The Adventures of Filipinya

Chapter 4

"The Enchanted River"

Coco rushes as fast as he can to the River, halts just at the edge of the rocks and jumps feet first. Splash!

The rest of the kids follow. Splash, Splash, Splash, Splash!

The deep surrounding walls of rock and vines and other foliage growing out of the earth at from the mouth of the river provide a cool getaway from the hot sun. The isolated location has preserved this natural spring for as long as anyone in the village could remember, and well beyond.

Filipinya's small legs put her last, but when she arrived on the rocks she stopped in fear, and never jumped. She saw the stairs that seemed as high as she was tall. She slowly made her way down all the stairs, one by one, to the edge of the Enchanted River.

The crystal clear water displayed hundreds of beautiful fish. The cove and small cliffs were ripe with flora- plants and vines and flowers, while natural springs continuously fed into the brackish sink hole that meanders through the inlet and out to the bay.

Coco and friends played "Marco Polo", "Sharks and Minnows", "Takyang" with centavos and candy wrappers, and whatever new ideas they could come up with. They dove and jumped, and swam with the fish. They all raced back and forth across the beautiful river.

The kids started to tease Filipinya. "You're scared, aren't you?" "Are you scared of Sharks?" "Don't want to mess up your hair?" as they all laughed and pointed at her, and pulled their own hair straight up to tease her.

Filipinya was hurting, and started to cry. She didn't know why God gave her a "Pinya top". She always wondered, and remembered that her Tatay told her she was "fearfully and wonderfully made". But my hair! she thought to herself. She just wanted to cut it all off, and look like Coco.

Coco started splashing water towards Filipinya, but didn't make fun of her. The mean kids moved closer to her, and Filipinya moved away from the water. Just then, a boy picked her up and tossed her in the slow moving river! Everyone had seen her swim before, so they were just having fun. Three year old Filipinya was horrified and scared when her head came above the water, and she cried. Coco jumped in and put his arm around her and told the others to leave her alone. Filipinya stopped crying and the two of them stared down the boys and started splashing water that led to a huge water fight.

Later, just before dinner, Coco went to Filipinya's where he was greeted by her mother. Coco took her right hand, "Mano po, is Filipinya ok?"

Nanay responded, "Why, what is wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, she just got a little scared at the river this morning. It was nothing."

"Are you sure...?"

Coco responded, "Maybe she needs some more confidence in the water."

"Well I know of only one way to learn better and that is practice."

Filipinya entered the room, and she tried to hold back her tears, but she ran into Nanay's legs and hugged her and buried her face.

"They threw me in Nanay. And there were sharks, and they.......laughed at me!"

Nanay knew the boys were teasers, but couldn't quite believe about the sharks, and she hugged Filipinya and wiped away her tears: "You are safe now baby girl."

"How about if I teach you how to swim better?" Coco suggested.

"Uhhhhhh......ok Coco, just us, not the mean boys!"

Nanay agreed, "That will be fine, Coco, tell your parents to come over later."

The next morning before sunrise Coco rushed to Filipinya's, knocked on the wooden door, and he was surprised to see her little brother Spud. "Hi little guy, go get Filipinya."

But Filipinya was already pushing past Spud to get to the Enchanted River before anyone else. "Swimming, swimming, let's go!" Coco turned around and quickly caught up with her.

The River was just a short walk and they both got more excited the closer they got to the river. Coco got there first and dove into the deep water place. Filipinya again stopped just by the river bank.

Coco looked back at her, "Throw me my flip flops. Watch... hold them wide, like this... and start paddling. It's easy, now you try it."

Filipinya dipped herself into the water, took hold of his slippers and started paddling the way Coco did. She was paddling in an awkward way with her butt shorts slightly above the water. Coco started laughing really hard. "There's a huge River whale behind you, swim faster!" Coco teased.

Filipinya jumped out of the water. "What? Where?"

Coco laughed harder!

Filipinya pouted, "Don't be mean!"

"Ok, sorry," Coco said. "Let's try again. But this time keep your butt flat on the same level as your body. You look really funny", he said with a smirk.

Filipinya started again and soon she could swim on her own, much better than the day before. Coco dove and swam underwater with the fishes as always, and she followed behind. Not as deep, and she struggle to keep up, but they had a lot of fun. After a few more hours, their friends arrived and joined in the fun.

Since then, Coco, Filipinya and the rest of their friends would go to the river nearly every day. Part of their adventures included catching fish using a longbow. Coco and the guys were very good at it. Filipinya and her best friend, Treet, tried but usually the fish were just too fast.