Thursday, July 22, 2010

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.


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