Sweet Mist of Yesterday

Third Chapter

THE AFTERNOON IS STILL YOUNG and so the children kept on playing. Now that they're done with the game they called balay-balay, they resorted on playing the slipper box that is sometimes the source of their banters.

And a minute from now, the bantering will soon start. Between whom? That we should stay tuned to.

For now, they’re deciding whose team is playing first by tossing the slipper on the air. Each team leader should choose on what side they are; kaya or kulob. Kaya is the front of the slipper and obviously, the kulob is the back of the slipper.

Kung kumaya man ang tsinelas, at kung sino pumili ng kaya, siya ang mananalo at pipili kung mauuna ba silang maglalaro o ang ibang grupo ang pauunahin nila. Depende.

The two team leaders are Khiazel and Evangelyn. Both of them held their slippers then slapped it with each other's the tossed it upward.

"Kaya! Kaya! Kaya!" sigaw ng mga ka-grupo ni Khiazel — Ericka, Vince, Vhanelie, and Mary Khoney.

"Kulob! Kulob! Kulob! Kulob!" mas malakas na sigaw ng mga ka-grupo ni Nene — Zyndy, Marianne, at Zhel Ann.

Kulang ng isang player ang grupo nina Nene pero okay lang sa kanila. They’re confident enough to defeat the opposing team — that is, kung matatalo nila.

Who knows? Highly depends on how they play their games.

All of them seems to anticipate the result and when the slippers landed on the ground, Khiazel’s team hollered in success, throwing mocking stares at the opposing team. Inirapan lang naman sila ng kabilang grupo.

"Sino ang mauuna?" tanong ni Kulit kay Khiazel.

Saglit na napaisip ang kaibigan ‘saka nagkibit-balikat. "Kaawa naman kayo ... kaya, sige. Una na kayo," nang-aasar na sagot nito na may nakakalokong ngiti sa labi.

Nene scowled at her reply. Above all of them, Nene is the most playful and careless one, and according to her friends’s word — the buangit of their peer. But she doesn't really like it when she got mocked, or sort.

At hulaan niyo na kung kaninong bangayan ang mangyayari.

"‘Di na, ah! Kalon simo," inis na sabi nito at pinulot ang tsinelas na gagamitin para itama sa target.

"Kamo na gani," inis rin na sagot ni Khiazel sa kaniya. "Parang ‘di maasar kasi, eh."

"‘Di na ah, ikaw to." Nene, being the most prideful, wouldn't surrender without having a banter — or fight, whatever they call it — and leering a sneer for her friend.

"Bakod," Khiazel hissed.

Sila na gani, padakuon pa gid ang gamo, she thought with ire. Edi, hindi nalang sana maglaro.

While the others watched as they argue; they couldn't intervene. Because, first of all, the two is more older than them. Two years older than them, at most. But the age is not really the reason why they wouldn't intervene; just that ... they loved watching some bantering!

Pero kahit na may mga age gap sila, hindi naman iyon naging rason para hindi makipag-laro sa mga mas nakatatanda sa kanila. Even if they're older, their attitude is still the same as the kids younger than them. Parang walang age gap lang din.

Vince Louise, with the same age as them, was about to intervene when a voice called for them — or for specifically, Marianne Eve.

"Yan! Tawag ka ni Mama!" It was Marianne Eve’s older sister who called for her. "Kayo din! May sopas dito!"

Agad na nagsitunog ang mga tiyan ng mga bata at mabilis na nagsi-takbuhan sa direksyon ng bahay nina Marianne, while the kid itself lazily trotted.

She’s overthinking why her mother called her, or for what. Sa isip niya, wala naman siyang ginawang masama. Yata.

"Ma? Tawag mo’ko?" she asked her mother when she stopped in front of her.

"Mahaw na." Her mother gestured her to go to the table where her friends are. "Kanina ka pa do’n sa laruan; tsura mo hindi na magkararamu," she said and shook her head. "Oh, lakat na to. Nibin tapos, ah?"

She only nodded with a relieve smile on her face and walked towards the direction of her friends.

Phew! she thought. Buti nalang, hindi ako pinagalitan.

With a grin, she plopped herself on the chair beside her younger sister and feasted on the macaroni soup that her mother served for her.

"Lamat, Ma!" she shouted before feasting at it completely. "Yum!"

Naglapag ng isang pinggan na buns si Mary Ellen, ang nakatatandang kapatid ni Marianne Eve at Ericka, at naupo sa bakanteng upuan katabi ni Vince.

Lahat sila ay nagpasalamat sa kaibigan. Sabay na hinawakan ni Khiazel at Nene ang isang tinapay. It cause them to glare at each other.

"I touched it first," Nene said. "It’s mine," she insisted, tugging the bread.

Khiazel sharpened her glare at her friend. "I was the one who touched it first!"

"No, I was!"

"Me!"

Their friends sighed at the two. Simpleng tinapay, pag-aawayan pa. P‘wede namang hayaan nalang ng kung sino man sa kanila ang isa. They once again sighed at the thought they had.

Mary Ellen, almost done with the two fighting over a single bread, took the food from their tight hold and effortlessly tore it in half then gave it to the two with a sly grin.

"Here yah go," she said. "Don’t fight over a single bread; if you're prideful enough to give the whole to someone, then tear it in half. That easy." Ellen winked at both of them and continued on slurping her soup.

Quite fair, really, Nene and Khiazel thought. Might do what she adviced soon.

*****