[Gift] Public Opinion - Panda

Panda took a deep breath, before leaving the house. Tala asked for some groceries for a special dinner for Briar. Of course, Panda offered to go. She had finished all her chores, and had nothing else to do. So why shouldn’t she go?

Still, she had to take a deep breath before leaving the house. She was always anxious that someone would be rude to her or that everyone would look at her and somehow know how she wasn’t useful, and, of course, would hate her. Because that was the only logical consequence.

She took another deep breath: Rationalize. She was doing chores, so it’s not like she was so useless to the unknown eye. People usually were polite to her. No one seemed to hate her so far. And if someone hated her, what could she do? Be more useful, of course, and volunteer to help them. So that’s what she would do.

She finally got the courage to leave the house, walking slowly along the so known path to the market. She stopped midway, thinking loudly. “Isn’t the music school around there?” And with that, she turned around, changing directions. “Miss Juniper did say she needed some help moving around some instruments.”

She slowly walked towards the music school. She took some deep breaths along the way. What if she thought Panda was intruding by going there like that? Deep breath. Miss Juniper did say she could come anytime to help. It would be fine.

What if other people don’t want her around? What if everyone hates her there? Deep breath. She will be only helping, if she is useful enough no one will hate her. Or at least, they will tolerate her there. And that seemed enough.

“Oh, Amanda! It’s so good to see you here!” Miss Juniper said, waving to Panda.

Panda approached her, without knowing much about what to do with herself. “You said you needed help with moving some heavy instruments...”

“Oh, yes, I guess I did,” Miss Juniper pondered. “They are in the second room to the right. But I’m not sure you will be able to carry them, they’re very big.”

“I can do it!” Panda reassured, standing in her tiptoes, trying to look taller. “I’m not that small. I can help!”

Well, she was that small, but she wouldn’t let that deter her. She was that desperate to help, at least. “Of course, dear, but if you can’t, it’s no problem.”

“Don’t worry, Miss Juniper!” Panda exclaimed, walking quickly to the other room. Before Miss Juniper could tell her to not do it. Panda felt like she was so removed from usefulness, as if Miss Juniper didn’t even believe she could do anything to help.

Deep breath. No, Miss Juniper was just worried, wanting to make sure Panda could actually help. Nothing against Panda, just facts that she was a small and useless paralogos.

She carefully avoided any other person, as she made a beeline to the instruments room. As soon as she opened the door, she was met with the reason why Miss Juniper was worried. The instruments were big, some of it her own size, some even bigger.

Yet she wasn’t intending to back down. Oh, no, no way. Nothing would get in the way of her being useful. She took another deep breath, and started to slowly try to lift the first instrument, unsuccessfully. She tried to lift the second instrument, a bit smaller than herself. Unsuccessfully, again.

She took another deep breath. She was going to help. She had to! She resorted then to slowly trying to pull and push the instruments, until they moved as she wanted. She, too slowly for her own taste, did it to each instrument, until they were all moved to another room, as instructed.

After she was done, feeling a little proud of herself, she approached Miss Juniper. “I have to go, but if you need more help, I will come back more times,” she said. What she didn’t say included a ‘please, let me come back, I just want to be useful’.

“Thank you, dear. You’re welcome to come back as many times as you wish!” Miss Juniper said, smiling softly at Panda. “Your help is always a welcome one.”

“Great! See you, Miss Juniper!” Panda waved, running back to the market.

She did the shop as quickly as she could. While still maintaining the quality checks for each item. She wouldn’t get anything less than perfect for Tala and Briar. They deserved the best.

As she stopped at each market stall, the human owners would greet her and ask about her day. All very polite and seemed glad to see her. Everytime it made her heart flutter: they didn’t hate her! And that was the best she could ask for.