A Familiar Panda

Well this is a weird prompt, Sancha told himself. He looked at the writing prompt on the Blackboard assignment with his head cocked to the right side and his eyebrows furrowed. 

Describe the perfect person you have never met. Provide a physical, emotional, and mental explanation of the person as if they actually exist. 

Usually, Sancha’s imagination could fabricate wild kingdoms, alien planets, and talking animals immediately. It’s been his super power since the first grade. In between his chaotic family, selfish associates he thought were friends, and his uncharacteristically emotional father; his ability to curate stories and put words together is why he decided to major in English in college. This one prompt, however, completely stumped him. He didn’t like that. So, he closed his laptop and prepared to go to work. Today was Black Friday, and he chose the late shift because he refused to deal with cheap people at 1 AM in the morning. Plus, his attitude wasn’t built for morning shifts of any kind. He knew today would be seven levels of hell, but the money was a beautiful addition to his bank account when he didn’t want to bother his dad for anything. 

As expected, the store was filled with whiny kids, latina grandmas shouting in Spanish to their children to carry 52-inch television screens, and a line almost to the outside of the store for customer service. Sancha was grateful to work in the garden section.  Except for the occasional request to reach the blow up Santa on the high shelf, Sancha was left alone to check out old aunties and dads trying to find decorations for the holidays. 

Sancha put his personal belongings in his work locker then headed to his assigned station for the next 9 hours.  His journey from the work locker to the Garden center was a long one, so he had to time to witness several types of people and family dynamics: the new parents trying to find the perfect holiday outfit, the grandmother looking for the best butter for her pies, the whiny 9-year-old attempting to convince their mom to buy a new video game, the uncle clowning his nephews for picking up too small skinny jeans to purchase, the boyfriend and girlfriend arguing over which house had the best food.  Sancha ebbed and flowed through each conversation like a nosy ghost involuntarily giggling or making unnecessary facial expressions. His brain took each group of people, opened the mental characteristic box, and placed a description there for future keeping.  He may not like working during the hustle and bustle, but his creativity truly appreciated it.

“Wow. You came early.” His co-worker blurted out. 

“Glad to make your dreams come true.” Sancha responded. 

“Nothing major to pass on, but you will have to move that ladder back so that the night crew can use it. Otherwise, it’s been pretty quiet over here. Can’t say the same for the main check out. Somebody drew a gun on someone for a Nintendo Switch!” 

Sancha shook his head. “And this is why I’m in the Garden Center. The worst that can happen to me is I get dirt on my shirt. Enjoy the rest of your day.” 

“I will once I get outta here. Bye!” Sancha’s co-worker waved while pulling off the store smock. Sancha did his first walk through of the different aisles to put things back where ignorant shoppers dropped lights or gnomes on the wrong aisles due to laziness.  He was putting back a silver wreath when he spotted a middle aged woman. Her hair was in a black short bob style. She grabbed a box of white Christmas lights with a dark caramel hand manicured with black fingernails. Her eyes were deep and dark brown and appeared to ponder if the amount of lights was enough. Her black knee length dress flowed comfortably over the curves of her chest and hips. On her left leg, there was a tattoo of a panda resting on a bamboo shoot with a smile on its face. Sancha looked at her until she looked up and almost made eye contact with her. Then, he moved to the next aisle to continue his sweep. His brain, however, couldn’t put her in the mental character box like the others because of the familiarity she triggered in his mind.  He saw her face somewhere before, but he couldn’t pinpoint the location or time or date. 

He made his way back to the register to help people check out their items quickly and avoid the chaos in the front of the store. His eyes did glance over to watch her as she paced up the aisles with the other person with her that looked like a younger family member. She would ask the younger person a question before deciding what to pick up and drop in the basket.  Eventually, she made her way to the register and started adding items to the conveyor belt.  

“Hi, sweetie.” She greeted. 

“Hello.  Holiday shopping?” Sancha asked. 

“Surely am. With my little helper here.” She answered while giving the young person a shoulder hug. The young person shyly smiled. 

“Good job with helping her.” Sancha acknowledged. 

“Thank you.” The young person responded quietly. 

“Are you from around here?” Sancha asked. 

“For the most part. I moved away for a couple of years while I was married. Came back after a divorce. Then I moved again. I’m here visiting my sister for a while. You?” She asked. 

“I’m here for school. It’s my Junior year. Your total is $35.46.”  Sancha replied. She reached into her over the shoulder purchase and pulled out a purple butterfly wallet to pay. 

“Congratulations. What’s your major?” She asked while sliding her debit card. 

“English.” 

“Really? That probably would have been mine if I went to school. I always like people watching and imagining their backstory.”  

“Me too. Don’t like talking to them a lot, but I’ll definitely watch.” Sancha chuckled. He handed her a receipt. 

“Well, I hope we added to your character list. Happy Holidays.” She answered. She and her little helper grabbed their bags and walked out the store.  

Sancha took an extra 10 seconds to look at her as she walked out with the young person before he went back to helping other customers with their holiday purchases. Throughout the rest of the shift, he continued to come back to her face. Her smile. Her comfortable voice that sounded like a soft touch on a child’s cheek.  Her brown eyes. Her panda tattoo. She was a definite contender for his next short story. 

Sancha got home from his shift and called his dad, Marvin.  When Marvin picked up the phone, his loud cackle filled the silence of Sancha’s apartment. 

“Hey son. How you livin’?” Marvin asked. 

“I’m good, Dad. How was Thanksgiving?” Sancha asked. 

“Good. Good. Your Aunt Maunch keeps bringing her nasty potato salad to dinner. I told her nobody wanted that crayon yellow mess.” 

Sancha shook his head. “If Auntie is nothing else, she is consistent. Did you bring the new one to Thanksgiving?” 

“Yeah. I brought Teema. She didn’t talk much to anyone, but no one cussed her out this time. I count that as a win for this holiday.” 

“For you, definitely. But…I have a question. About…my mom.” 

Marvin got really quiet to where Sancha could hear the commentator from the basketball game give the replay of a recent slam dunk. 

“I…I know you don’t like talking about her–” 

“Because she ain’t shit, Sanch!” Marvin shouted. 

“Dad. Breathe.” Sancha said quietly. He gave Marvin time to mediate his breathing back to normal. 

“Sancha. Can we not?” Marvin asked. 

“Dad. I’m not asking this to say anything about who you are and what you have done for me. I just have questions.” 

Marvin deeply exhaled. “What?” 

“What did she look like?” 

“Sanch…I don’t…I..don’t remember what she–” 

“Dad. You’re lying. Regardless of how much you hate her, you slept with her and had me.  At one point and time, you were close enough to develop a mental picture. So, what did she look like?” 

Marvin exasperated. “She was short. Dark black hair….Brown eyes. Had a panda tattooed on her left leg.” 

Sancha closed his eyes. He replayed the appearance of the lady in the store today. Her face. Her deep brown eyes. Her willingness to help the younger person with her. Her familiarness had a reason.

“Sancha?” Marvin interrupted Sancha’s imagery. 

“Yeah. Yeah. What…uh…was her name?” 

“Delia.”

“Delia. Ok.” 

“Now why did we do this?” 

Sancha paused before answering. “I…am working on an assignment. Figured talking about her would be a good response since I’ve never met her.” 

“Oh. Ok. Well lemme get back to Teema. I’ll talk to you later.” 

“Yep. Talk to you soon.” Sancha hung up the phone and exhaled. She had a name. She had an identity. And he may never see her again.  But for now there is one place that she could exist. He went to his laptop, logged in, and went to his assignment on Blackboard. 

Describe the perfect person you have never met. Provide a physical, emotional, and mental explanation of the person as if they actually exist. 

Sancha opened a google document, and the words started to flow like streams to lake water. She has a panda on her left leg. Its smile was comfortable and full of love like the smile on her face…