Thursday, July 22, 2010
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment