Seeing in darkness

Tales of fiesta, America & "Pete & Pete"

A wailing swine greeted me in the morning that was teeming with so much commotion. It was fiesta after all.

The poor beast, tied to a kawayan, was crying literally for its life as the bolo was being sharpened. Elsewhere the ritual-like food preparation of various dishes like menudo, morcon, embutido & countless others had already commenced. The air was filled with smoke & the aroma of burning firewood.

But in fact that day was twice as busy as usual for the whole neighborhood was also sending off Martin, Jacob & their whole family to America. Their family was set to leave that same morning.

Out for my daily biking routine, I saw two big white vans parked in front of Martin & Jacob's house. A stream of people was coming in & out like worker ants. Everybody was simply preoccupied with something. I set off for the stone church at downtown.

America... Martin & Jacob would probably forget how to speak Tagalog as did that girl who won best muse at the village basketball league about three years ago. I heard it was quite a match where there was hardly any big physical altercation. Anyways, when the girl was back for a visit with her family last Christmas, she could hardly understand a word of Tagalog.

Back in the church the same picture of busy people going about could be observed. Elders & teenagers were decking the caros with plastic flowers of different colors. Two men were installing electrical wires & bulbs while a dozen others were watching, smoking in the shade cast by the ancient building's facade. Inside, the women were mopping the floor & dusting statues of saints donning newly tailored articles of shiny clothing.

I imagined that Martin & Jacob would soon live like they were in "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." They might even be playmates with Pete, Pete & Ellen, go on biking trips together & conquer the tree-lined streets of Wellsville. And when it's time for school they'd be fetched by a big yellow bus & they would neither have to wear uniforms nor bring any books for they could just stash them in their lockers.

I made a wish to meet Pete & Pete someday too. When that time came maybe I'd be able to speak English & have the capacity to strike up a conversation as other kids my age already could. Maybe I'd be 25 then, working in the city, married to a lady & have learned to play a lot of sports. Maybe I'd have saved up for America to reunite with my friends & talk about this day in this busy town & how all it unfolded.

But in the meantime I was still the same kid, watching other people from this cold corner of this church. Could this state not last for long? May not, said I in my naiveté.

By the time I got back home the vans were no longer there. They must have left to take my friends & their family to the airport.