SAME TREE, DIFFERENT BRANCHES.
Life goes on in the annex branch of Café Moriartea. Maviel resumes her apprenticeship under Sigmund. Landice is still reading books at the barista's corner. Nikolai is still making sure that the shop is squeaky clean...
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BAKIT ANG tagal? I had been waiting for more than an hour already. Nakababagot na. Ano ba'ng ginagawa ng city health inspector at ng bisita niya? Were they having a pot session inside? Were they watching Netflix and chilling?
Napasulyap ako sa aking relo. Mag-a-alas-dos na ng hapon. Kaninang lunchtime pa ako nandito.
If I had it my way, I would have left this city hall and went back to work. But I couldn't. Ako kasi ang rookie sa 'min kaya ako ang tumatayong errand boy. Mahigpit ang instruction sa 'kin na maghintay rito at i-settle kung ano'ng dapat i-settle bago bumalik sa trabaho. If not, I would be suspended, or worse, fired.
I swear, kapag may bagong empleyado na kami, siya ang uutusan kong tumakbo-takbo at pumunta-punta kung saan-saan.
The door in front of me creaked open as a guy in green polo left the room. Sa wakas! After one hour, four minutes and twelve seconds, dumating na rin ang turn ko! The secretary called my name. Tumayo na ako't inayos muna ang aking suot na ribbon at vest bago pinasok ang kuwarto.
Dr. Francisco Flavier II was sorting out his files when I came in. Sandaling umangat ang tingin niya sa 'kin bago ibinalik sa mga papeles ang kanyang atensyon. Tila binalewala ang presensya ko. He kept on shuffling the sheets on his table as if he had no visitor.
"Good afternoon, Sir!" bati ko sabay lapit sa isa sa mga upuan.
"Pasensya na kung medyo busy ako ngayon. How may I help you?" tanong niya. His eyes remained so transfixed at the sheets that he was arranging. Hindi man niya nagawang sumulyap ulit sa 'kin. I know, I wasn't as important as the previous guy who came in here.
Umupo ako at hindi umimik. Nakatitig kong pinanood ang pag-aayos niya ng mga papeles.
People often took silence for granted. They thought that silence was just the absence of noise. Doon nagkakamali ang ilan. Silence could also convey a message as loud as uttered words. You don't believe me? Let me show you in three . . . two . . . one.
When the doctor heard no response, huminto siya sa pag-aayos ng papeles at muling umangat ang tingin sa 'kin. Finally, I got his attention again. See what I mean?
"Sir, may natanggap ba kayong report tungkol sa isang cafe kung saan may nalason daw na customer?" pambungad kong tanong. "Malapit sa Clark University?"
Tumango siya. "Ito ba 'yong incident ng wolfsbane poisoning? Naka-set akong mag-inspect doon this Thursday. May maitutulong ba ako sa 'yo tungkol doon?"
He's fully aware of the situation. Good. "Full disclosure: I'm an employee of that cafe—not exactly in that branch. On behalf of the management, I'm here to make a strange request. We're hoping that you'll let it slide. Just this once, please?"
"Let it slide?" he chuckled, reclining in his chair. "A customer was poisoned and was later brought to a hospital. May nakabinbing complaint laban sa inyong cafe. It's my duty to take action on it. Sakaling may makita akong violation, posibleng maglabas kami ng order of temporary suspension sa operation n'yo. That's the law."
