J3jE

My cell phone died during the last flood. It fell into the muddy waters brought about by the habagat. The weather forecast said that the skies just exaggerated the rainfall. Yeah right, the whole place was sinking and there’s no tropical storm to blame. Adios my 4-year old Nokia. 

I bought myself a new phone two weeks ago. My friends were coercing me to get the latest Blackberry via plan. Nah… I’m not much of a techie so what for? As long as I can call and send text messages, any phone will be fine. So I passed by this alley downtown notorious for cheap gadgets. My cousin tipped me. Anything you want…PSPs, iPods, digital cameras, cell phones…everything’s there! Of course I had this idea that most of the items might be stolen goods. But who cares? The businesses have been going on for years. Everyone buys their stuff in there.

“So how much for this Samsung?” I asked the man who had four cell phones clipped between his fingers and a portable DVD player in his armpit. 

“This is one’s 2K...I can give it you 1700, last price.” The unit looked fine. The brand new costs around 4K in the mall. “Take it bro. Best deal.”

“With free sim?” If you’re wondering, yes, I haven’t saved my sim card either from the damn flood.

“Oh…sure. With free sim then. Let’s put it on so you can explore.”

I got the phone for only 1500 after about 30 minutes of tête-à-tête. Poor man, said it was his buena mano. Buena mano my ass because I was short in budget. 

So I’ve been using this Corby unit for two weeks now. So far so good. But here’s the twist. Seems like my first impression was right, that the phone was stolen or something like that. When I was in the jeepney going home after purchasing the unit, I was surprised to see some messages in the inbox. Not to mention a roster of who-the-hells in the phonebook. I was pissed off but curious at the same time. I was thinking of some pranks. Too bad, nobody was replying so I ended up deleting all the data in the sim the next day.

Until someone texted me three days later.

“H3lL0!” It said. And I was like, WHAT THE?!

I remember my friend Tanya who was talking me two months ago. “Have you ever heard of those clans, Joey?” She enunciated the word ‘clans’ with disgust.

“What clans?” I asked. “Family clans?”

“Like duh?! Those clans Joey! Never heard of those jejemons?”

Oh jejemons. I know jejemons. Colorful shoes and shades and caps. “I’ve heard of them. What about?”

And Tanya transformed into the bitchiest bitch that ever bitched. “OH MY GAWD JOEY…YOU JUST STAY AWAY FROM THOSE WEIRDOS. I MEAN YUCK…THEY HAVE THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND SPELLING AND GRAMMAR AND ALL THAT…THEY’RE ACTUALLY OUT OF SCHOOL YOUTHS, SOME MIGHT BE POTENTIAL CRIMINALS AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND MAIDS FROM FAR FLUNG BARRIOS…WELL THEY USUALLY GATHER IN THE PLAZA OR SOMEWHERE DURING THEIR FREE TIMES AND WHO KNOWS WHAT CHEAPNESSES ARE THEY BLABBERING…”

Wow. I didn’t know if I should thank my friend for her warning or I should I lecture her about the negative side of stereotyping. Well I never thought that these jejemons are much more. I thought it’s just the fashion. Having their own style of communication? Having a world of their own? How could Tanya speak so harsh about them? Did she actually befriend one? Maybe not. I know Tanya. But just because she told me about this and that about them didn’t mean I would fall to stereotyping. I wouldn’t be harsh unless I discover for myself.

When I got the text ‘H3lL0!’ from some unknown number, I rotated my screen in case it’s an ambigram or you can read the message upside down or sideways or something like that. But I was over thinking. The first thing that really popped in my mind when I saw the message was ‘Hello’. It’s a greeting…in someone’s own spelling or whatsoever. And I wonder why I could understand.