She sat on a rattan chair in the verandah facing a dirt road which disappeared behind a dense undergrowth, her hands clutching the hugeness of her belly. A slight breeze from the sea was blowing inland, rippling through blades of grass, stirring vapors that rose and formed into white clouds in the sky. She should be napping now, the air was drowsy and it would not be difficult to doze off, but her gaze rested on the road ... anxious.
Earlier that morning, people were leaving their homes and heading for the hills. A rumor warned that the Japanese were headed to Bacon, Sorsogon from Manito - a town about twenty kilometers away. The fleeing residents asked her to join them to the sanctuary of a forest and return after the Japanese had left. They were a motley group; old men and old women, mothers with babies clinging at their waists, barefooted children clad in ragged clothes who were too excited to appreciate any kind of danger and grim faced men, also barefooted, who carried meager possessions on their shoulders, barking orders to move out.
She wanted to leave with them and avoid confrontation with the approaching Japanese but she was not sure it was safe, in her late stage of pregnancy to be trampling in the hills. She could imagine herself waddling like a frantic duck trying to keep up with the flock. She decided to stay and take her chances at home. She hoped nothing untoward would happen to her or her husband.
Flora Ante was a lovely woman, dusky and possessing a ready smile. She was twenty one when she met Bernabe Aquino, a tall handsome man with a fair complexion, aquiline nose, chinky eyes and a mischievous smile. Her parents died when she was barely in her teens which explained the occasional melancholy look in her eyes. Although she had brothers and sisters who showered her with affection she felt as if she'd lived alone all her life. She was the youngest in the family and the brother before her was ten years older than her. All of her sisters were married and she could not confide her feelings articulately to them; she felt they were a generation older and largely unappreciative of what she wanted to do with her life. After earning a teacher's certificate at Bicol Colleges, she immediately applied for a teaching position, relishing the idea of independence and earning her own money.
Bernabe was with a group of teachers from Pangasinan who were assigned in Sorsogon to augment the lack of teachers there. They met and formed an acquaintance which put them close to each other. He regaled her with stories about himself, his life in the hustle bustle of Manila, the motorcars, long bridges,tall buildings, the kaleidoscope of colors by the bay at sunset, the ethereal glow that bathed the skyline at night. He told her about his experiences at National Teacher's College where he graduated and edited the school organ - Fiat Lux. He told her about Binmaley, about his family and siblings; that he had two brothers who went to America to work as field hands in Sacramento Valley, how the elder brother, Tranquilino, who hated manual labor studied Economics at University of California Berkeley, and Felix, the younger brother, continued to pick apples, oranges, peaches, apricots, cabbage heads, lettuce heads and took on odd jobs to provide his brother a little cash for expenses at school. He talked about teaching and why he chose to be a teacher.
He actually had few options: be a teacher, apply for admission at Camp Allen or join his brothers in America.. He had no inclination to be a soldier and no intention to pick apples in a lonely farm anywhere.
They were together most of the time and shared much in common. They went on picnics, laughed and had fun. One day, while searching for shells along the seashore, they strayed from their companions who were cavorting among the waves. It was the opportunity he was waiting for and, although uncertain about her response to his boldness, afraid of rejection, he clasped her small hands with much trepidation, looked intently into her eyes and professed his profound affection in her ear. The effect was electric, she could feel shivers down her spine. She was in love. She responded when he embraced and kissed her. She readily consented when he proposed marriage.
