Thursday, July 22, 2010
Chapter Two: An Unexpected Find
The next day, Katrin helped her mother with the chores and got them done in record time. She had bathed and dressed and was combing her hair when she heard a sound most unfamiliar to Riverside Road. A car was coming up the road and stopping in front of their gate. Bantay had left his post beside the door and was now barking furiously. When Katrin saw that Pie and Jenny were getting out of the car, she ran out to open the gate for them. Both girls wore matching pink sundresses, sandals and headbands.
"Here you are!" she exclaimed. "Come in, come in." She looked past them at the car. The window rolled down and a boy's voice said, "I'll be back for you later, Pie, just text me, okay?"
"Oh, no, you needn't bother, we can bring them home," Katrin said, but the window was already closing and the car backing around to make a turn.
"Michael just wanted to practice driving," Pie explained. "so Mom made him bring us here." Kyle had come out of the house and he and Jenny were petting Bantay.
Katrin then brought Pie and Jenny in to meet her mother and her father, who was at home because it was Saturday.
"I'll show them the garden," she said, "and maybe we can have merienda by the pond."
"A pond! Does it have fish?" Jenny clapped her hands.
"Yes, it has fish!" Kyle said proudly.
Just then Aian and Andy came into the house, and the basketball that Aian had been carrying fell to the floor with a loud bounce.
"Your mouth, bro. It's gaping," Katrin whispered as she walked by him. She then introduced her two brothers to Pie and was pleasantly gratified to see both boys make a fuss over their guests.
Katrin and the boys showed Pie and Jenny around the gardens and the orchard. They finally ended up at the fish pond, where the boys and their father had recently built a small gazebo at the end of a short bamboo bridge. Andy and Aian went to get refreshments from the house, while Katrin tried to amuse Pie and Jenny by pointing out the fishes that came to the surface of the waters.
"There's carp, and puyo, and gourami," she pointed out. "And that's tilapia. And there's catfish, and see that big old mudfish in the shallows? No one's been able to catch him yet, though Andy has vowed to dredge the pond."
Jenny danced around.
"Can we fish? The way they do in the movies?" she asked.
"Jenny!" Pie scolded.
"The boys are probably going fishing later," Katrin said. "Meanwhile, Jenny, take care not to fall in the water or you might catch a cold." And she saw to it that Pie kept a firm grip on the back of her little sister's dress at all times.
"This is really pretty," Pie said. "It's sunny, and there's a breeze, and the air is so clean--- there's no dust or smoke. And there's the river over there, beyond the coconut grove..."
"And down the banks and beyond the meadows a bit," Katrin supplied, laughing, for they would have to go down the steep bank and cross wide, marshy meadows before they could get to the waters of the Allah River.
"That, too," Pie said, laughing in turn. "What's beyond that wall, Kat?" And she pointed in another direction.
"Beyond that? Corn fields," Kat said. "Behind that part of the wall, there's a forested part, then the mango orchard, and beyond that the Barrios house. There's a little gate in there, actually-- but no one's been through there for a long time, ever since the Barrioses left, as we usually just took the road." And Katrin looked sad for a while, as she and Alexsyl had used that gate frequently when they were little, to get to one another's homes without having to walk on the road.
"How cute!" Pie exclaimed. "I hope we can go there later? I want to see the mango orchard."
"Well, maybe," Katrin said, and was saved from having to say anything more as her brothers arrived with a tray of native delicacies, sliced fresh melon, and buko juice. Later, Andy and Aian obliged the two little ones by getting their fishing poles. Both then sat on the wooden bridge, their feet dangling over the water, each with a child beside him, grasping a pole and waiting for a bite.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Jenny shrieked when Aian's line got a bite and began to bob. "We got a fish! We got a fish!" And Aian hauled in a decent-sized tilapia.
"We got one, too!" Kyle cried, not to be outdone, as Andy also reeled in a tilapia.
"Andy, we're just going into the orchard," Katrin told her oldest brother. "Come on, Pie!"
"Mama thought she heard some avocados fall earlier," Andy called after her. "Best take a basket!" Katrin made a face at him, but she went to the storage shed behind the house and took a basket before leading Pie to the orchard.
"We're going to look for fallen fruit," she told Pie. "If they fell only today, they're still good. We'll pick up only the good ones, of course."
Pie wrinkled her nose as they passed by the pigpen and the fenced-in yards where the Perezes kept their chickens, ducks and geese. The gander honked loudly and ran at the fence when they passed by, and Pie instinctively ran away.
"That's one mean gander! He's scary!" Pie said.
"Yes, but he can't get out anyway," Katrin told her. "And no thief would dare go in there with him on guard. He's better even than Bantay, sometimes."
Leaves and twigs crunched under their feet as they entered the orchard. Katrin spied the fallen avocadoes almost at once, and put them into the basket, along with some santol fruits. Pie entered into the activity and began to look for fruits as well. She kept asking Katrin, "Is this good?"
As they went over the ground, the two girls drew nearer to the wall that separated the Perez property from that of the absent Barrioses. They finally found the gate, half-hidden by tall weeds. It was made of iron grilles, closed and barred, with a twist of wire securing the hasp. Katrin undid this and pulled back the bolt, wincing when it screeched loudly. She eased the gate open as far as she could and motioned to Pie to go through. Then she followed.
Unlike the Perez fruit orchard, where the trees grew closer together so that the whole area was shady and cool, the mango trees in the Barrios orchard were spaced farther apart to accommodate their spreading crowns, so that the two girls walked alternately in sunshine and shadow. Pie's eyes shone when she saw the mango fruits that hung from the branches, slowly ripening.
"Mangoes," she breathed.
"Papa says they will be good for harvesting soon," Katrin told her.
"You're so lucky, Kat. Mangoes are my absolute favorite fruit on earth," Pie said, twirling around in the sunshine. "Hey, what's over there?"
Katrin turned to see where she was pointing. At the edge of the orchard, beside the wall, there was a thicket of kakawate trees. It was the only jungly part of the orchard.
"Oh... that," she said. "I don't know. I guess that's always been there for as long as I could remember, we just didn't pay it any attention."
“You mean you’ve never looked there?” Pie asked in astonishment.
Katrin looked at her, then walked dubiously toward the thicket. A faint, half-forgotten memory clicked inside her head.
“You know what, Pie, I really had forgotten this was here,” she said. ‘It’s been years since Shy left and I don’t know… I didn’t really have much call to come over here anymore I guess.”
“Forgot what was there?” Pie echoed. “Why? What’s in there?’
“Aw, it’s probably falling apart by now anyway,” Katrin said, poking a kakawate root with her foot.
“Katrin Perez, I swear, if you don’t tell me what you’re talking about…” Pie began, but Katrin was already pushing her way between the branches of the thicket. “Wait!” Pie exclaimed and plunged hastily after her friend.
After fighting with kakawate branches and roots in their path, the two girls finally emerged into the clear space at the heart of the thicket.
Pie stared at the little green cottage, the sunshine filtering through the branches sheltering it and making patterns on its roof and walls.
“Oh,” she said. ‘That.”
Pie walked around the little house. It was not a nipa hut at all, as it was not built of bamboo like the other huts its size in the barrio, but of thick wooden planks. The green paint had long since flaked off, although parts of it still showed in places. The windows as well as the small banggera, were protected by wooden grilles. The whole house was elevated on posts, and plainly had a wooden floor. Despite Katrin’s expectations, it was actually in pretty good shape for a structure that had been abandoned for so long.
‘Whose is it?” Pie asked.
“The caretaker of the orchard used to live here,” Katrin said. “He was one of Shy’s uncles… I remember he always gave my brothers and me a basket of mangoes or other fruits each time we came here. He got married, though, and moved away, and Shy’s father decided not to hire another caretaker. Instead, we all just helped in the orchard.”
“Who’s Shy? You keep mentioning her,” Pie said.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot, you didn’t know her. Shy Barrios. She was my best friend, but they moved away two years ago.”
‘Oh. I see,” Pie said. After a while she added, “Hey, do you think we can get in?”
“It should be open, I think,” Katrin said, heading for the cottage’s front door, which faced Riverside Road.
“You know, if we cleaned this place up and cut away some of the branches, it would be a nice place to hang out,” Pie said, going around the cottage again.
“You know we can’t do that, Pie…” Katrin trailed off as she reached the door and put out a hand to open it. She just as quickly withdrew her hand and stared.
‘What’s the matter, Kat? You’ve gone silent all of a sudden,” Pie called.
“I can’t believe this. It’s locked!” said Katrin, staring at the Yale padlock that secured the hasp of the door. ‘Hey Pie! Where are you? Don’t go running off, be careful where you step, okay? There might be…”
“…Kat!” Pie suddenly exclaimed.
“…snakes!” Katrin yelped, startled.
“Snakes…?!” Pie queried in alarm. “Where?”
“You startled me! I thought you’d seen one!” Katrin said, walking around the cottage to join her.
“I haven’t, but look!” Pie pointed to the part of the thicket near the wall that separated the two properties.
“We went to all that trouble… and all along there was a way in!” Katrin said. Indeed there was a gap in the thicket, facing the wall, and a well-beaten path leading out. She and Pie followed it beside the wall until they pushed aside a low-hanging branch and emerged again in the mango orchard, not ten feet away from the gate.
“Kaaaaaat! Piiiiiiie! Where are you?” Katrin suddenly heard Aian’s voice, faintly calling. She and Pie looked at each other and headed back through the gate. She had just finished twisting the wire back around the hasp and was picking up the basket when Aian found them.
“There you both are!” he said. “Pie, Jenny is panicking because she couldn’t find you.” He fell into step beside them as they headed back towards the house, and took the basket. Peering into it, he said, ‘Hnh. Is this all you found? You were gone so long I’d have thought you would have filled this basket and then some.”
“Tell the trees to drop more fruits then,” said Katrin, cuffing him amiably.
“And, Pie, did you know you’ve got amorseco on your skirt?” Aian said
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