His Neighbor

Well, this story didn’t happen in my neighborhood but in somebody else’s. I just find it very funny that’s why I posted it here.

So, here goes. My new friend Frances* is a brave girl who doesn’t mind going home very late from work. For some reasons, she was so confident that nothing wrong was going to happen to her. But one night, after her shift from the airport, she left her work at midnight and was about to meet her boyfriend so he could take her home. But as soon as she left, she already noticed a suspicious looking man behind her. Scared that it was a hold-up-er, she didn’t look back nor did she slow down. She just kept on walking, hoping to reach the place where her boyfriend was supposed to meet her.

She felt relieved when she saw him waving at him, so she walked faster. But it was then that the man declared ‘hold-up’. So, as soon as she reached her boyfriend, she told him to keep on walking as there was a robber behind them. The robber ordered them to keep quiet, keep on walking, not to look back and to give him their wallets.

To keep both of them safe, Frances fished out her wallet from her bag while her boyfriend reached back for his wallet at his back pocket. But probably out of nervousness, his wallet slipped from his hand and fell down on the sidewalk. On impulse, he looked back to grab the wallet but recognized the robber. It was one of his neighbors, in fact, the robber was even in their house the previous weekend because there was a party.

The robber asked them to please be quiet about his job. He even apologized for that unfortunate event. He let them go and warned them to be careful in those parts of the city because there are a lot of robbers roaming around.. :D

 *not real name

Thy Neighbor

On the early summer of 1988, I was in second year high school. My friend and I were talking in front our house when we both noticed smoke coming out of our neighbor’s house. The house was across the street from ours, a little to the right. It was actually a house turned into a store and the fire probably started from the store and spread throughout the entire house. The family was not there as they stay at their big house during the night. There were, however, two houseboys inside but were lucky to go out when the fire broke.

I guess my friend and I were few of those who saw the fire first and we felt responsible to do something about it. My guy friend yelled for help from the other neighbors while I alarmed my parents about the fire. My father immediately turned off our power supply to try to stop the fire from spreading through the electric cable. Then, he, too, went out carrying buckets and helped the other men of our neighborhood put out the fire.

Maybe it just took less than an hour, but for me, it felt like forever. It was hot and the smoke made breathing difficult. In the end, the fire was extinguished. The house, though not totally burnt was beyond repair and the merchandise was everywhere soaking with water. The men were tired but happy except for the owner of the store. He said that at the confusion, some neighbors took some items from his store and instead of thanking the people who helped save his burning house, he expressed his disgust to the thieves, turned his back and went home.

The men were equally disgusted about how the owner reacted, but my father said to be still thankful that they were fast enough to stop the fire from devouring our own houses. The men found it reasonable and dispersed calmly.

The store was rebuilt right away. But it never again regained it popularity and its regular customers. After several years, the store was sold and it is now being operated by someone else.

Deeply In Love

I know of some people who love too deeply or thought they do. And some of them expect to be rewarded for loving another person too much. It’s as if they suppose the other person should love them as much as they love the other person and if they aren’t loved as much, they felt sad.. and mad.

Most of my childhood friends have very jealous spouses, both the guys and the girls, but mostly the guys. It wasn’t only once that I sent a text message to an old guy friend (to ask for another friend’s cellphone number) only to be texted back by the wife who, for some reasons, asked me ‘What do you need from my husband?’ (Ano’ng kailangan mo sa asawa ko?).

Wow! As if I needed anything from anybody’s husband (you know what I mean). And then another friend sent me an Instant Message which I answered very enthusiastically. But then, after 30 minutes of chatting with ‘my friend’ he, rather she, admitted that my friend was actually doing something outside and it was in fact his wife that I was chatting with. Gosh…

But at least one of my friends, (one of my closest in high school in fact) told me straight that he wouldn’t talk to me again or text me again because his wife didn’t want him to. Well, I knew I had to respect that and so I did.

Some people say ‘jealousy’ is part of love and I wouldn’t argue with that, but unreasonably jealous? Well, I guess that’s another story.

The Poor Employee

Arnel* was having trouble with money. He wasn’t earning much and his family’s needs are getting more. With his eldest daughter in grade school, the middle in preschool and the youngest one a toddler who lives on milk and uses diaper every night, Arnel was deep in debt.

He regularly borrows money from me and from numerous other friends. Maybe they feel as sorry for the kids as I do.

But one day, his wife came to the house very early. She said Arnel walked from their house going to his workplace. She said they don’t have enough money for fare. Since I knew how far the distance was from their house to Arnel’s office, I got worried if Arnel made it. I called him on his cell phone and he said he made it to work after walking for two hours.

When I asked Arnel’s wife how he would come home, she said he would probably walk again. Then, I asked if he had something to eat for lunch, and her answer was no. I took my wallet from my purse and handed her a couple of hundred bills.

I wish it would never happen to me…

*not real name

Unnecessary Grief?

When we graduated from high school in 1991, one of my classmates eloped with her boyfriend and became a mother in a matter of months. But life had been very difficult and my friend started working as a domestic helper abroad as soon as it was legal for her to do so. She worked like she’d never worked before, believing in her heart and soul that she was doing it for her kids.

Years had come and gone and her kids grew up. They grew up like strangers to her. She didn’t know them that much, their likes and dislikes, their moods, their dreams, their angers and fears. She didn’t know them at all. She felt sad but she couldn’t do anything. Working abroad is not for the faint-hearted, it is for tough people, and she met one tough guy. They got drawn to each other that when they came back here in the Philippines, she chose to go with him instead of go back to her real family.

More years passed. She kept on working as hard as she could and never stop sending money to her children and doing her responsibility, thinking that she was doing her part as a parent. So, she was surprised to learn that her eldest child joined a fraternity and allegedly got injured in the hazing, the boy was only fifteen years old. The boy’s injury led to a more serious illness. He was diagnosed with bone cancer and his leg was amputated. Even after the amputation, the boy underwent a series of chemotherapy.

Two years ago, I saw the boy’s pictures in Facebook. He died after fighting cancer for a year. My friend came home for the wake and went back abroad after a few days.

People say that things happen for a reason, but sometimes, it’s difficult to find the reason for a painful thing like this.. :(

Loving.. Knowing.. Accepting..

Love isn’t blind. I guess you would agree with me on that. It actually sees the flaws and the shortcomings, but it doesn’t mind..

Actually, we mind, but at the back of our minds, we have this wish that someday, somehow, the person we love would change, probably for us, for himself, or even for someone else. And when he doesn’t, we feel hurt, frustrated and sometimes betrayed. We keep thinking that ‘if he really loves me, he would do this or he wouldn’t do that…’

More often than not, the person doesn’t change, wouldn’t change or wouldn’t want to change, whatever the case may be. Once I asked a cousin if she knew that her husband was overly jealous before they got married, she said yes. Then, I asked a friend if she knew that her husband was pushy before they got married and she said yes, as well. So, if they knew it right from the start, why are they complaining now?

My cousin got separated from her husband 5 years ago, and my friend has not been living with her husband for 3 years now. I could say I wasn’t surprised with the turn of events, and though I’m definitely not happy about it, I was actually kind of expecting it.

Sad, isn’t it?

The Heroic Woman

I was in high school when I heard about this story.

There was once a fat woman in our town. Most of the townspeople ignored her while children made fun of her because she was fat. Jeepney drivers didn’t want her because she occupied nearly two seats. Consequently, she didn’t have any friends.

One day, she rode the jeep to go to the city. During the trip, she looked out of the window and ignored four children who were talking about her. The children were sitting on a duffel bag on the floor of the jeep. The oldest was telling the young ones how she swallowed a dozen small children which made her very fat.

The fat woman was so used to that story she didn’t mind it anymore. She just kept looking outside. Then, she saw it. She saw another jeep going directly towards them. It was a head-on collision. The woman threw herself down the duffel bag to shield the children with her body and encircled them with her strong big arms.

Both of the drivers died and a lot of passengers were severely injured including the fat woman. But the four children were alive. Except for minor bruises, the children were safe, thanks to the fat woman.

I didn’t have a chance to meet her. But one thing I learned was that anybody can be a hero regardless of age, size and shape..

For the Kind Nameless Driver

This is a re-post. It originally appeared on another blog on Feb. 19, 2012. It is re-posted for sentimental reasons.

This post is for the kind tricycle driver who gave back my friend’s envelope containing very important documents.

My friend is a BS HRM student in Cabanatuan City. Early last week, in his haste to find a ride home, he left an envelope in the tricycle he rode on his way to the jeepney stop. It was already dark. He was so anxious to go home that he only noticed the missing envelope when he was already home. I asked him if there was any way he could find the tricycle, but he said there wasn’t any. First, it was already dark, second, he didn’t pay attention to details like the inside of the tricycle, the driver, anything. Third, he didn’t get on at the terminal, but just hailed it from the passing ones.

His only hope to get his stuff back was if, by any means, the tricycle driver would be kind enough to give the envelope back to him. The envelope has his name, his mobile number and the name and address of his school.

For me, that was a long shot…

LUCKILY.. I was wrong.

When my friend went to school. His envelope was returned by the kind tricycle driver who left it to the security guard of the school. According to my friend, the driver even sent him a text message to let him know that his envelope was already in school. My friend called the driver to thank him and found out that the driver, upon seeing the envelope, went back to the jeepney terminal hoping my friend was still there. Early the next morning, the driver just left it to the guard on duty in school.

For you, Mister, thank you. Thank you for giving us hope that there are still kind and considerate people like you. May GOD bless you and your family always..

The Heart That Forgives

My friend Sheila* is a very kind girl. She may look tough in the outside with her booming laugh and outspoken tongue but she is soft hearted and generous. She is the only person I know who never, as in never, nurse grudges against anyone.

So, when I learned that she was in a relationship with Matt* I felt.. worried. Well, Matt is actually nice, very quiet and polite. But he has a tendency to be touchy and consequently rude. He gets mad at Sheila when she said something she thought totally inoffensive, but actually offensive to Matt. He takes almost everything negatively and puts words into Sheila’s mouth which usually starts a fight between them. When he is not in the mood, he wouldn’t send Sheila a single text message for a week and wouldn’t offer any explanation for his behavior but would get mad at Sheila when she doesn’t reply right away to his message.

Sheila is not suppose to point out his shortcomings otherwise he would get deeply offended and would say something harsh to her, apparently to hurt her. Time and time again, I told Sheila that Matt isn’t worthy of her but she would brush me off and would simply say she’s used to Matt by now.

I don’t know how she manages to be so forgiving though she said something that I could not forget. She said that she’s aware of Matt’s flaws but between losing Matt altogether and accepting his flaws, the latter is the one she could live with.

I just wish, for her sake, that she is happy with the way things are..

*not real names

Learning the Hard Way

A few years ago, my brother’s fellow tricycle driver Lucas* teased him for not daring to drive around when his registration paper got expired. Lucas called my brother ‘softie’ but my brother didn’t mind. Lucas said getting caught was just a matter of ‘luck’.

So, when Lucas’ registration got expired, he didn’t bother to renew it right away. Unluckily, he was caught by the Land Transportation officers. It was found out that besides carrying an expired registration papers for the tricycle, Lucas’ driver’s license was also expired and his tail light wasn’t working.

All in all, he spent several thousand pesos to have his tail light fixed, to have his registration renewed (plus the penalty) and to have her driver’s license renewed (plus the penalty), which was more than double of the amount he would have spent if he did it the right way.. :D

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Talk about learning the hard way..

 *not real name

The Least Liked Person in Campus

When I was in college, I knew of a student who was known for being a good writer. She was a consistent winner in literary contests in school. At that time, I was an aspiring writer who wrote to my heart’s content but didn’t have the courage to show anyone any of my works. They went straight to the wastebasket with no chance of being read. Surely, that girl was out of my league.. errr.. I was out of hers.

After several years, however, our paths crossed again. We were introduced by a friend and I assumed that she liked me because the next day, she looked specifically for me and asked me if I wanted to join her for snack. Well, who was I to decline such invitation. I went with her and since then we were always seen together. I could say, we became friends right away.

At first, I really liked her. She was so smart and she knew a lot of things. I didn’t keep the fact that I admired her writing and that I really find her cool. After a few months, I began to notice something. She has a tendency to criticize anything that is not of her liking and she looked down on people that I thought were her friends. In fact, she looked down on everybody we knew.

I started to observe her really closely and I realized that this person that I considered my friend for a few months now had said nothing nice about anybody. It was always about her, about hers and about herself. Wow! This girl is self-centered. And there was something else I noticed, every time we join a group, people disappeared one by one. So, I tried to go alone and nobody left. But when she came, they gradually dispersed.

Then one day, I joined a writing competition and was notified after a few months that I won third place. Well, for a first timer, I guess third place wasn’t that bad. I was so happy. I looked for my friend and told her the good news. Contrary to what I expected, she just said.. ‘Oh, really?’ and that was it, no congratulations, no ‘good job’, no pat in the back, no anything..

Then it dawned on me, this girl had no other friend aside from me because no one could stand being with her. She only stayed with me not because she liked me but because I was the only one she got. And maybe she didn’t ridicule me the way she did to other people because for one I wasn’t ridiculous, second, because she didn’t want to lose a PA (personal assistant).

I started to keep my distance and I was kind of surprised when my other friends, when they noticed what I was doing,  began to keep me away from her. They would warn me when she was coming and they would send her away.

Last night, I was checking out some literary works and I came across an account in a poetry ‘something’ that bears her name. I read some and I found out that it was a list of poems that she criticized.. err.. evaluated. I didn’t like what I read so I just closed it.

Some things never change..

A Memorable Dance

I think I was 16 at the time. I was a cute little thing with bright and curious eyes and infectious laugh, or so they say.

Anyway, I was invited to a dance on the eve of a wedding. Well, the groom was a brother of my soon-to-be boyfriend so, I was somehow a, I don’t know, waited-upon guest, I can’t say honored because I didn’t feel honorable at the time.

Perhaps because of my being from another place, every guy wanted to dance with me and I felt too shy to turn anyone down. My soon-to-be-boyfriend just watched over throwing occasional winks at me. Was he having fun at my expense?

Then, I saw HIM, the cutest guy in the dance (aside from my date of course). I’ve noticed him before but I didn’t see him on the dance floor.. yet. I was too absorbed with him I nearly failed to hear what my partner was saying. It seems like somebody asked him to get my name. Well, sure, I told him my name and he politely led me back to my seat. Then, the lights went out save for the blue and red. Then, Enchanted Melody (the most popular song at the time because of the recently shown movie, Ghost) was played. Then, he, the cute guy himself stepped out and walked towards me. As he gently swept me into the dance floor, I could barely hear the announcer saying that this particular song was requested by the youngest brother of the groom who was studying in the city and came home for the wedding. It was a number played especially for us.

What? Brother? No… This can’t be happening..

But it was.

Cute guy introduced himself to me and started asking me questions about myself. He also told me that he was the one who asked someone else to dance with me to get my name. As if on cue, my date materialized beside us, smiled warmly and spoke..

“Tol, kilala mo na pala ang pinaka espesyal na babae sa buhay ko..” (So, brother, I think you’ve met the most special girl in my life).

It didn’t take long for comprehension to register on the cute guy’s face. Then, he looked at his older brother with reverence, at me with admiration and unspoken regret before he willingly turned me over to my date. My date never left my side since then and I never saw cute guy again, ever.

That was 22 years ago..