THE MOON & HIS TIDE!

i. PITTED CHERRIES

THE PAST CHEERS, PITTED.
THE PAST CHEERED, PITIED.

THE FALLING of the raindrops outside is loud. Kevin groans internally, the sound emitted just echoing in him. What a pointless gut-move. His ears perk as his mother spoke of words he has been hoping she'd stop uttering.

"Are you really planning to stay there, Vin?"

Said young man lets his head land low, eyes at the keypad of the outdated telephone. "I want to finish where I started." He spoke lowly, he hasn't been using his words, voice a lot, he's been sleeping most of his times away, within excuses of one more nap ending up with countless ones.

He bets it sounded hoarse, his voice. He bets his mother winced upon receiving his pathetic excuse of answering. His mother in fact, did not.

"Vin, you can start over, here."

"I know, Ma. I just... ayaw ko na ng ganoon. Gusto ko lang naman tapusin kurso na kinuha ko dito sa Unibersidad na pinili mo para sa akin. Bakit parang ang sama-sama na gusto kong manatili dito at magawa iyon?"

He knew the answer to his own question, he knew his query most likely sounded akin to that of a 5-year-old clueless boy asking a 50-year-old experienced man what's the meaning of life or what's one plus one.

But he wanted to let something out, be clearly told, for once.

His mother stays silent, for a minute, that turned into three, then to four, then to five, until Kevin just sighs. "I'll be fine." He reassures. A sudden move, his mother grunts too. "Alright, sige. Ikaw na masusunod. After this one year academic break of yours, you better finish your fourth year, and come here na sa New York. You're such a stubborn man, Vin."

"Kanino ka ba talaga nagmana?"

Kevin have often been told, by relatives both distant and feeling close, acquaintances he's yet to unfold the life of and even sometimes, literal strangers: You look so much like your Father, pero kung titingnan mo pa nang maiigi, mas kamukha mo mama mo! To be fair, he didn't really care, but if what his mother is pertaining to is his once in a blue moon persistence, then of course, he got it from his father.

"I'm sorry, Ma."

"Ambot sa imo. I'll go na, Nelson needs help again. Ingat ka diyan ah? Wag papagutom, matulog nang maayos."

He blankly twists the spiraling cord, "Opo. You too po." The twirling almost knotting up at his fingers, the usual pinkish of it, paling, the blood flow stalling.

"Love you, Vin."

"Love you more, Ma." He hears her laugh, maybe even giggle, "It's been so long since I've heard you say that. Oh well, paalam na."

He nods, though unseen, ending the call himself. Then, placing the telephone back down as he struggle to get out of the cord cuffing at his fingers. An outcome of his mindless fidgeting.

Turning to look aside from where he stood, seeing the barricades of railings, all curled and bent. The wide space of a dome there right ahead, the kind that shimmer and gloss. This antique of a place, on the first floor, a library surface. He would go down there and stare at the huge shelves with varieties of books, thin and thick, cheap and expensive, fictional and educational, all that good stuff, if he just, wasn't so tired.

Such feeling crossed with the gloom of this place, befitting the weather outside, he mutters a low cuss as he finally gets his finger out the annoying tangled and now untangled, cord.