Chapter Ten: Bordon

“You sure walk fast,” Michael said, hurrying to catch up with her.

“Just keep an eye open for them,” Katrin said. “If worse comes to worst, we can always have them paged at the lost-and-found counter.”

“Then our moms will hear,” Michael pointed out. “Let’s not make them worry unnecessarily.”

They had covered all the shops in that part of the mall when Katrin received a message from Pie.

No luck on this end; you?

None either. You think they’re still in the department store?

Maybe? We’ll try the ground floor and you try the second.

Okay.

Katrin and Michael looked at each other and headed for the nearest entrance to the department store.

“Where do you think they could be?” Katrin fretted.


“Jenny loves stuffed toys,” Michael said. “Shall we check the toy department first?”

When they reached the area filled with stuffed toys on display, the two of them broke into a run, for Katrin had already caught a glimpse of Jenny’s lacy peach-colored dress. The salesgirl was trying to make her get off of a stuffed toy tiger, which she was sitting on and hugging.

“Jenny!” Michael exclaimed.

“Kyle!” Katrin cried.

The salesgirl breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s a good thing you arrived,” she said. “She wouldn’t let it go.”

“Darling, you already have one like that at home,” said Michael, picking up his little sister.

“Yes, I know,” said Jenny. “I just missed it.”

“Come, Kyle,” said Katrin. “Mama will be worried.” She kept a firm grip on her brother’s hand while she sent Pie a message saying they had found the truants. Soon, the other three arrived, and all five of them went back into the main part of the mall. They amused the little ones at the arcade until their mothers had finished their shopping and came looking for them.

“There you are,” said Mrs. Nolasco. “I hope the little ones weren’t too much trouble?”

“Oh, no, Mommy, no trouble at all,” Pie said hastily. The five of them caught one another’s eyes and burst out laughing and wouldn’t tell their mothers why.

Soon they were in the van and headed home to Riverside. Jenny was already dozing in the front seat and Kyle, who had moved to sit beside his mother, was doing the same thing.

“Tonight’s the last night of the wake,” Mrs. Perez said out loud.

“We’re going, aren’t we, Mama?” said Katrin.

“Yes, we are,” said Mrs. Perez. “How about you, Anna?”

“We’re going, too,” said Mrs. Nolasco. “If the kids aren’t too tired?”

“We aren’t too tired,” said Pie immediately.

“See you there, then,” said Katrin.



Mr. Perez arrived home shortly after they did. After all the shopping had been put away, they had an early dinner and then piled into the tricycle and set out for the wake.

While their parents and Kyle joined the other parents and younger children inside the house, Katrin, Aian and Andy went to sit with some of their schoolmates who had already arrived and were sitting at the table they’d occupied the other night. Isang was sitting with them.

“Oh, good, you guys are here,” she said. “Mother said we might want to play Bordon later, and Andy always makes the best sentenciador.”

“Uh-oh,” said Katrin, mentally making a list of the luwas, or four-line nonsense rhymes, that she knew and composing on the spot a few more to hold in reserve.

“Whose ring are we going to use?” she asked.

“Mother said she’d lend us her ring,” said Isang. “It really is good that you came; I’m not sure I remember all the words to the song.”

“What song?” asked Pie, sliding into the seat beside Katrin. “Hey, all.” She wore a white blouse with long sleeves and a knee-length denim skirt, and had her hair tied back with a white clip.

“Hey, Pie, hey Mike,” said Isang. “Do you know how to play Bordon?”

“No-o-o… what is it?” Pie asked. “And by the way, guys, this is my cousin Betty.” All three Perezes looked around so fast that Katrin almost got whiplash. Betty indeed stood behind them, wearing a silvery shirt and another one of her denim miniskirts, and the same supercilious expression on her face. One of the boys hurriedly vacated a place on the bench so she could sit down.

“Hello, Betty,” said Isang. “Are you from Manila, too?”

“Yes,” said Betty.

“What’s Bordon, Isang?” Michael asked hastily.

“I’ll let Andy explain, since he will be the sentenciador,” said Isang. “I’ll go get your whip, Andy.”

“A whip!” Pie exclaimed.

“Don’t worry Pie, it’s not exactly a whip,” said Katrin reassuringly. While Andy explained the rules of the game, Isang went into the house and shortly came back with a towel, twisted into a soft thick rope the size of a baseball bat, which she handed to Andy.

“Oh, I see,” and Pie laughed.

“Essentially, the important thing in Bordon is being able to think up verses on the spot,” Andy explained. “I’m the sentenciador; it will be my job to pass judgment on your luwas and decide if you should be punished or not.”

“We can play after the prayers are finished,” said Isang.

“I don’t know any verses!” Pie said to Katrin.

“Just make them up!” Katrin answered.

“I’m no good at that sort of thing!”

“Just try your best! Why did your mom bring Betty?”

“Because she was griping about being left out,” Pie said. “Mommy made her promise she would behave, so that she could come along.”

Katrin took another look at Betty.

“She doesn’t look like she’s going to,” she said. “Behave, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Pie said. “Mike said exactly the same thing.”

Katrin saw her mother beckoning from the doorway, so she excused herself from the group and got up and went to her. The prayers had ended, and the women inside the house were talking. She looked around for her father and saw him at another table outside, talking with Mr. Nolasco and the other men of the purok.

Her mother was sitting beside a couple of old women wearing flowered cotton dusters and wrapped in shawls. Katrin politely took their hands and touched them to her forehead.

“Ah, this is your Katrin already, Margarita? How big she’s grown,” said one of the old woman.

“Yes, practically a young woman already,” the other one agreed, peering at Katrin. “So pretty, too.”

“Kat, was that Betty I saw at your table?” Mrs. Perez asked in a low voice.

“Yes, Mama; Aunt Anna had to bring her along,” said Katrin, sitting down beside her mother. She looked across the room at Mrs. Nolasco, who was sitting beside Isang’s mother and listening to something she was saying.

“Mind you be nice to her, now,” said Mrs. Perez.

“Mama! I am always nice. You mean to say I still have to be nice even when Betty is trying to wallop me?” Katrin said indignantly. “Besides, this isn’t her house.”

“Yes, but you are both still guests here,” said her mother, “and even though Betty doesn’t seem to know how to behave as such, you do, and so you will behave as one, which means you will be nice. Do you understand me, Kat?”

Katrin pouted. “Yes, Mama.”

“And please get Kyle’s hat and jacket from Andy when you go out again.”

“Okay, Mama.”

Mrs. Nolasco saw Katrin and beckoned, so she crossed the room.

“Kat, would you please tell Pie, Mike and Betty to come here?” she asked.

“Okay, Aunt Anna,” said Katrin. She went to the coffin to pay her respects before going out again.

“Pie, your mom wants the three of you to go inside,” she said once she’d reached the table again. By that time there were around a dozen young people there, crowded on the benches around the table.

“I think I’ll stay out here,” said Betty. “I don’t like to look at coffins.”

“No, Betty,” said Pie. “Mommy said you should go.” She pulled her cousin up out of her seat on the bench. “Come on. Mike?”

Katrin collected Kyle’s hat and jacket from the table in front of Andy and followed the Nolascos, Pie pulling the reluctant Betty who was balking at going into the house. She stopped to deliver what her mother requested and watched the other three cross the room to Mrs. Nolasco.

“My, whose daughter is that?” the old woman sitting beside her mother exclaimed.

“That skirt is so short it looks like it will uncover her soul!” said the other one.

“Not to mention she’ll catch her death of cold in that. Here, somebody, give her a shawl.”

“Is that Anna’s daughter?” asked the other old woman. “She looks as if she will get blown away by the wind. Doesn’t she eat anything? After all, they are rich, aren’t they?”

“No, Iyay Noring, the other one is Anna’s daughter,” Mrs. Perez said gently. “That girl is her husband’s niece.”

“Oh, I see. What’s Anna’s daughter’s name? Pretty girl!” said the old woman. “She knows how to dress properly, why doesn’t the other one?”

From the set of her shoulders, Katrin was sure Betty had heard every word.

“Lola Noring, they come from Manila,” she said hastily. “That’s how many girls dress there.”

“Mind you never go there then, Katrin,” said the old woman. “That boy is Anna’s son? A fine-looking boy. Looks just like his grandfather when he was younger.”

“Indeed,” said the other old woman, and they fell into reminiscences of the times when they were young. Katrin excused herself and went outside again. Threading her way around the long tables, which had now gotten very crowded, she headed back towards their own table at the edge of the yard. The gates to the yard had been propped open, and people were arriving and leaving all the time.

Halfway there, she stumbled and saw that someone’s legs were sticking out into the way. A man was sitting on a bench, half-leaning against a post, with his eyes closed. He didn’t even move when Kat stumbled, or take his legs away. Katrin recognized the rude laborer who had been at the orchard. Sitting on the bench beside him, playing cards with some of her schoolmates’ older brothers and uncles, were the other men who had been with him the day before.

Katrin, more careful now, went on to their table and slid onto the bench between Aian and Eddie. The table was full of young people by then, crowded on the benches and some of them even sitting on the table. Others stood behind them. Everyone was talking and laughing, and some of the boys were playing tong-its again.

Soon Pie, Michael and Betty came back as well, just as Andy announced that they would start the game. Isang gave him a golden ring.

“Take care of that, it’s my mother’s,” she said.

“Everyone in the game on the benches,” Andy said, handing the ring to Katrin. “Who knows the words? Let’s start.”

Cuerdas de la bordon ang singsing papanawon… they began the simple game that involved the passing of the ring from hand to hand until suddenly Andy brought his towel whip crashing down on the planks of the table and everybody froze.

“The ring!” Andy demanded, and the girl sitting across from Katrin opened her hand to reveal the small gold circle.

“The one who has the ring must pay a tribute!” Andy declared.

“Love is like
a lollipop,
bata mal-am (young and old)
makadilap (can lick it),” the girl declared to much laughter and applause, and Andy hit the table again with his whip.

“Bitooooor!” he declared, and the game was on again. This time the one who got caught wasn’t fast enough with his rhyme, and Andy “sentenced” him to sing for the group.

“Sa sulod sang kasing-kasing (Inside the heart)
may ara sing waling-waling (there is an orchid)
wala sing makalingling (no one can peek at it)
kung indi akon darling (except my darling),” was Aian’s offering when he got caught with the ring, to loud cheers from the boys and shouts of “who is it?” from the girls.

“Ako’y tutula (I shall say a poem)
Mahabang-mahaba (It will be very long)
ako’y uupo (I shall sit down)
tapos na po (for it is finished),” another boy said, earning jeers and objections from the crowd, which was settled by Andy’s “Bitooooooor!” accompanied by a whack on the table.

The game was really underway, with Katrin sorting out the rhymes in her mind to hold them ready in case she got the ring, when suddenly there was a commotion at the table at the far end of the yard. The song stopped as everyone looked around to see what was happening.

“My wallet! It’s gone!” a man declared, standing up from a table. He began looking beneath the table and behind him, in case it may have fallen out. This also made other men reach for their back pockets to check their own wallets.

“Mine is gone too!” another exclaimed.

The yard was suddenly full of people crawling around under tables and looking on the ground. The women came to the door to see what was the matter.

“What happened?” asked Isang’s mother.

“My wallet is gone!” said the man who had first complained.

“I can’t find my cellphone as well!” another man said suddenly. “It was just here on the table beside me, and now it’s gone!”

Katrin was suddenly aware of Betty at the far end of the table, slowly turning her head to look at her cousin with a cold smile.

“It didn’t take you too long to get up to your old tricks again, huh, Mike?” she asked in a voice that carried over the hush that had fallen over their group.

Chapter Nine: Lost!

Katrin, Pie and the boys handed out plates and spoons to the long line of harvesters who filed past the table to get food. They refilled serving bowls and platters and saw to it that everyone had his or her fill and that no one was left out.

Katrin saw the man they’d seen near the Barrios house. He was sitting on a log under one of the trees, along with about five other men who seemed to be his friends. They were talking as they ate, and occasionally burst into loud laughter.

The dog Bantay wandered around the yard, sniffing. Most of the time he stayed near the table, watching people get food from it with his ears perked and his tongue lolling, but sometimes he walked among the people sitting in the yard, most of whom knew him and threw him an occasional tidbit or piece of bone. When he got near to the group of men that sat a little apart, though, his ears went back and his hackles rose.

“Kat, your dog’s growling,” said Pie, who had finally been told by Mrs. Perez to take a break and was sitting on a bench beside Michael and Kyle, eating.

“Oh!” Katrin hurried across to intercept Bantay, who was advancing on the group of men, growling menacingly. The men, who had noticed him, had stood up and were backing away. “Bantay, here. Come here.”

“You guys been eating too much asucena?” another man called. “You know they say a dog can smell it if you eat one of them.” Other people laughed.

Katrin reached the dog, who stopped and looked up at her uncertainly.

“Go back to the house,” she said, pointing with her finger in that direction. Bantay growled some more at the men, then slunk off to the house, glancing at Katrin every now and then.

Katrin got some food and joined Pie and their brothers. The harvesters had by then finished eating and were going to the table to return their plates before going back to the orchard. After the young people finished eating, they helped to wash the dishes while the women cleared the table and put away the leftovers.

“You know, I forgot to ask where Betty is now,” Katrin said to Pie as they took the washbasins full of dishes into the house and left them on the table to dry.

“She sleeps till noon, usually,” Pie said. “She’d just have woken up and is probably yelling at Lita about her breakfast.”

“Oh well,” Katrin said. “You guys want to go to the wake again tonight, or wait till the last night?”

“What?” asked her mother, who had come in and overheard her. “Aren’t you tired yet, Kat, without wanting to go to the wake tonight?”

“We-e-ell,” Katrin said. “Oh well, let’s see. With luck, I might get so tired today I’d be glad to see my bed by eight o’clock.”

“You might at that,” her mother agreed. “Pie, I didn’t know you could wash dishes.”

“Of course I do, Aunt Marge,” Pie said. “Mommy said just because you have money doesn’t mean you don’t have to learn how to wash dishes.”

“Sounds like Anna, all right,” Mrs. Perez said, laughing. “And your cousin, why didn’t she come with you?”

“I don’t think harvesting mangoes is really Betty’s thing, Mama,” Katrin said.

“It isn’t,” Pie affirmed.

“Well, I supposed it isn’t, at that,” said Mrs. Perez.

“I like it though,” said Pie.

“Let’s go back to the orchard then,” said Katrin.



By four o’clock, all twenty-four of the Barrios trees had been harvested, and the harvesters were bringing in their baskets to be counted and weighed, and collect their pay from Mr. Perez. The three boys, helped by Eddie, brought the big, heavy baskets to the storage shed where they were to be kept until they were sold.

“Well, it looks like a pretty good harvest,” said Mr. Perez. “Although it boggles the mind why that group of strong young laborers could harvest only three kaings full between the lot of them. Looks like they harvested only one tree or something.”

“At least they harvested one tree,” said Mrs. Perez, coming to look at the mangoes. “I’ll be going out tomorrow to see who will buy them, and there’s always Market Day.”

When everything had been put away and everyone had been paid, Mr. Perez closed the gate to the orchard, and Katrin, Pie, and the boys went back to the house. Everything was already tidy, and the pots and pans and dishes were all in their proper places. Mrs. Perez had given out the leftovers to the women who had helped with the cooking.

“Whew,” said Katrin, sinking into a chair and letting Whitney climb up into her lap. “I may not be up to going to the wake tonight, after all.”

“Me neither,” Pie agreed, patting Bantay, who sat beside her chair and thumped his tail vigorously. “It was fun though,” she added.

“Hey, you two,” Michael said, coming over to sit on the arm of his sister’s chair. “Mommy just texted me. She’s going to Marbel tomorrow and wants to know if you would want to come along.”

Katrin’s eyes sparkled. Pie took out her own cellphone.

“Why, Mommy texted me too, I just didn’t notice it,” she said. “She says she’s going to the parlor, and then to look at the Notre Dame, and then maybe we could go malling. She says to ask Aunt Marge as well if she wants to come and bring Kyle.”

“I’m sure Mama will let you go, Kat,” Andy said. “We’ve something else to do tomorrow.”

“But it would be fun if all of you came along, Andy,” Pie said. “We could all fit in the van.”

“Shopping, ugh,” said Aian, and Katrin threw a pillow at him.

“Shopping where?” asked his mother, coming into the house with a couple of baskets. Kyle, trailing her, also held a basket.

Pie told her what Mrs. Nolasco had said.

“Oh, how good of your mother, Pie,” Mrs. Perez said. “I was planning to go to Marbel myself tomorrow to see who would want to buy some of the mangoes.”

“I guess that means yes, Mama?” asked Katrin, throwing her hands high. “Yay!”

“So I’ll tell her we’re all going, Aunt Marge?” Michael asked.

Aian and Andy stared at him.

“We’re all going?” Aian asked.

“We are?” Andy asked.

“Well, what were you going to do tomorrow?” Michael asked them.

Aian shrugged.

“Go fishing, work in the garden… shoot some hoops?” he answered.

“As opposed to going malling, eating at a restaurant, maybe play video games in the arcade? There is an arcade, I would suppose?”

“Yeah, there are arcades in the malls at Marbel,” Andy said.

“Yeah well if you put it like that…” Aian said.

“They should be twins,” Katrin observed, and was hit in the face by a pillow.

“Children, children,” Mrs. Perez said. “It is all right with me that we all go… there’s just one problem. Who will stay at home and guard the house?”

“Er… that was what I thought, Mama,” said Andy.

“Bantay can guard the house,” Katrin said. “And we can always let the geese out of the pen.”

“Yeah, the hard part is getting them to go back in again,” Aian said.

“Let’s ask your father,” Mrs. Perez said.

“Oh, all of you just go,” was Mr. Perez’s answer. “The house should be safe enough if you lock it up and let the animals loose in the yard. I don’t see that anyone would be foolish enough to tangle with a dog and an angry gander, turkey, rooster and drake.”

Katrin sighed.

“It’s because of these horrible thefts,” she said. “We didn’t used to worry about leaving the house alone like this, we just up and went.”

“Let’s just hope the robbers will get caught soon,” said her mother.

Katrin, Pie, Andy and Aian exchanged glances.

“Well, we must be going, Aunt Marge,” Michael said. “We will tell Mommy we’re all set for tomorrow.”

“I’ll text you the details, Kat,” said Pie.

“And here,” said Mrs. Perez. “Bring these to your mom.” She gave them each a basket. “Mangoes, the first of the harvest, and vegetables from the garden.”

“Wow, thanks, Auntie!” Pie exclaimed.

“Thanks, Aunt Marge,” Michael said. “We’ll be going now.”

“We’ll see you to the gate,” said Katrin.



After seeing Michael and Pie walk off up the road, Katrin dashed back into the house and up to her room. She was busy hauling out the contents of her closet when Aian stuck his head around the doorjamb.

“Oho!” he exclaimed. “What is this?”

His mother, coming up the stairs with some newly washed and folded clothes, saw him and looked into Katrin’s room as well.

“What’s the matter, Kat?” she asked.

“I don’t know what to wear tomorrow, Mama.”

“We’re only going to the mall,” Aian pointed out.

“Exactly,” Katrin said. “I can’t very well wear my old ratty clothes there, can I?”

“Your jeans will do,” said her mother. “And maybe a nice blouse. Where’s the pink-checked one you got for Christmas?”

“Erk, that one looks like I’m going to do a debate in it,” Katrin said, rumpling her hair.

“Just wear your pink t-shirt,” Aian said.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

“Here, let me through, Aian,” said Mrs. Perez, and Aian moved aside to let his mother go into the room. She sat down on the bed, put down the clothes she was carrying, and began to look through her daughter’s clothes.

“It’s just so hard,” Katrin complained. “Pie always looks like she stepped out of a magazine or a TV show, and Betty looks like she should be in one, a TV show I mean, and that’s just their stay-at-home clothes. I always end up looking like a beggar beside them.”

“Not quite a beggar, darling,” said her mother. “These are the clothes you’ve always worn; has anyone ever called you a beggar while you were wearing them?”

“Well, no… but I end up feeling like one, Mama.”

“Let’s see,” said Mrs. Perez, holding up a blue t-shirt. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“Nothing’s really wrong with it,” Katrin said. “It’s just that, oh, I think what I put on is nice, and then I go with Pie, and suddenly I realize it’s not nice enough.”

“Go away and shut the door, Aian,” said their mother.

“Aw,” said Aian, but did as he was told.

“So you suddenly thought that nothing you have is good enough, is that it, Kat?” asked Mrs. Perez. “You have to understand that Pie and Betty come from a different place. You know that the clothes you have are perfectly all right for Sto. Nino.”

“I know, Mama. But I still feel… inferior, somehow.”

“Come here, darling. Clothes are not always the best way to measure a person, you know that! It’s what you are that is really important. And what you are, what Katrin Marie Leysa Perez is, is as good as anyone else can ever be. Do you understand me, Kat?”

“Uh huh,” Katrin said. “Thanks, Mama. But what am I to wear tomorrow?”

Mrs. Perez looked through the pile of clothes again and held up a soft pink peasant blouse with puffed sleeves and ribbons at the high waist.

“Have you forgotten you had this, darling? And you can wear capris with it, and your sandals.”

“Oh, I forgot I had that! Thank goodness for Aunt Clara,” said Katrin, taking the blouse from her mother. It had been a gift from Mrs. Perez’s sister, who worked in America, last Christmas.

“I’ve not forgotten how you kicked and screamed about it last Christmas,” her mother observed with a smile; Katrin had previously balked about wearing something so girly-girl.

“Eeeeh,” Katrin said sheepishly. “Now I’m glad she did send it to me.”

“You can have your picture taken in it and send it to her,” her mother suggested. “She will be very happy about it.”

“I will, Mama. I know Pie’s cellphone has a camera; I can ask her tomorrow to take a picture of me and we can e-mail it to Aunt Clara.” Katrin jumped off the bed and went to rummage among her pants and skirts. “Don’t I have black capris in here somewhere?”

“Yes, you do, darling. I distinctly recall washing and ironing them a few times,” Mrs. Perez said, laughing. “Choose the plain ones with lace hems, they will go very well with this blouse.”

‘Ah, here,” said Katrin, emerging in triumph with the sought-for item.

“Give them here and I’ll iron them for you,” said her mother. “If you’ll set the table downstairs.”

“Okay, Mama.” Katrin gave her mother a hug. “And thanks!”

She received Pie’s text message after dinner, asking if it was okay for them to leave at around nine in the morning.

Mama says it’s okay, she replied.

Great! Pie answered. See you all tomorrow!



Katrin gradually became aware of her mother’s voice calling her.

“Kat, wake up, it’s seven o’clock!”

“Mrrrrrr…” she said, rolling over and burying her face in the pillow.

“Kat! We’re leaving at nine, remember?”

Katrin suddenly remembered, and came awake immediately. She stretched and jumped out of bed.

“Coming!” she called.

They had to rush through the chores after breakfast—feeding the animals, washing the dishes, tidying up. Katrin looked at the clock, groaned, grabbed her towel, and dashed for the bathroom. She was nearly finished with her bath by the time Andy knocked on the door and told her to hurry up.

She was dressed and wrestling with her hair by the time her mother knocked on her door to tell her that it was nearly nine o’clock.

“I can’t do a thing with it, Mama,” she complained. “Why oh why does my hair have to be so curly?”

“Here, give me that,” said her mother, taking the comb. “Just leave most of it down, and tie the upper part back with a scrunchie so it doesn’t get into your eyes. See? And don’t you have a pink scrunchie with ribbons on it?”

Katrin dredged the scrunchie out of a box in the drawer of her table. By the time Mrs. Perez had fixed her hair, and she had spritzed herself with cologne, Andy called up the stairs that the Nolascos’ van was already waiting at the gate. Katrin hastily stepped into her pink sandals and fixed the straps, grabbed up a little bag that contained her purse and cellphone, and clattered downstairs after her mother.

“Morning, Aunt Anna,” Katrin said, climbing into the van.

“Morning, Kat,” said Mrs. Nolasco, turning to look at them from where she sat beside their family driver, Manong Erning. “My, don’t you look lovely today.”

“Mama, can I sit up front with Aunt Anna and Jenny?” Kyle asked. “I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Please, Auntie Marge?” Jenny piped up. “Please, Mommy?”

“All right with me,” said Mrs. Nolasco.

“Oh, all right then. Just be good,” said Mrs. Perez.

“Yay!” said Kyle, getting out and climbing up into the front seat.

“We’ll sit with you, Auntie Marge,” said Pie, letting Mrs. Perez climb in and take the seat behind the driver, and Kat followed her. The boys, meanwhile, piled into the back seat, and they were off!

The drive to Marbel, which was really officially named Koronadal City, took less than an hour, and in the last part, the highway went up into some mountains and emerged on a lookout, and there spread out below them was Marbel. The van went swooping down, down, down Skyline Drive and emerged on Alunan Avenue, where it entered the gates of the Notre Dame of Siena.

“It looks nice,” Pie said tentatively as they got out. “But it’s so far away!”

“We’re just going to ask, Pie,” said her mother. “We’ll see if you can both enroll here.”

Pie shrugged, and her expression looked mutinous. Katrin looked at Michael. He looked worried.

“Do you want us to go with you, Anna?” Mrs. Perez asked.

“No, it’s all right,” said Mrs. Nolasco. “Pie, do you want to come along? Mike?”

“No, Mommy, I’d rather wait here,” said Pie. Michael looked at his sister, then decided to go with his mother and Jenny.

“It’s a pretty school,” said Katrin. “I was here once, last year, when they hosted a contest. I was just not used to be around so many nuns, though.”

“Oh, I am,” said Pie. “The schools I’ve been to were all run by nuns.”

“You must all have been very good,” said Mrs. Perez.

“Er, no, Aunt Marge, Betty went to the same school I did,” said Pie, rolling her eyes. “Actually, I think I’d like to go to a public school for a change. The public schools in Manila, most of them are said to be awful. But the way Kat talks about their school, it sounds all right.”

“It is,” all three Perezes said in unison, and laughed at one another.

Mrs. Nolasco was soon back, carrying a folder with the school logo on it, which she gave to Pie. She looked displeased over something. Michael, trailing them, had a guarded expression on his face. He again climbed in back with the other boys.

“Where should we go next?” asked Mrs. Nolasco, getting into the front seat with Jenny.

“If you’d drop me and Kyle off at the market, Anna,” said Mrs. Perez, “I intend to look for some buyers for these mangoes.” She indicated the basket she carried.

“Of course, Marge,” said Mrs. Nolasco. “May we go with you, or we’ll just wait for you in the van?”

“I’ll go with you, Mama,” said Andy, and so he got out of the van to help their mother when they got to the market.

“Did you look through the folder, Pie?” asked Mrs. Nolasco, turning around to look at her daughter.

“Yes, Mommy.”

“It’s a good school.”

“Yes, Mommy, but,” said Pie, putting the folder aside. “I really want to go to Kat’s school.”

Katrin kept silent. On one hand, she was proud of her school and would be happy if Pie went to school there; on the other hand, she thought Pie was lucky that her family could afford to send her to a private school.

“That’s where I’ll probably end up anyway,” Michael commented acerbically from the back seat, and both Katrin and Pie turned to look at him.

“Oh, Mike, they didn’t,” Pie said.

“Mike, we’ll talk more about this later when we get home,” said Mrs. Nolasco.

“Didn’t what?”Aian asked, frowning.

Michael shrugged.

“You still have about a month to decide, anyway, Pie,” said Mrs. Nolasco, looking worried. “Just promise me you’ll consider this very carefully.”

“Yes, Mommy. I’ll think about it,” said Pie.

Mrs. Perez, Kyle and Andy soon came back looking happy, as they had taken orders for more than half of the mangoes.

“I’m sure the fruit vendors in our market can buy most of what’s left, and I can sell the rest on Market Day,” said Mrs. Perez, climbing back into the van. “Well then, I can arrange to have those mangoes delivered tomorrow. Where are we off to now?”

Mrs. Nolasco looked at her wristwatch.



“Lunch!” she declared. “Anyone know a good place?”

“Well, all the old places have closed except Celema’s,” said Mrs. Perez dubiously. “But there are fast food outlets at the malls, like Jollibee…”

“Jollibee?” exclaimed Kyle, brightening at once.

“Is Jollibee all right with all of you?” asked Mrs. Nolasco.

“Yes!” Katrin, Aian and Andy chorused, and Pie laughed. Even Michael looked amused.

They ended up at Fit Mart Mall, since it was the biggest of the malls in the city, and all of them ordered chickenjoy at Jollibee, just to see, as Katrin said, if it was really as “crispilicious” as the ads on TV said.

After lunch, which was capped with chocolate fudge sundaes for all of them, Mrs. Nolasco said she had some shopping to do. All three older boys declined and opted to go to the arcade, so she bore Mrs. Perez, the girls, and the two younger children off to the department store.

After they had gone through the clothes sections, and their mothers seemed to be headed for the houseware and linens section, the two girls excused themselves and went off to look for their brothers in the arcade.

They found the three boys trying to shoot some hoops in the basketball game, to the mingled cheers and derision of other young people around them.

“Figures,” Katrin said, shaking her head. “Even here they still found a way to practice.” She and Pie sat down on an available bench, cupped their chins in their hands, and cheered the boys on. Finally, the game ended and the boys joined them.

“I need something to drink,” Aian declared, so all five of them went off to look for a vendor of fruit juices or softdrinks. They finally found a stall that sold glasses of cold pineapple juice, bought some, and found a place to sit.

“So, Mike,” said Aian. “What did you mean, what you said earlier?”

“Yes, Mike, what did the people at Siena say?” Pie asked.

Michael shrugged. He looked at the faces all looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

“You know,” he said. “They were okay with you enrolling, but not so enthusiastic about me. When Mommy started to plead with the principal and mention donations, I said I wanted to go out in the hall. I mean, it kind of makes me feel… funny that my parents would have to plead with a school to let me enroll. So I told Mom I’d rather go to the public school than have her do that again.”

“I bet our principal would accept you,” Andy said. “So you won’t have to worry about that at least. And we’d be there in the same school.”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t be there if Mom and Dad go on with making me go to Siena,” Pie said glumly. “No matter how pretty a school it is, I wouldn’t be happy there.”

“Aw, Pie,” said Katrin, patting her on the shoulder.

Just then Pie’s cellphone sounded, and she pulled it out to look at the message and turned pale.

“What is it, Pie?” asked Katrin at once. Pie gave her the cellphone for her to read for herself.

We may take a while here; take care of Kyle and Jenny.

“But they aren’t with us!” Katrin exclaimed.

“They don’t seem to be with our mothers either,” said Pie. Both girls stared at each other.

“Oh no,” Pie moaned. “They thought we brought them with us. Oh lord.”

“We better look for them,” said Michael. “Jenny can be very stubborn sometimes.”

“But how?” Pie asked.

“Look, let’s split up and keep in touch by cell phone,” said Katrin. “One group go that way and the other group that way.”

“But only you and Pie have cellphones,” Aian pointed out.

“I guess we’ll have to split up then,” said Pie. “Why don’t I go with you and Andy and Kat go with Mike? That way they each have an older sibling in the group? Jenny might panic if she doesn’t see one of us.”

“Okay,” said Aian. “Come on then, we’ll go this way and you guys go that way?”

“Okay,” said Katrin, heading off in the direction indicated.

Chapter Eight: Malicious Rumors

Pie? How are you? What has happened? Katrin stared at the text message for a long while before sending it. It was only nine o’clock in the evening, but she was already in her room. The two boys had agreed to stay downstairs until their parents arrived. She had gone up to her room and had turned off the light, but switched on the rarely used night light on the table beside her bed.

It was a long time before Pie answered. Katrin was already in her malong and was trying to fall asleep when the cellphone vibrated.

I’m okay. Mommy was really angry at Betty, and wanted Daddy to send her back to Manila.

Will she be leaving then?

No such luck. Daddy told her that since she’d come for a week, she could stay the week, but she would have to behave, and he’d tell her parents about her behavior.

Argh. One whole week of Betty?

You said it. Can I move in with you, do you think?

You know you’re always welcome here, Pie. How is Michael, BTW?

Again Pie took a long time answering. Katrin could almost imagine her staring at her cellphone and thinking of answers.

Moody as usual. Look, Kat, I hope you didn’t take seriously what Betty said. It wasn’t like that at all.

Why, Pie? What really happened?

Long story. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Okay… did your parents go to the wake?

Oh, yes, with Jenny. Betty wanted to go along, but Daddy banished her to her room. She’s to stay in there till tomorrow. One good thing is, he says I don’t have to hang around to entertain her.

LOL, good. Okay. See you tomorrow then. Good night, Pie.

Night, Kat.

Katrin put the cellphone down on the table, turned on her side and fell asleep.



Coming downstairs early the next morning, Katrin found her mother nursing a cup of coffee in the kitchen and looking worried.

“Morning, Mama,” she said, getting herself a mug of Milo.

“Morning, dear,” her mother said.

“How was the wake last night?”

“There were a lot of people,” her mother said absently. She looked at her daughter for a long while. Katrin came to the table and sat down beside her mother.

“Kat, I overheard some of the young people talking last night. There was a bunch of them at the next table; one of them was Eddie’s sister Ella. She said something about Michael Nolasco.”

Katrin stared at her mother, and put her mug down quickly.

“Ella was telling the others that Michael had been kicked out of school in Manila for being a thief.”

Katrin closed her eyes and said a word she had never uttered before. Her mother didn’t reprimand her.

“I don’t know where she got that idea, Kat. It’s a good thing the Nolascos didn’t hear her. If that rumor gets to other people, though, it could be dangerous.”

“I know where she got it, Mama.” Katrin told her mother about Betty.

Her mother looked at her.

“I met that child last night,” she said. “She was polite enough.”

“Good thing,” Katrin said. “She was perfectly horrid to me. I expect Aunt Anna gave her a tongue-lashing.”

“Betty’s parents are in Hong Kong for a week, that’s why Betty is here,” her mother explained. “She has nowhere else to go since her other relatives are either living abroad or away for the summer.”

“You’d think she’d be nicer, then,” Katrin said.

“Hush, Kat,” her mother said

"None of her cousins like her, Mama."

"You think Betty doesn't know it? How would you feel if none of your cousins liked you?"

"But I wouldn't do anything to make them not like me, Mama," Katrin said.
Her mother laughed.
"So you think Betty is doing things to deliberately make her cousins not like her?"
"Well, she made them all mad at her for some reason or another. Pie even asked me if she could stay with us till Betty goes home."
Mrs. Perez patted her daughter's arm.
"Betty just has her own problems, I suppose. How would you feel if your dad and I went away on vacation for a week and left you alone?"
"But I wouldn't be alone, I'd have Andy and Aian," Katrin said. "Even if you took Kyle with you, that would be because he's the youngest. And anyway, we know you'd bring us with you if you could." She thought for a minute. "But Betty doesn't have anyone else to keep her company and her parents could have brought her with them but they didn't."
"Exactly, Kat."
"So maybe she's mad at them but because they're not here she's mad at us?"
"I knew I was raising an intelligent child." Her mother smiled at her and gave her a hug. "Don't let Betty get you too mad, okay?"
"Yes, Mama."
At that moment her father, still in his house clothes, came into the house wiping at the grease spots on his hands.
"I think another cup of coffee would be in order, Mama," he said, and Mrs. Perez got up to make him one while he went over to kiss his daughter. "Morning, baby."
"Morning, Papa." Katrin looked at the clock on the wall. "You're not going to the office today?"
"No, Kat. Mango harvest starts today. I expect there are already people at the orchard, so I better hurry and get over there."
"Yay! I better tell Pie, then. She wants to see." Katrin clapped her hands. Mr. Perez looked at his wife. She looked back at him.
"I better go cook then," Mrs. Perez said. "Kat, I need you to help me."
"Can't I text Pie first, so she can come over?"
"All right. I'll go get vegetables from the garden. And go see if the boys are already awake; I need them to get some rice from the bodega."
"Okay." Katrin drained her mug, took her cellphone from her pocket, and wandered off in the direction of the stairs.

Thirty minutes later, Katrin was chopping vegetables on the kitchen table while the boys dug a fire pit in the back yard and maneuvered hollow blocks and rocks around it. A couple of tricycles arrived, and Kyle opened the gate to let them into the yard. They parked beneath the trees in the back yard and disgorged two of Katrin's schoolmates and their families. The mothers immediately went to help Katrin and Mrs. Perez while their husbands and children went to join Mr. Perez, who was bringing out baskets and nets from the storage shed. He then opened the gate into the Barrios orchard, and everyone went through to join the harvesters who had come in by the shortcut. Many of them were people from Riverside and the nearby Purok Pioneer; some of them were laborers from the rice mill who wanted to earn some extra cash.
"We didn't think to check the storage shed," Aian whispered as he carried a pail full of rice to his sister at the sink.
"Why?" Katrin asked, measuring out the rice into the huge pot they had borrowed for the occasion.
"Andy and I found that one of the sacks had been opened and part of it had been taken away. Some of it had spilled on the ground. You know that when we open a new sack, Mama fills the container we use for the house and sews the sack up again. The sack that had been opened was just tied with a piece of string."
"Papa will be mad when he finds out."
"He doesn't know yet. He's too busy at the orchard."
"Kat! Is the rice ready? Aian, if it's ready, take it out to Andy to cook," Mrs. Perez said.
"Coming right up," Katrin said, pouring water into the pot and measuring with her hands. "Over to you, bro."

"Help me get this outside, will you. It weighs a ton," Aian said, lifting the pot off the counter. Katrin obligingly caught the other side of the pot handle and, balancing the pot between them, the twins carefully carried it out of the kitchen, almost bumping into the Nolascos, who were just about to enter the door.

"Let me get that for you," Michael said, taking Katrin's side of the handle immediately. "Where are you taking this, Aian?"

"Over there to Andy," Aian said, "And let's hurry."

"Hey, Kat," Pie said.

"Hey, Pie, come on in. Let's leave the boys to the dirty work," Katrin said, gesturing her inside.

Today, Pie wore blue stretch capris and a blue t-shirt, and had her hair up in a twist secured by a blue lacquered chopstick with dangling blue transparent beads. Katrin looked down at her own clothes, a loose white shirt over green cargo shorts, and grimaced-- even when she'd already taken a bath before knuckling down to work, the front of her shirt was already covered with spots of water, grease, and vegetable juices.
"Good morning, Aunt Marge," Pie said as she came in, stopping short at the sight of many people filling the kitchen.
"Come in, come in, Pie," Mrs. Perez called. "Don't be shy."
"Can I help?" Pie asked. Katrin looked at her in surprise.
"It's okay, Pie, you don't have to," she began.
"I can at least slice vegetables, Kat," Pie said. "Tiya Cora lets me help when I hang around in the kitchen, you know." She slid onto the end of the bench beside Mrs. Perez.
"Here, Kat, get something to cover Pie's clothes with," Mrs. Perez said, but Katrin was already headed for the stairs. She came back almost immediately with a cheesecloth apron and a sheepish look.
"I knew I'd find some use for my home economics projects eventually," she said, helping Pie to put it on.
"You mean you made this, Kat?"
"Had to, Pie. It was our last requirement in home ec."
"Ooooh. I wish we had projects like this," Pie said, sitting back down again and taking the knife Mrs. Perez handed her.
It was eleven o'clock by the time they'd finished chopping and preparing all the ingredients for the harvesters' lunch. Katrin and Pie then helped to haul the ingredients outside to the boys to cook over the fire pits. The women and girls who'd helped with the ingredients now also took over the cooking.
"Mama, do you need us for anything else, or can Pie and I go to the orchard now?" Katrin asked.
"Us, too?" Aian added at once.
"Oh, run along, girls, we can cope. Boys, you can go after you get the big table out of the house and put it here under the trees," said Mrs. Perez. "Kat, mind you keep an eye on Kyle if he's not with your father."
"Yes, Mama," Katrin said. "Come on, Pie, I'll change my shirt and you can take off that apron."
Inside Katrin's room, she took the apron Pie handed her and draped it on the side of the laundry basket.
"You said you'd tell me the truth about what Betty was saying yesterday," she said. "Spill." She opened the door of the aparador and hunted for a fresh shirt.
"Well..." Pie heaved a sigh. "I suppose I should've told you about it sooner at least... but well, it really is Mike's secret to tell, you know? He once remarked that if anyone here ever knew about it, it would rake everything up all over again, and that if Daddy had to go and take him away from all his friends in Manila because of it, he wished it'd be worth it."
"But then Betty brought up the subject anyway," Katrin said, pulling out a yellow blouse that she hadn't worn very often because it was too "girly girl" for her.
"Yeah," Pie said. "So. We talked it over last night, and he said we'd better just tell you the whole story, since it was out anyway."
"So," Katrin said, changing her shirt, "What really did happen?" She purposefully kept her back to Pie so she wouldn't have a chance to see the pain on her friend's face.
"This is all based on what Mike told us, of course," said Pie, "but, well. And I could kill Betty yesterday... part of it was really her fault anyway, but her parents wouldn't believe it of her."
"Why?" Katrin asked.
"Because those guys were her friends. She just introduced them to Mike."
"Okay, you've got me confused," Katrin said, tossing her dirty shirt into the laundry basket and going over to sit beside her friend. "Start at the beginning and tell me who, what, where and why."
"Okay." Pie took a deep breath and told Katrin that apparently, Michael's friends at his old school had been daring one another to do crazy things. It had begun with cutting classes and skipping school, and had progressed to playing pranks on people. As the group got bigger though, they had become more daring, until one day they dared one another to shoplift from a store inside a mall.
"Only they got caught," Pie explained. "The way Mike tells it though, he hadn't really taken anything. He was still looking at the display, because he had been thinking that he didn't want to do it. Before he knew it, one of the store's security men was holding a friend of his by the arm. And since the store security had seen them all come in together, he also got grabbed and taken to the manager's office along with the others."
"And...?" Katrin asked.
"The security guard couldn't find anything on him, though, and Daddy was able to talk to the store manager about it and convinced him to let Mike go. Mike's friends all got mad at him, though, because they thought he'd tattled on them to save himself. And it was all over the school the next day, their parents got called to the rector's office and everything, and it was a huge scandal."

“So what happened?” Katrin asked. “Did they get expelled?”

“Strangely, no,” Pie said slowly. “I heard that some of them were the sons of government officials and military officers. None of them got expelled.”

“But the school told Daddy that maybe he should put Mike in another school the next year.”

“But that’s unfair!” Katrin said.

Pie shrugged.

“The other boys ignored him after that. Rumors began spreading that Mike was the mastermind, that he was just clever enough not to get caught. Then one week there were some unexplained thefts in the school. One girl complained that her gold necklace was missing.”

“They found the necklace in Mike’s bag. So my brother really got kicked out of school for good.”

“And you know what’s the worst thing about it, Kat?” Pie clenched her fists. “The girl was the sister of one of those boys. Mike had a crush on her. She was also a friend of Betty’s.”

“Oh, Pie.” Katrin stared at her friend, then hugged her.

“So I was just so happy to move here, far away from them. Why did Betty have to come along and spoil everything?”

“It’ll only be for a week, Pie, and almost two days have passed,” Katrin said comfortingly. “And today we have mangoes to harvest, so let’s go!”

Pie smiled tremulously and stood up from the bed.



The two girls found, when they left the house, that the boys were waiting for them outside the kitchen door.

“What took you so long?” Aian complained. “Oooooh, Katkat changed! Did you stop and preen, sis? That would be a miracle.”

“Shut up, anchovy-brains,” said Katrin, bopping him on the head.

“Wow! I didn’t know anchovies were good at math!” was the retort as Aian danced away from his sister’s hand.

“Shut up!”

“You wouldn’t think they were twins, would you?” Andy observed fondly, picking up baskets from the shed and distributing them among the group.

His brother and sister glared at him in tandem.

“Yup, twins all right,” Andy declared, running through the gate with both his siblings in pursuit, leaving the Nolascos to follow the three of them, laughing.

“Ate Pie!” Kyle came running to meet them, his baseball cap turned backward on his head. “Kuya Mike! You’re here!” He looked at his three older siblings running around chasing each other. “What happened to them?”

Pie laughed.

“Are you going to teach us to pick mangoes, Kyle?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s not hard to do,” the little boy answered. “Mainly some of us just stand under the tree with nets and others go up in the tree to shake the branches and pick the fruit.” He pointed towards the nearest tree, where such a process was underway. “See? Can you climb trees, Kuya Mike?”

‘I’m sorry, Kyle, I’ve never tried,” Michael said. “There weren’t that many trees for climbing in Manila.”

“Awwwwww,” said Kyle. “I can climb! Wanna see?”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” said his father, who arrived in time to hear his last remark. “You’ll stay here on the ground where I can see you. Aren’t you supposed to be my assistant?”

“Yes, Papa.”

“Hello, Mike, Pie,” said Mr. Perez. “Here, try some mangoes. The Barrios mangoes have really good fruit, if I do say so myself. Now where have my other children gone… ah there you are Andy. My baskets?”

“Here, Papa,” Andy said, quickly collaring his younger siblings and snatching the empty baskets they were trying to overturn over one another’s heads. Shaking his head at his offspring’s antics, Mr. Perez took the baskets and went off to replenish the steadily diminishing pile of empties underneath the center-most mango tree in the orchard.

“There’s Eddie,” Aian said, noticing their friend taking a drink from a jug beneath one of the mango trees.

“Ah, good,” said Andy, and went to join him. After an earnest conversation, he looked back and waved at Aian and Michael to come over.

“Well, there’s that,” Katrin said, taking Pie’s arm. “If there’s anyone they’ll listen to, it’s Andy. He didn’t get himself elected class president for eight years running for no reason.”

“You’re so good, Kat,” Pie said.

“Ah, come on Pie,” Katrin said, looking away. “What are friends for? And speaking of friends, come on, I’ll show you the Barrios house. It’s over here.”

The house the Barrios family had once lived in was surrounded by a hedge, so that no one in the orchard would notice it if they didn’t know it was there. It was a two-story, half-hollow block, half-wooden house with wooden jalousies in its windows, both upper and lower. The windows were all protected with decorative iron grilles as well, so that no one could get in even if they removed the windows from their frames. The doors were of heavy lumber and were all not only locked, but chained and padlocked shut as well.

“No one can get in without making noise loud enough to be heard over at our house,” said Katrin to Pie in satisfaction.

“Why did they leave? The Barrioses,” Pie said.

“Shy’s grandmother got sick,” Katrin explained. “She needed someone to help care for her, and Shy’s aunt and uncle were abroad. So Shy’s mom had to go help take care of her, and since she couldn’t leave her family, they all just moved back there.”

“Oh,” Pie said. “You must miss her a lot.”

“Yeah,” Katrin said. “Shy’s always been there for as long as I could remember. We were best friends and classmates from kindergarten to grade five, till they moved away. It’s still hard, because she’s always been there next door, and then suddenly she wasn’t. She writes at least once a month, though, so we still keep in touch.”

“Lucky you, Kat,” Pie said. “Friendships like that are hard to find.”

“Oh yes, Lucky Me Pancit Canton,” retorted Katrin. “After all, I had Shy, and now you. Come on, let’s go back there and see if we can cadge any mangoes.”

The two girls walked back around the house and emerged from behind the hedge. They unexpectedly came upon a man walking in their direction.

“Oh!” Katrin exclaimed. Taking a closer look, she saw that the man was one of the rice mill laborers who had hired on to help pick mangoes.


The man also looked taken aback to see them.

“Manong, this part of the property is off limits,” Katrin said.

The man glared at her.

“Oh, yeah? So why are you here, missy?”

“Because my father is the caretaker of this property, and people are supposed to stay only in the orchard,” Katrin pointed out. “So please go back there.”

The man still looked sullen.

“I was looking for a place to pee,” he said. “Can’t even do that?”

“You can, but you can’t go where you’re not supposed to,” Katrin answered, although her face was red.

“Yeah, yeah,” the man said, pushing past her. He stopped and glared at the two girls.

“What’s the matter, are you gonna watch?” he asked. The two girls fled.

“That was embarrassing,” Katrin said to Pie as they joined the pickers.

“He wasn’t a very nice man,” Pie said and frowned.

Just then one of the women who had been helping with the cooking came to the gate and called, “Lunch is ready!” Murmurs of appreciation came from the workers, who put down what they were doing to go over to the Perez house for lunch.

Chapter Seven: An Unexpected Guest

“It’s too far-fetched an idea,” Andy said. “It was a firefly.”

“No, it didn’t look like one,” Katrin argued. “It looked like a flame from a candle or a kerosene lamp.”

“The cottage doesn’t even look occupied,” Aian pointed out.

“It’s locked, how would you know?” Pie countered.

The four of them were in the gazebo on the pond, that being far enough away from the house and too far away for anyone to overhear unless they were out in the open on the shores of the pond itself.

Katrin had returned from her bath in a white t-shirt that said “PSYSC – Philippine Society of Youth Science Club” and denim shorts, and with her hair in two braids. By mutual consent the four of them had adjourned to the gazebo with a basketful of fruit and a pitcher of buko juice, and were now discussing Katrin’s theory.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Katrin pointed out.

“That being?” Andy asked.

“No, Kat,” Aian said.

“You haven’t heard yet what I was going to say,” Katrin protested.

“We are not going to break into the cottage!” Aian said, and his sister gave him an injured look.


“We can always watch for the light again,” she pointed out, “and go see what it really is.”

Pie shuddered.

“I don’t want to go there at night!” she declared.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Pie,” Katrin said. “But someone else has got to.”

“And I know it won’t be you either, scaredy-cat,” Aian jeered.

“Watch who you’re calling a scaredy-cat, Kristian Mark,” Katrin retorted. “So if you don’t want to investigate the light at night, why don’t we just go back there now and try to see what is inside that cottage?”

Aian yawned.

“No can do, sis,” he said. “We’ve already been there today, and besides, it’s three-forty-five and we’re to meet Mike and Toffee and Eddie at four, remember?”

“Oh, you,” said Katrin, stamping her foot, but Pie just laughed.

“You could always come back to the house with me and we could use the pool, and then you can go home with the boys after their practice is over,” she said.

“But I haven’t got a swimsuit,” said Katrin. “Will shorts and a t-shirt be okay?”

“Sure,” said Pie.

“Argh,” said Aian. “Now she gets to go swimming without us.” Katrin stuck her tongue out at him.



When the two girls arrived at the mansion, however, they were met by Mrs. Nolasco who had another girl in tow.

“Pie dear, look who’s come to stay with us for a few days!” she said.

“Oh no,” Pie muttered. “It’s my cousin Betty.”

Betty looked to be a little older than Pie and Katrin, and was wearing a denim miniskirt and a silver t-shirt with hot-pink hearts all over it. Mrs. Nolasco introduced Katrin, whom Betty gave a dismissive once-over before turning to Pie and saying, “But you must be bored out of your mind! Never mind, I’m here now. I’ll keep you company.”

Katrin’s hackles had gone up at the expression on Betty’s face, but then she caught sight of Mrs. Nolasco’s face, looking slightly nauseated.

“Pie, why don’t you go upstairs and show Betty her room?” she told her daughter. “Come and talk to me, Kat. How was the wake last night?”

Katrin, still clutching the plastic bag containing the change of clothes she’d brought, caught Pie’s beseeching look as the latter obligingly led her cousin towards the stairs and followed Mrs. Nolasco to the garden.

“My husband’s niece,” Mrs. Nolasco told her. “We didn’t even know she was coming until my brother-in-law called last night to say that we should fetch her at the airport this morning, and we had to set out for General Santos City at an ungodly hour just to meet the plane on time. I’m sorry for her rude manners.”

“It’s okay, Aunt Anna,” Katrin said.

“To tell the truth, none of my children can stand her,” and Mrs. Nolasco made a face. “It’s just that she’s still their cousin, and my in-laws will start to make noises about family obligations and the like and… What I’m trying to say is that I hope you won’t let Betty spoil your friendship with Pie.”

“Of course not, Aunt Anna.”

“Good, Katrin. You’re such a good child.” Mrs. Nolasco smiled at her.

Pie came flying out of the house with a petulant face, which Katrin had never seen her wear before.

“She wanted airconditioning and her own private bathroom,” Pie told her mother, “and asked why she couldn’t sleep in my room as well. I swear, Mommy, I might be able to endure her around during the day, but to have her in my room as well… I might as well move to Katrin’s for a week, if Aunt Margie will let me.”

“Of course she would,” Katrin said.

“But Pie, darling, you can’t,” Mrs. Nolasco said. “I know you’re very much annoyed over this, but you have to stay here, or else we’ll never hear the rest of it from your aunt Beth.”

“Even then, Mommy, don’t expect me to stay and keep her company. Katrin and I had our own plans for this week, especially as it will be the fiesta soon.” Pie caught sight of her mother’s face. “Oh no, don’t tell me I have to take her to the fiesta too, Mommy!”

“Pie, you know you will have to or your father will be angry at you. Even if Betty arrived unexpectedly, she is still a guest and we have to treat her like one, do you understand?”

“Yes, Mommy,” Pie said, although she grimaced. “Kat and I were planning to go for a swim, that’s why we came back here.”

“Of course. I’ll have Lita bring you some merienda at the poolside. By the way, have you seen your brother?”

“He’s probably out on the basketball court, as Kat’s brothers have invited him to join their team for the fiesta league next week.”

“Ah, I see. It’s good that he’s finally making some friends. I’ll have Lita check and bring them some merienda as well.”

“Okay, come on, Kat, let’s go swimming!” Pie said.

Both girls had changed their clothes and were in the swimming pool when Betty came around the corner of the house and saw them. She came to the pool’s edge and sat on a chair. Looking pointedly at Katrin’s white t-shirt and brown shorts, she said, “Don’t you even have a bathing suit? I’m surprised Aunt Anna let you in there wearing those.”

“No,” Katrin said, “I don’t have a bathing suit. We don’t wear those here.”

“Really, Kat?” Pie looked down at the tankini she was wearing. “I guess I’ll have to buy some shorts then.”

“Oh, Pie, you know it’s all right. Besides, it’s your pool and you’re used to wearing a bathing suit and you already have one.”

“What?” Betty laughed. “How backward this place is, really.” She realized that both Katrin and Pie were staring at her, and although Katrin was striving hard to keep her face expressionless, she was not quite succeeding.

“I think I’ll join you,” Betty said. “I would really like a swim.” She got up and sauntered back to the house.

Pie groaned.

“Sometimes I’d like to drown her,” she said.

“Don’t,” Katrin advised. “You’ll get me wanting to do the same thing too.” Both girls looked at each other and laughed.

They were racing each other doing laps across the pool when Betty came back in a little white smocked sundress, flip-flops, and huge sunglasses. She sat down in a chair and peeled off the dress to reveal her bathing suit, flowered spandex shorts and a matching bikini halter top. Katrin averted her eyes quickly, and Pie laughed and splashed water at her.

“A pity it’s wasted on us,” Pie whispered maliciously, and both of them laughed again.

Lita came out of the house with two glasses of pineapple juice and sandwiches, and stopped when she saw Betty.

“Oh, good, merienda,” Betty said. “Just put it over here.” She pointed at the table beside her.

Lita did so and looked at Pie.

“I’ll bring you another glass, Pie,” she said and went away. Betty was already drinking from one of the glasses.

“Really, your maid is slow, Pie,” she said. “Imagine her forgetting to bring a glass for you, of all people.”

“That’s my glass you’re drinking from, actually,” Pie muttered to herself, but only said, “Well, I expect they couldn’t all fit on the tray.”

“Still,” Betty said. “Tsk, tsk.”

Both girls came out of the pool when Lita arrived with more food, and sat down at the other side of the table. Pie handed Katrin a plate with a sandwich, snatching it away just when Betty reached for it, having finished her own.

“It looks like Tiya Cora made her tuna spread for us,” Pie said. “You simply must try it, Kat, she is really proud of that recipe.”

“Oh, Tiya Cora is here too?” Betty made a face.

“Where else would she be?” Pie stared at her cousin again.

“I don’t know, with her own family, maybe? Why doesn’t she just go stay with them instead of have to sponge off you?”

“She isn’t sponging off of us, she cooks for us,” Pie said.

“Yes, and gets everything free and even gets paid for it,” Betty said.

“We couldn’t get along without Tiya Cora,” was all Pie said, before turning back to Katrin. “Isn’t it good?”

“Yummy,” Katrin nodded.

Betty stared at her.

“And just where did you come from?” she asked Katrin, who was chewing, and hastily swallowed.

“I live just down the road,” she answered, quickly taking a sip of juice.

Betty waited until she had taken another bite before saying, “So which one of those shacks we passed earlier is yours?”

Pie glared at her cousin.

This time, Katrin took her time chewing before answering pleasantly, “Oh, you wouldn’t have passed it.” And to Pie, “I really should ask Tiya Cora how to make this. It’s really good.”

“Katrin’s mother was Mommy’s best friend when they were children,” Pie informed her cousin.

“Oh, really?” Betty studied Katrin again. “I wouldn’t have guessed. But then Aunt Anna lived here once, didn’t she? That’s why Uncle Luis bought this house?”

Katrin laughed and put down her sandwich.

“Uncle Luis didn’t need to buy this house. It’s Aunt Anna’s,” she told Betty. “It belonged to her family and it’s where she was born and grew up.”

Betty looked taken aback by the news. Just then Lita returned with the other helper, Rina, carrying more trays.

“The boys decided to join you after practice,” she told the girls.

Pie and Katrin looked at each other.

“Uh-oh,” Pie said, getting up. But the five boys were already coming down the path, laughing and joking with one another.

Michael stopped short when he saw his cousin. His face went blank. The four other boys were wide-eyed; Katrin stifled the urge to throw something at her brothers’ heads.

‘Why, hello there, Mike,” Betty said.

“Betty. When did you arrive?”

“Your parents fetched me from the airport this morning,” said Betty, standing up. Aian, Andy, Eddie and Toffee hastily looked elsewhere, while Betty looked them all over coolly.

“And where did you get your little friends?” she asked. “But I forgot. You always did make friends fast. A pity you never choose the right sort, right, Michael?”

“Betty, you’re going too far,” Pie said.

“Why? Haven’t you told your friends the real reason you moved here, Pie? To get Michael away from his friends in Manila? To let people forget what he really is… a thief and a hoodlum?”

Katrin gasped. The other boys were staring at Michael, who stood there immobile. The basketball he still held in his hand fell on the concrete with a loud bounce and was automatically caught by Aian.

“Betty!”

They all turned at the sound of Mrs. Nolasco’s voice.

“I want to talk to you. Now.”

“Mommy is calling you,” Pie said. She picked the dress up off the arm of the chair and handed it to her cousin. Betty smirked at her and walked off.

“I guess we had better go,” Andy said. “This doesn’t look like a good time. Come on, Kat. Thanks for letting us practice here, Mike, Pie.”

Katrin looked at Pie and picked up her plastic bag.

“Text me later, okay?” she said, and Pie nodded.



As the five young people walked slowly down the lane after the mansion gates had closed behind them, Katrin wondered how such a beautiful afternoon could have ended so badly. Aian kicked at a stone. Andy brooded.

Toffee broke the silence.

“I can’t believe it,” he said.

“What a cousin they have,” Aian said. “I don’t blame them for moving here.”

“Michael a thief?” Eddie shook his head. He and Toffee exchanged glances.

“Come to think of it, the robberies started after they moved here,” Toffee mused.

“Now let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Katrin began.

“Let’s face it, Kat, what do we really know about them?” Aian said. “We’ve known them only for a few days after all.”

“Even then you really haven’t any proof except what that Betty said, and she’s a real pain,” Katrin pointed out. “She had it in for me the moment she saw me and I wasn’t even doing anything to her.”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it,” Toffee said. They had reached Riverside Road and stood there looking indecisive.

“Yeah, me too,” Eddie said. “See you tomorrow, Andy, Aian.”

The three Perezes watched their friends walk down the road. With a sigh, Katrin followed her brothers home.

“What’s gotten into the three of you?” their mother asked over dinner, when the three of them were strangely quiet.

“It was kind of a long day, Mama,” Andy said.

“Yeah,” Aian echoed.

“Well, you do know your father and I are taking Kyle to the wake tonight. We’ll be back before midnight. Be sure to lock up, you hear? If you hear any strange noises, turn on the lights outside but don’t leave the house. Call us on the cellphone instead. All right?”

“Yes, Mama,” Katrin said.

“I’m going to the wake!” Kyle said gleefully. “I’m staying up late!”

“Yes, you are,” and Katrin pinched his nose.

“We’re going by for your Aunt Anna and Uncle Luis after dinner,” her mother said.

“They have a guest,” Katrin said.

“Really? Who?” her mother asked.

“A cousin of Pie’s from Manila. Her name’s Betty and she’s simply awful, Mama.”

“Katrin!” her mother scolded.

“Well, she was, Mama. She kept asking me all sorts of rude questions and kept telling Pie she didn’t have to put up with me anymore.”

“Oh darling, maybe you just misunderstood. Their ways are different from ours, you know,” Mrs. Perez said. “Maybe she was just jealous of you for being Pie’s friend.”

“I don’t know, Mama. She was really awful. Pie was really embarrassed.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything from your Aunt Anna, so we’ll just go over and fetch them anyway,” her mother said. “And maybe they’ll bring Betty to the wake.”

“Everybody there would be wanting to shove her into the coffin,” Katrin muttered.

“Kat!” Her mother’s voice was reproving.

“I’m sorry, Mama.”

“Mind you wash the dishes and feed the animals,” said her mother before taking herself and Kyle off to the bedroom to change.

Katrin scraped the dishes and mixed the scraps with rice and water, dividing them between the bowls for Whitney and Bantay and setting the bowls outside the back door. Aian and Andy went around the house, checking to make sure everything was shut and barred. By the time she had finished the dishes and was scouring the pots and pans with rice hull ash, her parents were setting out for the wake, with Kyle bundled up securely against the night wind and the dew.

“Lock the gate and the door,” her father said. “I’ll bring the spare keys. Mind, now.”

The boys went out to close and lock the gate after the tricycle, and when they returned, they called the cat inside and locked both doors as well. Katrin shook her head. Even the locks and the bars seemed to offer no protection. She could hear the reassuring tap-tap of Bantay’s tail against the back door as he settled down for the night, and wished they had more dogs.

The three of them sat in the sala, but no one was in the mood to watch any TV. Andy leafed through a magazine, and Aian looked at the ceiling. Katrin busied herself with stroking Whitney, who had climbed into her lap and curled up, purring.

When she looked up, both her brothers were staring at her.

“What?” she asked.

“Well?” Aian said.

“Well, what?”

“For the record, I don’t believe Michael is the robber,” Andy said. “He might have been a thief in Manila…”

“…we don’t know that for sure,” Katrin interposed hotly.

“Let me finish, Kat. Even if he were a thief in Manila, I don’t believe he’s the robber.”

“For one thing,” Aian added, “he doesn’t know Riverside that well. I don’t believe he’d go out and steal random things as soon as he got here. Unless he’s a, one of those what do you call them… kleto, kletpo…”

“Kleptomaniacs,” Kat supplied.

“Yeah, that. The ones who steal because they can’t help themselves.”

“For another thing,” Aian added, “He was with us when we saw that strange light, and the way into the thicket looks like it was there long before the Nolascos ever arrived here.”

“Uh, that’s assuming the cottage and the light are even related to the robberies,” Andy pointed out.

“Well,” said Aian. “Lastly, Bantay took a chunk out of the robber and Michael doesn’t have any strange wounds on him that we could see.”

Katrin let out a sigh of relief.

“That makes me feel better,” she said. “I don’t think Toffee and Eddie are so sure though.”

“That’s a problem,” Andy said. “Once they even mention it to anyone, Michael will be in trouble.”

Katrin stared at her oldest brother in horror.

“We have to do something,” she said.

“Yeah, but what?” Aian said.

“I’ll have to talk to Toffee and Eddie,” Andy said.

Chapter Six: A Strange Light

Katrin arrived at the foot of the stone steps that afternoon just as Pie was running down them. As usual, Pie wore a minidress and leggings, but she had rubber flip-flops on her feet instead of sandals. A small purse on a cord was slung diagonally from right shoulder to left hip.

“Nice outfit, but we’re only going to the market,” Katrin said, admiring the red-dotted white tunic with cap sleeves, a dropped waist, and a ruffled hem over red leggings. She herself wore knee-length faded denim shorts and a faded pink t-shirt, and flip-flops.

“In Manila, this is what I wore when I went out of the house,” said Pie. “Is it too dressy?”

“Oh,” said Kat. “Never mind then, let’s go.”

They waited for a tricycle at the corner of Riverside and Acacia. Fortunately for them, Manong Tino came by and gave them a lift. After picking up and dropping off several passengers along the way, he finally dropped off the two girls at the nearest entrance to the market.


“What time are you going home?” he asked.

“It’s okay, Manong, we’ll just poke around,” Katrin said. “If we don’t see you when we’re ready to go home we’ll just take another tricycle.”

“Okay. I’ll be at the terminal for Riverside,” he said.

“Mama’s errand first,” said Katrin, leading Pie towards her favorite school supply store.

“What are we buying?” Pie asked.

“Something to make a wreath with,” said Katrin.

“Oh… right! Mommy said we were going to a wake tonight.”

“Yup,” said Katrin. “In which case you better wear something more sober than red.”

“Okay…” Pie said, and watched as Katrin picked out a roll of cartolina, a roll of cellophane, several rolls of crepe paper in white and purple, a length of white ribbon, a pentel pen, staple wire, and scotch tape.

“Who is going to make the wreath?” Pie asked as the shop owner rang up the sale.

“Mama and the boys and me, of course,” said Katrin. “Aian usually does the lettering. Mama and I make the roses, and Andy does the stapling.”

“Can I watch?” Pie asked.

“If you come over early after supper instead of waiting for us at your gate, why not?” Katrin said, and Pie clapped her hands.

They left the school supplies store laden with bundles, and headed into the market.

“When you said market, I thought it would be one whole building but this is different,” Pie said. The Sto. Nino Public Market, instead of consisting of many stalls under one roof, was made up of separate rows of buildings in four main sections, divided by two main thoroughfares that crossed each other in the center of the market.

“Yup,” said Katrin. “This is the part with the carenderias and beauty parlors and dressmakers, and there’s the dried fish shops and the fruit vendors and the banana-q vendors. Over there across the street are the general merchandise shops and boutiques. Behind those are the meat vendors and the vegetables. Over there are the fish vendors. There are the rice stores, agricultural supplies stores, video rental shops, pawnshops and travel agents, and the ukay-ukay stalls.”

“Oooh, ukay-ukay! Can we go see?” Pie said at once.

“In a minute. I’ve got some people I want you to meet,” said Katrin, leading her off to meet those of her classmates and batchmates whose families had stores in the market. Everyone asked Pie if she was enrolling in the Public, and looked disappointed when Pie answered that she hadn’t decided yet.

“Hey Kat!” Someone hailed her when they passed the meat stands.

“Oh, hello, Tito Sabas,” Katrin said. “Hi, Cherry and Leo.”

“Your mother asked me last week to reserve some beef bones and meat for her the next time I butchered a cow,” he said, “and we just did one this morning. I’ll send her order with you, if that’s all right?”

“Thanks, Tito Sabas. Would you mind if I came back for it later, before we go home?” Katrin said. “Pie and I still have to go somewhere.” She introduced Pie.

“Oh! Anna’s daughter? Welcome to Sto. Nino,” the butcher said. “Your mother and Katrin’s mother and I were classmates in elementary school.”

As they left the meat section and headed for the ukay-ukay, Pie said to Katrin, “Do you really know everybody in the market?”

“Oh, not everybody,” Katrin said. “It’s just that their children are our schoolmates, and Mama sells vegetables and fruit here every Market Day. People are telling her she ought to get a regular stall, but she has too much to do and can’t really keep a stall open every day of the week. So yeah, most people here know her.”

Pie gasped at the piles of old clothes all jumbled up on low bamboo papags in the ukay-ukay section. Pieces of cardboard tied to strings above each pile advertised the prices. Pie caught one and held it steady so she could read what it said.

“Twenty pesos each,” she read. “Are they serious?”

“Yup!” said Katrin. “Oh, look, that blue shirt looks good…”

“I can’t believe it,” said Pie, diving into a pile of dresses and skirts. “Even ukay-ukay costs double this in Manila. Of course, they put them on hangers on racks there, but… these are quite nice!”

Thirty minutes and more bundles later, the two girls left the ukay-ukay section.

“I am beginning to love this place very much,” Pie declared. “Where are we off to next?”

“Have you ever eaten La Paz batchoy before?” Katrin asked.

“Uh… once? Mommy ordered it in a restaurant, but I didn’t like it, it was sweet,” Pie said.

“You might just change your mind. Come on,” said Katrin, leading her to a carenderia, one of many that had a sign outside saying “Batchoy, Halo-halo, Short Orders.”

Pie looked skeptical, but Katrin said, “Come on, Pie, it’s practically our national food. It’s the only snack you can be sure of getting anywhere here. And it’s authentic, I promise.”

The La Paz batchoy came in little bowls with an egg floating on top amidst the leeks, chicharon bits, and fried garlic. It was accompanied by two pieces of pandesal on a plate.

“Mmmm,” said Katrin, inhaling deeply before digging in. “Come on, Pie, try it.”

Pie took a cautious sip.

“It tastes different!” she said, and began eating in earnest.

“Told you,” and Katrin grinned. “By the way, it tastes good if you dip some pandesal in it.”



Replete, the two girls poked around the market some more, then went to get the meat from Tito Sabas and headed for the place where the tricycles headed for Riverside usually parked.

“Tino just left with a full load,” one of the drivers told Katrin when they saw her.

“It’s okay, Manong Totong, we’ll just take the next one.” Again, Katrin introduced Pie.

“So they’ll know who you are and where to drop you off if they get you as a passenger,” Katrin explained to Pie once they were seated in the front seat of the tricycle.

Indeed, Manong Totong stopped at the foot of the stairs without being told.

“See you later, okay?” Pie told Katrin, handing Manong Totong some money. “For both of us,” she said. “I insist, Kat. I had so much fun!” And off she went up the stairs with her bundles, humming.

“Pretty girl,” Manong Totong said as he started the tricycle again. “Looks like her mother. Nice manners, too. Well, here you are, Kat.” He stopped the tricycle at the Perez gate.

“Thanks!” Kat disembarked with her parcels, and being careful to keep the meat separate from the paper supplies, went in.

“Ah, good, Sabas remembered my meat,” her mother said, taking the package from Katrin. “I must remember to stop by and pay him the next time I’m there. After this rice is cooked, we’ll have dinner and then we’ll make the wreath.”



Pie and Michael arrived when they were halfway through the wreath. Pie immediately came over to Katrin’s side and began watching as Katrin shaped crepe paper into roses, sealing the stems with scotch tape. Mrs. Perez had left off making roses and was instead arranging the finished ones around the piece of cartolina to form a wreath. Andy was stapling down the ones she finished arranging. At the table, Aian was carefully printing the words “Condolence from the Perez family” on the white ribbon, with his father looking on. Michael sat down in the chair farthest from the group and watched silently.

“Can I try?” Pie said eagerly, and Katrin gave her a piece of white crepe paper to practice on.

“You fold it like this, then you roll, making sure the edges flare like rose petals,” Katrin said, “and then you keep tucking and folding all of it around the end that you will make into the stem, and after three turns, you cut off the end and tuck the raw edge in like this, and roll the end around the stem, and tape it… and you’re done!”

Pie critically appraised the lopsided thing she had managed to roll.

“How do I keep it from falling apart!” she said.

“Keep pinching the stem together, don’t make it a loose one,” Katrin said. “Keep it nice and tight… see? There, you’ve got it.”

“Yay!” Pie said, clapping her hands. She pitched in to make more roses until the wreath was done. Aian then stretched the ribbon diagonally across the center of the wreath and fixed it in place. Andy covered the whole thing with cellophane pulled evenly and tightly over the whole thing, stapling it at intervals around the edges... and the homemade wreath was done.

"Have you two had dinner?" Mrs. Perez asked Pie and Michael.

"Yes, Tita," said Pie.

"And remembered to bring jackets? It's cold outside at night."

"Yes, Tita."

"Ah, Mama, don't fuss," Kat said good-naturedly, coming down the stairs with jackets and baseball caps in hand. She tossed a jacket and a cap to each of her brothers, put her own jacket and cap on, and patted her pocket for her little coin purse. "I'm ready to go," she said.

Mrs. Perez handed Andy the wreath, Aian a flashlight, and Katrin a white envelope with the words "Condolence from the Perez family" written on it.

"Mind you give that to Isang's mother when you get there," she told Katrin.

"Yes, Mama."


They walked to Riverside, taking the long way, since Andy deemed the shortcut hard to negotiate in the dark. He didn't add that he was afraid they might meet the robbers on the way, but Katrin knew that was on his mind. So they took Riverside Road. Pie and Katrin walked ahead with Aian, and Andy and a still-taciturn Michael brought up the rear.

Aian swung the flashlight in circles, making Katrin want to take it from him and use it to bop him on the head.

"Bro, my eyes hurt just trying to follow the beam," she complained and he stopped.

The trees made hulking shadows over their heads, and frogs and crickets complained in the tall grasses at the sides of the road. The night air was cool and fresh, and Katrin breathed in deeply.

"Is it far?" Pie asked.

"A way down Acacia Street and up another lane," said Aian. "Scared, Pie?"

"Not really," she answered. "It's just that all this... silence seems so weird. I'm still getting used to not hearing a lot of vehicles pass by all the time."

"One of the best parts, though, is waking up to birdsong in the morning," Aian told her.

"Well... yeah," said Pie. "And all that fresh air."

"What do you think, Michael?" Katrin turned around and walked backward. "How is Riverside treating you so far?"

She could not tell in the dim light, but she thought he looked startled to have been asked.

"It's okay, I guess," he finally answered.

"It speaks!" the irrepressible Aian couldn't stop himself from commenting, and Katrin kicked him in the shins. "Owww! Sis!"

"Behave," Katrin said. "Bro."

"Behaving, behaving," Aian grumbled. "But seriously, Mike, I wish you'd speak up. Otherwise I'd think I had B.O. or something."

Katrin thought Michael actually grinned at that.

"Nothing much to say, I guess," he said.

"You play basketball?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"We need teammates for the fiesta games next week. You available?"

There was a pause, then Michael shrugged.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Great!" said Andy. "We'll probably see the other guys at the wake tonight, and talk about practice times and such. Okay with you?"

"Okay. Yeah."

Katrin went back to her original place beside Pie, who was shaking her head.

"What's up?" she asked, but Pie just shrugged and smiled.


When they reached the corner of Riverside Road and Acacia Street, they saw other people, all headed the same way. A group of Andy’s batchmates hailed them, and fell in with them. The Perezes introduced the Nolascos, and so all talking to one another, it wasn’t long before they reached the house of their schoolmate Isang, set among the rice fields at the end of a lane off Acacia Street. There were several long tables set up in the front yard, under a temporary tent made of canvas stretched over a frame made of whole bamboo poles. The front door and windows of the house were all open, affording a glimpse of the mahogany-colored coffin inside, its lid up to display names of immediate family members written on narrow ribbons affixed to the lining. Crepe paper wreaths and fresh flowers surrounded the coffin, and at its head was a tall candelabrum illuminating the small placard from the funeral home, containing the name and dates of birth and death of the deceased, as well as the date, time and place of the funeral.

A low, harmonic chant emanated from within the house; the prayers for the repose of the soul of the deceased were not over yet. These prayers were usually done by the older women of the place, with the help of the local catechists. The men were all outside, playing cards and mahjong. The young people congregated at a vacant table, and someone broke out some board games for them to play.

Isang, a small pale girl with shoulder-length straight black hair, came out of the house with pitchers of orange juice and platters of biscuits. She put the tray on her schoolmates’ table and thanked them for coming to the wake. Again, Katrin introduced the Nolascos, and Isang said, “Oh, you just moved here recently? Thank you so much for coming.”

Pie murmured something and Isang smiled wanly at them all.

“If you need anything, just call me,” she said and went back to the house.

When they heard the prayers winding up, Andy, Aian, and Katrin, with Michael and Pie in tow, went to the house as well. Isang’s mother came to the door to see the catechists out, and saw them.

“Good evening, Andy, Aian, Katrin,” she said.

“Good evening, Tita,” they said politely, and introduced the two Nolascos. Andy held up the wreath.

“Where shall I put this, Tita?” he asked.

“Come in, come in,” said Isang’s mother, taking the wreath. The young people went to the coffin to pay their last respects. The old woman looked shrunken and small inside her lace dress. Katrin looked at the placard.

“Eighty-three,” she said to Andy. “Whew, that’s old.”

“At least she’s resting now,” said Andy.

Isang’s mother echoed much the same thing when she joined them in front of the coffin.

“At least Nanay lived a long and fruitful life,” she said. “I told Isang not to be sad, as her Lola is happy in heaven now.”

Katrin remembered the envelope, and took it from her pocket and gave it to Isang’s mother.

“Thank you, Kat, and thank your mother and father for me. Would you like to inscribe it in the book yourself? It’s on the stand,” she said, pointing at the metal stand underneath the placard. A small white notebook there listed the names of people who gave abuloy, and Katrin took the ballpen provided and added “Perez family” to the list.

“Mama and Papa will probably be here tomorrow night,” she said to Isang’s mother. “They just sent us ahead so we can stay home with Kyle tomorrow. We daren’t leave the house alone at night anymore.”

“That’s right, the robbers were at your house last night, weren’t they?” said Isang’s mother. “I suppose that’s one good thing about a wake, there are many people around, so the robbers can’t get near the house.”

The five of them left the house and went back to the table where the other young people were playing Snakes and Ladders and Monopoly at one end of the table, and cards at the other end.

“What are you playing?” Katrin asked, stepping over the narrow bench and sitting down. She beckoned Pie to sit beside her.

“Tong-its,” Toffee said. “Wanna play, Kat? Pie?”

“I don’t know how to play tong-its,” said Pie, shaking her head.

“Deal me in,” said Katrin. “You can sit and watch me, Pie.”

Aian stood behind them, shaking his head.

“Pie, my sister sure is a bad influence, isn’t she?” he said.

“Oh, shut up Ian, it isn’t as if I really gamble,” said Katrin, taking up the cards dealt her and sorting them.

Andy and Michael also came over to their end of the table and sat down.

“Hey, Toffee. Mike can play on our team,” Andy said.

“Great!” Toffee said. “Practice at the co-op tomorrow afternoon around four?”

“Sure!” said Andy. “But won’t it be crowded at that time?”

“We can practice at our house,” Michael said suddenly.

“You have a basketball court at your house?” Toffee stared at him.

“Oh, for goodness sake, Tof, they even have a swimming pool at their house,” said Katrin.

“No kidding?” Toffee asked Michael.

“No kidding,” Michael said.

“Duuuude.” Toffee stared at him longer. “So we really can practice at your house?”

“Yeah, sure,” Michael shrugged. “Not much fun playing alone.”

“Dude, you rock,” Toffee said. “Hey, Eddie. Eddie, I see you, get over here, meet our new teammate.”

“Toffee, start the game already,” Katrin said patiently.

“What? Oh, right.” Toffee hastily picked up his cards.

By eleven o’clock, both Nolascos had attracted a welcoming crowd of young people, so that it was hard for them to leave. Katrin had to remind them that they still had a long walk home.

“Four o’clock, at the corner of Riverside and Acacia tomorrow, right?” Toffee said to Michael as they were leaving.

“Right!” Michael said.

“Everybody is so nice here,” said Pie as they walked back down the lane to Acacia Street. ‘Brrr. It’s gotten cold, though.”

“I think it’s going to rain,” said Andy, looking up. “Can’t see the stars.”

“What if an aswang came swooping down?” Aian asked, dodging the kick his twin sister aimed at his shins.

“A-a-aswang?” Pie quavered.

“Ah, don’t be a scaredy-cat, Pie,” her brother said. “There aren’t any.”

“You’re in the provinces now, Mike my boy,” said Aian. “Anything can happen. Who knows, maybe there’s a bagat at the crossroads up ahead?”

“Aian, stop it,” said Katrin.

“What’s a… ba-ba-bagat?” Pie asked.

“It’s a spectre that haunts crossroads,” said Andy. “Sometimes it appears as a ball of fire, or as a floating coffin, or even just a floating lighted candle with no one at all holding it.”

“Eeeee. I don’t want to see one,” Pie declared, clutching Katrin’s arm so hard the latter yelped. She kept her eyes averted as they reached the crossroads and entered Riverside Road.

“Nearly there,” Katrin told her.

“I’d be scared to death if I ever saw a bagat,” Pie said. “Imagine, a lighted candle floating in the air all by itself. What would it look like?”

Katrin happened to glance into the thicket at the side of the road, and she stopped and stared.

“L-l-like t-t-that?” she asked.

“Nice try, Kat,” said Aian, glancing wryly where his sister was looking. He stopped short.

What looked like a little flame was moving in the thicket, fading from view then reappearing. It was too bright for a firefly, too dim and flickery orange for a flashlight.

Katrin was not sure which of them moved first, but she found herself running down the road as if the devil were at her heels. It didn’t help that Aian had a grip on her arm and was towing her along. Pie had clutched Katrin’s arm in a death grip and was being towed along in her wake.

They stopped to catch their breath at the turnoff to the mansion, where the Nolascos left them.

“T-t-text me when you get home,” Katrin said to Pie, whose teeth were chattering almost as much as her own.

“Y-y-yes,” said Pie. “N-n-night!”

The moment the Nolascos left, the three Perezes exchanged glances and ran home as fast as they could.