Narrator: Every time Mr. Angeles came from his periodic inspection trips; for the Angeles Family it is a great celebration . But this time it would be the best..
Jaime: I have just met a mat weaver and I shall have a surprise for all of you.. I asked him to weave a sleeping mats for each of us. He is using assorted colors for designing the mat. I'm so excited to show it to you.
Narrator: Nana Miling red the letter, again and again, and when all are home, Nana Miling asked her oldest son, Jose to red the letter. The children became very much excited about the mats. This she wrote her husband when she labored over a reply to him. For days after that, mats continued to be the chief topic of conversation among the children. Finally, Mr. Angeles wrote again a letter:
Jaime: I am taking theBicol Express tomorrow. And i have the mats, these are so beautiful.
Narrator: The letter red aloud during the noon meal.
Antonio: I'm so excited about the mats
Sussana: Me,too because we have our names woven on it.
Narrator: The children imagine how the mat looks like. They had such a mat in the house, one they seldom used, a mat older than any one of them.
*FLASHBACK*:
Narrator: The mat had been given to Nana Miling by her mother when she and Jaime got married. It had served during their wedding night. And also during the special occasions. It was a very beautiful mat. It had green leaf borders, a lot of gigantic red roses and in the middle there was a lettering named: Emilia y Jaime Recuerdo, the letters were gold. She always kept that mat in her trunk. When any one of the family was taken ill, the mat was brought out and the patient slept on it, had it all to himself. Every one of the children had some time in their lives slept on it; not a few had slept on it more than once. Most of the time the mat was kept in Nana Emilia's trunk, and when it was taken out and spread on the floor the children were always around to watch. At first there had been only Nana Emilia to see the mat spread. Then a child--a girl--watched with them. The number of watchers increased as more children came. Now, taking out that mat to spread had become a kind of ritual. Illness, even serious illness, had not been infrequent. There had been deaths...
*END OF THE FLASHBACK*
Narrator: In the evening, Mr. Angeles was with his family. Finally, a long wait has come, he catched his breathe and called Alfonso for the scissors. One swift movement with the scissors, snip ! And the bundle was loose
Jaime: These are the mats. This is for you Miling.
Nana Miling: Wow! This is so beautiful.. I like it.
Jaime: This is for you Marcelina..
This is for you Jose..
Marcelina & Jose: Thanks Dad.. Very beautiful..
Jaime: This is yours Antonia, Juan and Jesus
Antonia: Wow! My dream come true.
Juan: This is it :)
Jesus: Oh My God.. So wonderful
Nana Miling: But, why there are some excess mats?
Jaime: Ah! There are 3 more mats to unfold. The others who are'nt here
Nana Miling: But why?
Jaime; Do you think I'd forgotten them? Do you think?
Jaime: This is for you Josefina
This is for you Victoria
This is for you Concepcion
Nana Miling; Do'nt Jaime, please do'nt
Jaime: Is it fair to forgotten them? Would it be just disregard them?
Narrator: There was a terrible hush. The remaining mats were unfolded in silence. The names which were with infinite slowness revealed, seemed strange and stranger still; the colors not bright but deathly dull; the separate letters, spelling out the names of the dead among them, did not seem to glow or shine with a festive sheen as did the other living names.
***END***
