AMACon 3: Oikos - Children

Eros - Chapter Two

OCTOBER 1981

It was six months since the earthquake, and Richard finally stopped dreaming about the tragedy that took away Charmaine's life. Their town was slowly picking up the pieces, the orphanage building was demolished totally to build a new shelter for children.

Richard fought his parents hard to keep the baby with them. He argued that the mother was also an orphan herself, there was no way for them to trace the rest of the baby's family, and he wanted to take care of the baby himself.

"Richard, I know you want to have a sister or brother, but we need to find this baby's family."

"How mama? Please, let's keep her. You and Papa can adopt her so she becomes my sister."

Charito was in a dilemma. To be honest, she didn't want to adopt the baby, even with the knowledge that she can no longer conceive after giving birth to Richard. Upon giving birth to her son, doctors found malignant lumps in her uterus and was advised to agree to a hysterectomy.

"Ok, look, son. We will keep her with us, but Papa and I will not adopt her. We need to wait and see if someone will claim her. And when someone does, I'm sorry, you will have to let go. Is that understood?"

"No one will claim her, mama. I am sure of that."

And with that, they had the baby christened, and Richard was given the honor of naming the baby. It was no surprise that he wanted her name to be Charmaine, in memory of his lost friend. His parents hosted a simple party for her, inviting their close relatives, including Charito's eccentric sister, Irma.

Irma was an artist, a painter and sculptor. She became a recluse after her lover died of a heart attack, but her expressions of art were composed of only one subject: her lover who passed on. She gave life to him on canvas, sometimes focusing on just one part of his body, like his eyes, hands, feet, or his lips, blended into other facets of her artwork. People seemed to like the novelty of her works and collected her pieces, making her a sought after artist for Interior Designers who liked art works in series.

Irma, was watching her nephew closely, noting the protective way he watched over the baby, to the point of just sitting beside her instead of playing with his cousins outside. She knew that look, was surprised to see it in someone so young. She saw herself in him.

"Charo, your son is in love with little Maine," She said, smiling knowingly but fondly, without malice.

"Ate, stop putting ideas into my head. It's bad enough that Richard forced us into taking the baby into our home, please don't make me think twice about that decision."

"Look how he dotes on her, like a proud little daddy. That boy of yours will become a good father someday."

Richard plays with Charmaine, watching her gurgle with joy whenever he makes faces at her. He calls her Maine for short, and by now has mastered the art of carrying her around like a proud papa.

His papa also dotes on Maine, and even had a new bedroom constructed for the her in their two-storey house . But Richard did not like the idea of letting his new baby sister sleep in a room alone. He asked that her crib be transferred to his room, where he could attend to her everytime she cried at night.

His mama would not hear of it. What a strange request from a 12-year-old boy, to volunteer waking up late at night to attend to a baby. She hired someone from the village to take care of Maine and sleep in the baby's bedroom, to be able to attend to Mane quickly in case she wakes up crying at night.

The hired help slept soundly through the nights though, with Richard and his parents still taking turns with getting up at night to change wet nappies or give Maine her feeding bottle. In the end, they reached a compromise; they let go of the maid, the crib stayed in Richard's room during weekends, but spent weekday nights in his parents' room.