Disclaimer: I do not own, in the past, present, or future dimensions, Dragonball Z.  (Though I wish to no ends that I did… I'd be making mucho money right about now… XP)

"Chi-Chi's Dish" Interpretation by the Author:  My hidden meaning.  OoOoOoOoOoOo…

In all honestly, Chi-Chi's Dish didn't have a lot of symbolism.  And the symbolism that WAS there was incredibly hard to spot.  So I'll read it off to you…

The sun in the beginning and end had two different meanings, actually.  In the beginning, it's "orange and fierce" and "beginning to set."  The setting part represented Piccolo's lack of time before the androids arrived, as well as his diminishing hope and belief that the world would survive.  The orange and fierce part of it represents Piccolo's mood—his anxiety, urgency about finding Goku, and his irritability.  Towards the end the sun has finally set, "…only to rise again another day.  And I shall be there to confront it."  Piccolo's worry has diminished, and should it rise again, he will be more prepared to take it on.

This is a part that I myself didn't understand entirely, even when I wrote it: Chi-Chi's claims that she doesn't know where her husband and son are, because they never tell her.  I suppose I was trying to say that she doesn't know where her family is emotionally in relation to her.  Goku and Gohan are never close to her in the show.  There's more of a father-son bonding than there is a father-wife, mother-son, or even an entire family bonding.  I don't know why I included that, though, because it hardly has anything to do with the main point of the story at all.  I suppose I wanted to throw in a sense of mystery…  OoOoOo… Lol.

I'd be surprised if anyone but Stef-chan picked this one up, and that's only because she told me to write it!  (If you did catch it, though, good job!  ^____^)  The food that Chi-Chi has is symbolic as well.  It represents her feelings.  All the dishes that Goku eats are good ones—symbolizing the love she shows him.  But she shows Piccolo another side of herself… a more tired, less perfect side, because she knew Piccolo won't say anything about it to anyone.  And even when Goku comes home in the end, he only smells the good dishes, perhaps showing the audience that he doesn't bother to see any deeper into Chi-Chi's feelings than what's on the surface.

And that's about it.  The main message I was trying to get across was, of course, pre-mature judgment, but Chi-Chi explains that quite bluntly.  I don't think I hid any secrecy around that one…

Author's Notes:  This story was done over the longest period of time than any of my other Soothing Souls anecdotes—about a week and a half, to be more exact.  It's a lot "happier," so to speak, and it's also a LOT shorter than the others.  (Even though the others are short as well.)  I wasn't really trying to shoot for a dark or depressing motive in this one, as I wasn't depressed myself.  Rather, I was aiming to improve my skills of dictation and description.  As you will soon see (hopefully… unless you turn back now or suddenly die), a major part of this story is spent on "painting a picture" of the setting and characters, and there's hardly any action other than dialogue.  Oh, this is also another Gohan/Piccolo one.  XP  I seem to be a sap for Piccolo suddenly, for some reason…

I was inspired to do this one from watching the movie, The Pianist.  (Brilliant movie, btw.)  There was one scene in particular that touched me, even though it wasn't nearly as important as many of the others.  When the pianist guy (I've forgotten his name… :P) was in hiding in the second apartment, he was told to keep quiet because he wasn't supposed to be there.  Yet there was a piano in the room…  My heart ached with emotion when he sat down and pretended to play, listening to the music in his head.  See if you can see the connection between that scene and this story…  ^.^

Too Easy to be Found

I cry his name—in the politically correct form, of course—and laugh and trip over myself as I hurry to his boot-tipped toes.  The sun shines on them, and they sparkle.

His legs are crossed.  He's floating.  He's in the shade of a tree.  His weighted cape and cap are lying beside him.  And he's in such an abandoned, green, peaceful valley, hidden between two towering, snow-capped mountains that for some reason I can't help but think: he looks out of place here…

He opens his eyes and looks at me.  "I was meditating," he says with a smile.  I grin back; I'd known that.  I'd long since grown fond of his meditating stance, he did it so often around us.  "How'd you know I was here?"

I tell him that I didn't, that I was looking for him and found him on happenstance.  He stares at me for many silent seconds.  "Yes, of course, you didn't know where I was."

This is one of those many moments where I shall be his pupil.  I know it; I can sense it.  I give him a wry look, take the bait, and ask him where he was specifically.  I ask him where his mind had traveled.  Had it swam in the streams of the valley?  Had it trudged through those mountains caked with snow?  And then I ask him where does he want his mind to be.

Mr. Piccolo chuckles.  "You're a very bright kid, Gohan.  Yet still naïve.  Why would I go to these places when I can bodily visit them so easily?"  I don't know, I whisper.  He smiles.  "No, I was not in the streams, in the clouds, or in the snow.  I was not worrying about what was to come, I was not drifting to some peace that would easily elude me, and I was not trudging through my own sorrows and past blemishes."

I watch him, and I notice that his green face matches the color of the hills of grass a ways behind him.  They frame his face.  I tilt my head and narrow my eyes, trying to internalize it all.  Then I slowly repeat my last question.

"Where do I want to be?  Where does anyone want to be, kid?  I want to be free of my body and mind and spirit.  I want to die, to strip myself of every burden I carry, so that I am nothing more than innocence and ignorance.  But when will that be done?  How can I do that sooner?"

I tell him I do not know of any path other than death itself.  Horrified with myself, I hurriedly beg him not to die or to try to commit suicide, that life's burdens really aren't that bad, and that, somehow, there certainly must be other ways.  Piccolo chuckles and waves a hand, brushing my fears aside.

"I wouldn't do such a thing.  And yes, there are other ways.  But they all start here."  He pointed to his right temple, and his eyes were clouded with a strong, quiet emotion or thought I could not place.  "It's all a mind game, Gohan.  It's the secret to success, to peace, and obviously to meditation.  It's the key to your escape, to your freedom.  It's the key to happiness.

"We've all been there before.  Some go involuntarily.  Some go without such a sense of direction that their mind falls into pits of sticky despair and cannot detach itself from its troubles.  And I'd much rather be a tree than a leaf, Gohan.  At least a tree knows where it's going."

I smile and my eyes sparkle with awe.  He's such a great tutor.  I ask him, in all sincerity and earnestness, where he was before I disturbed him.  Really.

Mr. Piccolo chuckles and stands up, wiping his pants off, even though he hadn't been touching the ground in the first place.  He picks up his cap and cape and puts them on in their respective spots.  He turns around, and I can swear he's going to take off into the sky without answering me, before he says, "I was on Namek, kid."  On Namek, I repeat inquisitively.  He nods, his antenna bobbing lightly.  "On Namek with you."

And he flies off.  And I am with him.

~Pudgoose