Camille Syanna
I roamed my eyes around the small two-story excuse of a house. The door could barely accommodate his height. He'd have to bow walking in. He raised his arm, and he could reach the ceiling without tiptoeing. Peeling wallpapers and old boards were thin and veined. Smells of dust and age.
"You really named your dog Pongo, so I supposed you're Roger?"
He walked back inside after feeding his dog and locking him back in his doghouse. He didn't look at me, stalking towards the small kitchen. "We can cast you for Cruella,"
"No, thank you." Everything in his house contradicts how huge of a human he is. Small living room, close to miniature sofa and center table. Empty center table. How could someone not have a tabletop display and magazines under their center table? Then there's a television, a thirty-two-inch-old-model Sharp, the one with a cathode ray or vacuum tube. I wonder if it still works. That poor thing, I'm giving away LED flat screens to our helpers every Christmas. "Why is your place not centralized?"
He looked back at me from checking his counter-depth refrigerator. "Don't ask me as if every household is supposed to be centralized. Residents here depend on fresh air for ventilation."
"Yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes, now looking at the frame of artistically collaged photos hanging on the wall. An older adult smiling brightly in every photo, then there's a boy with blonde hair and green eyes. The grim expression on his face never changed in all those photos, even the knot on his forehead. "Wow, bata ka pa lang demonyito ka na. You looked like the Green Grinch of Whoville."
When I looked at him, he didn't answer, his back facing me and cooking in front of the stove. I walked towards the kitchen, which is, by the way, smaller than my walk-in closet.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Cooking. Stupid." He muttered.
"Wtf? Did you just call me stupid?!" I snapped, moving towards him. "How dare you?!"
"How dare I?" Nilingon niya ako ng naghahamong tingin. "I'd hardly call what I said dare. It's more of a valid statement with vast amounts of truth. You're asking me what I'm doing. Does it look like I'm washing the dishes or doing laundry for you?"
"Asshole! What I mean is, what are you cooking!" I hate that he's a smart mouth.
Bumalik ang tingin niya sa kaniyang niluluto bago sumagot. "Tuyo."
"What's that?" I asked again, trying to peek from his shoulder. Agad akong napatakip sa aking ilong. "Eew, it's mabaho!"
"Hindi mo alam 'yung tuyo?" Muli niya akong nilingon ng hindi makapaniwalang tingin. Umiling ako, cause hindi ko naman alam what's that. "Dried fish. You haven't tried it?"
"Duh!" I rolled my eyes, now he's the stupid one. "Kaya nga I'm asking 'di ba? I'm not familiar to it, so malamang hindi pa ko nakakakain nyan. Stupid!"
"Arte mo," he went back to cooking.
"Did you check maybe expired na 'yan? Cause, really, the smell is disturbing." I moved away, ang eew kasi talaga ng amoy. I stalked his fridge, looking for anything edible except for that 'fish,' but to my dismay, nada. "Oh, my God! ZA, you know the refrigerator is essential for food storage. The lower temperature lowers the reproduction rate of bacteria, so the refrigerator reduces the rate of spoilage. I'm just saying, in case you didn't know, it's not for display. You might wanna stock food in it."
It seems like a hopeless case. I pulled a chair behind the dining table and took a seat, watching ZA do his thing. In all fairness, his house is small but tidy. I tapped my long, pink-painted nails on the glass table.
