Decay In Her Bones

CHAPTER 6

Mylene walked beside Bobby as they exited the premises of Santo Sepulcro. She was beaming as if the sermon of the priest had lightened her mood more. A great swarm of people walked slowly out of the church's small gates like water pouring out of a small funnel. In front of Bobby laid an endless procession; it filled the entire expanse of the plaza in front of the church. The two of them walked in half steps, going with the flow of people in a slow pace. Sidewalk vendors took advantage of the mass of crowd and yelled loudly at the top of their lungs through the passing pilgrims. Bobby was able to see a variety of rice cakes, turon, and flavored juice. There were also other stuff like sando, pamaypay, and balloons of different shapes; he saw a lot of familiar cartoon characters among them. At the street adjacent to the entrance of the church was a long line of vendors selling candles of different sizes molded from red wax. It sent a scent that smelled like a mixture of smoke and fragrance. Lastly, there were items showcasing different prints of Lolo Uweng.

As the crowd swarmed away from the church, Bobby tightened his grip on Mylene's hand. They remained on the same pace but some of the people behind them were pushing hard to quicken their movement. The density of people slightly lightened when they reached the street in front of the mayor's house. Bobby looked up towards the gigantic brown house that looked almost like an out-of-place mansion. The mayor's house was small in terms of area, but it stood tall; a six-storey building amidst an intersection. To their right, another line of people walked towards the opposite directions. They were the ones who would attend the 6:00 PM mass.

Bobby faced Mylene, who was silent since they had left the church's premises, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied with a thin smile.

Bobby looked up towards the grey sky and saw that a small number of stars had started appearing, filling the universe above with crystal sprites. Dusk was approaching but he was still able to determine that there were no clouds above. It meant that, to his reckoning, it won't rain. However, Bobby realized that the breeze that blew from the east was very cold, sending an icy chill to his skin. He checked the time; it was already past six.

The couple took a turn to their left, leaving the mayor's house behind. The crowd was a lot lighter here; the intersection had divided the mass of people to different directions. In that road where the two of them were traversing were the people heading for the National Highway. It was a long march; a good kilometer of endless road. To their left was another line of vendors with stalls under massive umbrellas colored blue, red, green, and yellow. To their right were bicycles with sidecars that people called padyak. It originated from di-padyak which meant 'with pedal' or 'pedalled'. It was the most famous and the best mode of transportation in Landayan. They serviced to many different places like South Fairway as well as to the different Purok within the Parokya of Landayan. All in all, the long road that stretched from the mayor's house up to the highway ahead was an elongated commercial channel of different trades and services.

Bobby and Mylene talked lightly as they trekked along the street with their hands enfolded around each other. At times, they paused for a while to look at some interesting items; Mylene would occasionally tag on Bobby's sleeves and point at something. They reached the end of the street after some good fifteen minutes. Above them now, an enormous stone archway loomed. On it was a silver lettering that read 'Welcome: Sto. Sepulcro Church, Barangay Landayan'. It was the archway that welcomed pilgrims from different places, especially those who came from remote areas.

Ignoring the people who walked speedily towards random directions, Bobby and Mylened coursed through the labyrinth of businesses and retired to a waiting area in front of a 7-Eleven. There were a lot of jeepneys passing by but most of them were already full because of the big number of people coming from the church. At last, after what seemed like ten minutes, Bobby and Mylene were able to get into one with the signboard, 'Muntinlupa'.