She's Older Than Me

Chapter 22: Do Good Unto Others

After some days of being monitored, Typhoon Pablo (International Name: Typhoon Bopha) arrived in the Philippine area of responsibility on December 3, 2012, a Monday. It was given a designation of Category 5 super typhoon, with strength of 280 km/h. The most affected area was the island of Mindanao, where a widespread disaster left more than 600 people dead and thousands of survivors without homes.

Even the folks in Cebu feared of what the typhoon could bring, remembering Typhoon Ondoy (International Name: Typhoon Ketsana) and its unusually heavy floods that wrecked Manila way back in September 2009, and Typhoon Sendong (International Name: Tropical Storm Washi), which ruined Mindanao in December 2011. According to the news, it was forecasted that the storm would hit Metro Cebu. Classes were suspended, and the measures done by the local government units and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) were more than adequate to lessen damages. The people gathered and prayed in groups, praying to the Señor Sto. Niño, and imploring the intercession of the Virgin Mary and the recently canonized St. Pedro Calungsod.

Mr. Valdez and family (Ashley and the household servants included) prayed the rosary after meals, as usual. During prayer, they were begging earnestly to spare Cebu City. Justin had caught the flu because of the cold weather, and because he lept into the rain and wind in the earlier part of the day to catch a shirt which was blown away from the clothesline. His attention was in his ailing self, but he still managed to pray with the whole family.

Later that night, he went out of the house to rest at the front porch. It was past nine-thirty when he noticed the stars in the sky. He also saw a flying passenger plane. He could see the stars and the plane clearly that he realized that there was no hint of the typhoon. It was as if the typhoon never existed at all! And to think that it was December 4, a day after the entrance of the said typhoon! A smile lit up his face when he realized that prayers work, and most especially, when you believe. His realization sent him into a silent ecstasy that his body got weaker to the flu, and he collapsed on the cold floor.

Mr. Valdez was alarmed by a household help that Justin collapsed, and he rushed to the front porch to rescue his son. The household was thrown in a state of chaos, and everyone was ready to bring Justin to the hospital. Because the night was extremely clear, Mr. Valdez was able to bring his son to the hospital without hassle. In effect, Justin was absent for the rest of the week (save for Wednesday, when classes were still suspended). His friends visited him in the hospital, cheering him up and helping him with the lessons. Johnson made his usual soufflé, and the other guys brought in lots of fresh fruits for Justin. Even Miss Alcasid visited her student and told him to get better so that he could attend school the next week.

“Whatever…” he drawled out.

Justin was discharged Friday afternoon, and rested for the rest of the day so he was able to join the whole family to mass that Saturday, December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception. However, Mrs. Valdez deemed that her son might be too weak to travel, so they were not able to go to Simala as scheduled. She thought that they could visit the place anytime of the year anyway.

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Miss Alcasid and Mr. Udagawa had always done some charitable works in their own neighborhood, feeding kids, giving away toys, and tutoring them in subjects which the kids find difficult. They had been doing this since Miss Alcasid was sixteen and Mr. Udagawa was thirteen, and this was the time of the year which the neighborhood kids looked forward to. They were eager to play with the two teachers, who could be inaccessible for the most time of the year.

Miss Alcasid kept a calendar on her desk, and in this calendar were scribbles of her monthly activities. During Homeroom, she let it slip that she and her neighbor were doing some little outreach activity in their neighborhood, all the while telling her students the motive for this day’s activity.