The Color of My Fears [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5 - The Tinhab [#19]

I went to Nilo's house the next day and I brought something. He was sitting on the bamboo floor in the balcony, his hands cupped his face, his elbows propped on a dilapidated wooden bench. He was staring absently at his pet bird in the yard. He had let the bird out from its makeshift cage and tied one leg of the avian to a post with a length of string. The bird was feeding on rice grains that Nilo had sprinkled onto the yard.

"Why the long face?" I asked him. He didn't seem eager to see me. He didn't even look at me. Stepping closer to the bird, I inspected it. The bird was all black, except for the eyes. I didn't notice them when I first saw it. The eyes were as white as powdered milk.

"You said the bird brings bad luck. I'll buy it, if you want to sell it," I made the offer, without telling him the reason why. I hatched my plan last night when Father told me about the tinhab, albeit he revealed only a little about it. It was enough to corroborate what Ismael had revealed a couple of days ago.

I turned to look at Nilo in the porch. At this moment, he stood up, idly lifting his whole body, and stepped outside. He walked up to his pet, squatted, and started poking at it with a kagingking (a thin long stick of a bamboo plant cut near the tip). The bird made short hops away from the stick.

Nilo paused, stopped poking at the bird, and stood up. He turned to me.

"How much?" he asked me after a moment of silence.

I had brought my piggy bank (alkansiya) made of cut bamboo trunk, sun-dried, with a slit big enough to slip in a one-peso coin. I shook it; the coins jingled inside. I offered it to Nilo. I didn't know what Mother's reaction would be if she had known. She would surely give me a mouthful of her maternal advice concerning this hasty decision to part with my hard-earned money. But I couldn't help it, any more than Mother can, given the circumstances.

Nilo's eyes bulged wide at the tingling of the coins. It's an offer he couldn't afford to pass up. "Okay," he said, and the purchase was made. I gave him the alkansiya. He peeked at the slit as if making sure there were coins inside. I saw his face lighten up. So happy was he at the exchange made that he even forgot to ask me how much money I deposited inside. I tried my best to contain my excitement. The tinhab was mine at last.

That very night, following my hunch, I got a small bottle, placed it inside the cage and prodded the bird to strike it with its beak. It poked at the bottle a few times, making sounds like the ticking of a clock. Then I made my wish in silence. I knew then I was ready to face the labaha.

[End of Chapter 5]

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