Life and Its Whatnots

Chapter Three.

Chapter Three.

Oh, traffic.

We arrived twenty-three minutes after five in the afternoon at the Metropolis Airport. We hailed a cab since we don’t have a car to drive in the city yet. We’ve visited the Metro quite a number of times before, since Mamita (my grandmother on mom’s side) and Popsy (my grandfather on mom’s side) live here. We often drop by every after Christmas or New Year so we can pay our respects and fellowship with mom’s folks. However, until now, I really can’t understand why there’s so much traffic in this place. It’s like thousands of people are congested in this small part of the world.

            “Holidays are over so there are lots of people coming from provinces that are going back to the city. It’s causing this severe traffic.” the cab driver explained to Dad.

            “Yeah, I forgot about the holidays, we should’ve moved in a week after. But we’re here, anyways. So, why not be patient about it instead, huh?” my Dad and his ever positive and light words once again saving the day of I’m One Minute Away to Being Pissed Off.

            Arca South: five (5) kilometres.

            “Wow. We’re almost there.” I said, catching the signage which tells us that we’re just a few minutes away from stepping into this new voyage of this wonderful thing we call Life. "And wow, that would be my school in a few weeks time!"

Arca South is just an hour far off the main city of Metropolis. It is an ideal place for us since it is quite convenient. The school where I'm gonna take my college degree is only a fifteen-minute drive from our house (I can go there by foot should I choose to, I'm not kidding). Added to that, Dad's new work at Uncle Nate's (mom's brother) Law Firm is around thirty to forty minute drive only, too! Yes, Dad's going back to full-time lawyering this time; although, he's not going to give up farm work just like that. He will still be helping and visiting Cateel once every month. He was one of the lawyers for the farmers back home too; he's been doing it for them for free should there be any landowners who abuse their power over the expense of the farmers.

In Arca South, we will be living in a village-like community. My Dad got us a two-floor house with two main bedrooms, an attic, spacious dining and living area, plus a patio and a mini garden. He just can’t let go of getting his hands onto some greens, hence, the garden area. He told me that he’s the one who’s going to landscape it and plant a few vegetables that would be a necessity for us: calamansi, sili, malunggay, ampalaya, mushrooms, garlic, onions, bell peppers et cetera – whatever vegetation that could be included in cooking decent food, I think Dad will include it there. Our house is a lot smaller from our home in Cateel but the vibe here is quite refreshing. I must say, Dad got the nicest taste of spot and view when it comes to choosing houses. Coolest. Dad. Ever.

Upon arriving, we had all our things scattered all over the house, we were too tired to organize the mess, we’re even too tired to make dinner as we forgot to buy any food while at the airport earlier. We just decided to sleep it off and face all of them the following day.

***

Alas! General cleaning’s done! We scrub off every trace of mayhem that one person may find in our new home. It took us one whole day to have all the things we need in place and all the things we don’t need in its proper trash bin. I bet Granny and Gramps will doubly be proud of me for achieving such skill of Domesticity. They never fail to remind me that I’ll need to master domestic skills for my future’s sake.

After we’re done, I treated myself for a hot shower to soothe my enervated back and neck from all the cleaning stretch we’ve accomplished.

Suddenly, I heard Dad knocking at the door of my room.

            “Pilar, you’re there for an hour, can you go out already? There’s a package here and I think it’s for you.” says Dad, half-shouting just to make sure I will be able to hear him.

            “Give me five minutes!!!” I shouted back.

When I was all set and ready, I went down the dining area to find a hefty box with the tag Pilar on it.

            “Hey Dad, what’s this? Is this from you?” I asked my father in bewilderment as he was preparing our dinner.

            “Nope. That’s not from me.” he confirmed. “It comes with a letter inside the envelope too, check it.”

I did check for the letter inside the envelope tag. I opened it and out came a familiar handwriting:

            Hello, Pi!

It’s me, Park :) Welcome to our new home!!! And oh, congratulations for finishing high school! You’re finally done with the “boring stuff!” (quoting you, haha, in my personal opinion though HS was fun ;p)

I was in total shock upon reading the first greet.

Did you like it here already? How did you flex your muscles to get all the cleaning done? Don’t give me that grumpy face; I really can’t help you clean it. Sorry...not sorry! LOL. You might probably think that Dad is the awesomest dad ever existed in the face of Earth for choosing such place of convenience and rejuvenating aura. I tell you now, your Dad and your brother are the coolest human beings ever existed. It’s not only Dad. LOL.

Anyways, I sent you here a package. Open it! Open it before continuing to read this letter...

I look over the package, which I think is kind of moving, and after I tear down the entire wrapper, I recognize that it’s a cage; inside the cage, there’s a puppy! And not just any puppy, it’s my favourite breed of dog: a Golden Retriever! I wanted to play with it but I decided to finish Parker’s letter first.

Surprise (haha I know how you love surprises)! I got you your favourite dog! I know you always wanted to have a dog when we were younger. However, due to my allergies, you weren’t allowed to. So hey, it’s never too late to be a good brother to you! And you now have the privilege of naming him anything you want. Yup, anything you want. I had done my share with Ginger. Lol. I decided to give you a guy-dog so it can always protect you. Not that I have anything against girl dogs and feminism. I know you get the drill.

Enjoy your new adventures! It sucks that I won’t be seeing more of you anymore but you’re always in my heart – you and Dad.

Go crazy and write your stories!

Please always remember: I love you forever!

--Parker--

P.S.: but I'm betting you will be naming him Charlie. ;)

My heart leaps with joy and (very very slight moment of) ugly cry because (1) I love surprises with a passion, (2) I love surprises especially involving a dog – and my favourite kind of dog at that, and (3) I love Parker all the more! That boy, he’s dying then and yet he managed to connive with Dad to do all these fancy!

            “I hate you, Dad. You didn’t even bother to tell this to me. You always connive with Parker and leaving me alone to get all the surprise attacks!” I jokingly told my father straight to his eyes.

            “Of course, Parker is my favourite son!” Dad retorted with that brilliant smile flashing all of his white teeth. “Let’s go get the dinner first while it’s still hot so you can play with your dog afterwards.”

            “I’m thinking of a name... oh, I’d call him Charlie! Charlie sounds good, right Dad? Please say Yes.”

            “Yes, Charlie is a good name, sweetheart. Now, can we go get dinner? I'm starving.”

When I was young, I always say that when I get a dog, I will name him Charlie. In my case now, I'd name him Charlie Brown (no, not Snoopy) Simons.

            I was too happy; I looked at Dad, “Thank you number one Dad in the world!” and enveloped him with hugest smile I could ever give. I silently whispered the words “I miss you every day, Park. I love you forever.”

It's an amazing feeling to feel loved. I grew up without a mom but God is just so good to give me a father and brother that didn't withhold their love and affection for me.