stories from home: anthony

lola always told good stories.

i remember one of them. it was the story of how the firetree first came to be. it tells of how a young god fell in love with a village girl. i don't remember it by heart and the details are difficult to recall. but i do miss lola's stories and every so often that they come to mind, my heart feels the pangs.

my parents moved to the city when i was 12. the first night that we did was also the first night that i had to do without accounts of princes, and dragons and magic. it certainly had been difficult and i'd bring myself to daydreaming in the afternoons of how the stories went along.

i was 15 when lolo died. we came back to the province on the 2nd day of the wake. there we stayed for a week. before we left again for the city my parents tried their best to convince lola to stay with us but she insisted that she stay. the time i was there, i also tried to convince lola to tell me her stories again but she fell ill and i never got what i wanted. lola decided to stay in our hometown with her household yaya.

my parents died in a road accident 5 years after, when on their way back from baguio the bus behind them lost gear and slammed into the mountainside. the accident crushed the right side of the car.

i didn't have any relatives other than lola so i was sent to the province. i was 20 and idealistic. i wanted to see the world. i wanted to make the most out of my life. but lola needed taking care of. last year lola had started getting very ill. the doctors said she had alzheimer's. nobody else was there to take care of her as yaya was going home to their hometown.

my lola proved difficult to look after during the time i took care of her. she frequently vomitted and on some days would defecate on her bed. she was also very temperemental and would often throw the household stuff. there were good days when i would be able to talk to her.

i often wished things could turn out for the better. i wanted to go back to the city. finish my degree. get a job. go out of the country. but there was lola and i was the only one she had and she was the one that made me stay.

my lola talked to me about when i was young. it was one of her better nights. i told her of how i missed her stories. she told me one. that story i remember well. it was about a young man who felt he had everything in the world for him. but his family held him back. so one day he ran away from home. then the story goes on to tell of how he became king of a country and lived a glorious life.

i wished i could run away from home. but then again nobody was there to take care of lola.

my last duty every night was to check on lola and to make sure that everything was okay. i would close her windows. go to her bed. check to see if she was okay and then turn off her bedside lamp.

i looked at lola as i was about to turn off the lamp. i thought about my life. i thought about hers. i thought about how things would be in the future. before i turned off the lamp, i fluffed lola's pillow and stared at my hands for some time....and then i turned off the lamp.

my lola was 67 when we buried her that sunday. it was raining in the cemetery and the clammy moisture clung to my skin and the sharp wind stung my face. the priest made the last blessing and the shovellers lowered her coffin. 6 feet of ground and dust separated me and my lola that afternoon. i stayed by her grave for an hour. though the rain fell strongly that afternoon the coldness didn't bother me. it was a dark dreary day then. but i felt that tomorrow, the sun would be out.

lola always told good stories. her stories didn't always end nicely. but however they did, they always turned out for the best.

of red-red, D.O.M.s, and the perfect cheesecake

just recently i happened to be in dumaguete to attend a friend's wedding. these are the accounts of what occured during the said visit.

11:00 AM Thursday, June 1, 2006:
we left the office around 11:00 AM. the agreement was to leave at about 10:00 AM but the Filipino trait resurfaced and a couple of us came late. (apologies to Paul and Roshelle who had to wait). we headed on taxi to the South Bus Terminal to ride a bus for Liloan, Cebu. alex who also came in late was pleased that we met at the office as he had Citilink in mind.

upon reaching Liloan we took the fast craft to Sibulan, which took about 30 mins. nothing of interest happened that time.

2:00 PM Thursday, June 1, 2006:
dumaguete is a very quaint city. it is not celebrative but rather has a very relaxed atmosphere. as usual Lexie wanted to introduce gayness into the conservative city. every now and then while we were riding the multicab to WorldView Hotel, he would wave at different passersbys and greet, "Hi Churva! Kumusta naman ang pagchuchumenylyn natin dyan?"

upon getting to the hotel we learned that our reservations had only been for the 2nd and so we had to settle for a family room with an extra bed. i had to settle for the extra bed as I was in the presence of queens; a drama queen and two drag queens.

7:00 PM Thursday, June 1, 2006:
red-red is the oldest of 3 siblings. she was also the first of the siblings to practice the oldest profession...hoaring.

we never got to meet red-red during our visit in dumaguete. we had walked the boardwalk two nights in a row hoping to meet the infamous prostitute. never happened.

meet however her two siblings.

r. teves, a.k.a., blue-blue. blue-blue is the sibling with the weakest constitution. born early and with a congenital head deformation, she may frequently complain of pain. often the party pooper, you should be wary around blue-blue as she tends to be the most EYVEL among the siblings.

eth. ethtemar, a.k.a. black-black. black-black is the most photogenic of the sisters. (take note, picture beautiful does not necessarily mean person beautiful) despite this shortcoming, black-black possesses tremendous confidence. sorry, that's an understatement. confidence to the highest level.

somewhere between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM, Friday, June 2, 2006:
"hi! my friend wants to meet you." wouldn't you like to hear that? you hear that and you're heart skips a beat. thoughts run through your head and your heart starts beating. and it's interesting for you to realize that someone actually fancies you.

reality check, what if a Dirty Old Man is the one asking you that question for his Dirty Old Man friend? same physiological reaction. thoughts run through your head and your heart starts beating. "could i possibly run fast enough to get away from them?"

we we're in the said situation in dumaguete. well, not us. just paul and lexie.

after hours, Friday, June 2, 2006:

drunk talk does not make sense. i don't do drunk talk because i try not to get drunk. roshelle does not drink at all. i have a feeling that if she did. she'd have a nervous breakdown. but lexie and paul do. they drank quite a lot. which was probably what got us into the predicament earlier. the conversation, excuse me, ramble, was about love, sex and reminiscing.

on the way back. we had to walk because dumaguete does not have taxis. no pedicabs in sight too. all for the better. like i said drunk talk does not make sense. if you would like to see some proof, ask me. i've got it all on video. it's a music video actually of the popular song, "how much is that doggie in the window."

we did get home safely that night though and the sleep was quite good.

5:00 PM Friday, June 2, 2006:
no! we did not sleep until 5! we woke up right around 11 but i skipped a few hours in my narrative. i'll often skip to the good parts.

chuckie's wedding started at 5. the invite said 4 but things always do start late here in the philippines. it's a recurring trait as i said earlier.

7:00 PM Friday, June 2, 2006:
the reception started about 7. it was in one of dumaguete's better resorts. i forgot the resort name. lexie says it's "southsea side resort something." the food was great but the funniest thing was the wedding cake. it wasn't you're typical wedding cake, it was a three-tiered tray full of cupcakes. i thought it was part of the desserts. so i just took one. leon happened to ask where i got the cupcake and i told him where. after he did, everyone else took a piece from it. unfortunately, it was the wedding cake. so there was no eating of the cake scene for the reception. (nobody knows that i initiated the hoarding of the cake and everybody blamed leon for it...but don't tell!)

10:00 PM Friday, June 2, 2006:
they say the best party scene in dumaguete is in el camino bar. so that's where we went to that evening. i had hoped for a real good night. but apparently, people in dumaguete don't know how to dance. they know how to flirt around, which was what paul and lexie were indulging in. i got bored so i just drank myself stupid with red horse and vodka.

we went home around 2 am the following day

12:00 PM Saturday, June 3, 2006:
i think it was about this time. we strolled down boulevard looking for a good place to eat at. we eventually ended up eating at this cafe. can't quite remember the name but there remains one unforgettable thing about the place. CHEESECAKE! (notice the caps) it was the best cheesecake in the world. well, at least where i've tried it out. but then roshelle, lexie and paul all agree with me that it was the BEST, if not, THE PERFECT CHEESECAKE! everything in it just melts in your mouth - cream, crust and blueberries all! if i happen to be back in dumaguete, i'm going to buy a whole box of it.

the afternoon till the evening of Saturday, June 3, 2006:
we packed our stuff up. took the trip back.

cab, boat, bus. split our ways.

taxi. home. and finally! bed!