes sir," Po interrupted, "I'll put the palate back, get back to my job, and leave you alone to your busy schedule. I'm sorry that I interrupted you." He didn't give the snow leopard time to reply. There was no need to. Po sadly trudged back to his work. Who was that person? And why did it seem like she came from a dream?

It didn't matter either way. Whether it was a dream or real life, both of them got away.

Continued...