A Dragonfly's Dream

Chapter XV- I shall continue walking

DREAM JOURNAL

I shall continue walking

The teacher called me to answer a problem. When I got to the blackboard, I saw that other students had already written their answers before me. The only space left for me to write on was so high up and I couldn't reach it.

"Could you write this for me?" I asked James. He took the chalk from me and wrote down my answer.

We met at the corridor afterwards. We passed by each other and as he turned around the corner, I stopped in my tracks. So did he. We looked at each other for a while but I decided to move on and continue walking.

............

"Cheers!" Maya's dad said, as he took our picture. I gave it my usual sunny side up. It was my law school graduation party. Just a small dinner with my family, and a few close friends. I didn't want to host a big party because I knew that the battle was far from over.

Gail was nowhere around because she had a party of her own in their province up north. I called her earlier though. She was crying. Her older sister humiliated her in front of their guests. They had this big argument and Gail walked out on her own party. We talked for about an hour on the phone, until I finally convinced her to go back and reconcile. As usual, she chose the forgive and forget route, and everything went well.

My little party didn't involve that much drama. It was just a normal one where relatives got together, asked about each other's lives, had some games, sang a few songs in the karaoke ---stuff like that. One thing I did love about our family gatherings though was the food. My relatives can cook quite splendidly. I particularly liked this dish where they made a salad out of puso ng saging, which, literally translated meant, "banana's heart", (though it's also referred to as banana's bud or banana blossom). I kept going back for more. For desert, I had my most favorite durian float. It was this refrigerated cake made of milk, cream, Graham crackers, and of course, durian fruit. My cousin, Rosario, was so good at making it. It was so good that it made you forget your name after you've taken a bite.

"This durian float is amazing! I'd like to get the recipe." Charise said. Unlike me, Charise really liked to cook. She's always asking for recipes every time she tastes a good dish.

"Sure, I'll ask my cousin to give it to you."

"Thanks. Hey, I have a gift for you." she added, handing me a parcel.

"Nice gift wrapper." I observed. "I wonder what's inside it---a picture frame perhaps?" It was pretty obvious what it was, really.

"Open it now."

"Yes, sir." I dared not refuse whenever Charise spoke in that tone. I opened the parcel. It was indeed a picture frame. But it was not so much the frame itself but the photo inside it that touched me.

It was our graduation picture taken way back in high school. "Charee, this is so sweet!" Nostalgia crept over me as I stared at the framed photograph. We were all wearing togas. We looked so young. Like the blank pages a book waiting for life to write on.

"Don't tell me you're going to stare at that forever." Charise's voice interrupted the mixture of feelings that were beginning to brew over as I was looking at our photo.

"Sorry, it's just that looking at this made me think about the old days. And it certainly makes me feel old." I joked.

Maya's interruption effectively changed the topic. "So, now that you've graduated, what are your plans? You think we can go to more interesting trips like the one we had in Bataan?"

"Very funny." I set the frame aside. "Well, to be honest, the battle is far from over. I have to do an intensive six month review for the bar exam. That means ---I won't have much time for anything else. You'd have to pretend I was dead for six months. "

I was feeling worried already. There was just so much to do. The time seemed too short to finish all of my readings. Just the thought of it was enough to take away the joy I felt from eating durian float.

"Sounds tough. Just call on us though if ever you need a break." Charise winked.

"Yeah, then I could take you guys dancing again, that would be entertaining."

"If you ever do so, I'll suddenly remember that I have a very important meeting that I just can't miss." She said pensively.

"So important that you'd miss spending time with me?"

"Matter of life and death."