Thursday, July 22, 2010
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.
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