Manolo Burgos Sanio #wattys2018

First Petal: His Mischiefs

Manolo Burgos Sanio is my first love and my love I had long hoped to be reciprocated.

He is a childhood friend. Running by the meadows catching dragonflies and grasshoppers barefooted was an afternoon routine common to us. Manolo being the most mischievous among boys our age, once stole the sour yet delicious native indian mangoes from Nay Linda's orchard. He was also the culprit in breaking Tay Owen's newly repaired window of jalousies as he attempted to take the hanging ripened santol. Using his self-made slingshot of used rubber and twigs, he broke the barrio's serenity by shooting past the aimed fruit rather shattering the fragile window. I remember how he proudly smiled after we kids ran like the wind away from the enraged old man who chased us with his bolo. He often lead the way towards the miniscule brook where we spent the whole afternoon catching the tiny fishes that swam past our legs.
Yes, my Manolo was truly an infamous mischievous boy but he was well known around for several reasons.

Manolo quite looked different from the kids around. He had this white and fair skin that turns pink whenever he spends the noon under the sun playing with the carabaos. With his big hazelnut-colored orbs, brightly he smiles and charms even the most strict and grumpiest tiyays and tiyoys, an asset for his charitable character. He was well-loved by the teachers whom he never failed to help in carrying loads of papers whenever he came across them.
Moreover, he sometimes aids his humble parents at the local mercado. His mother sold the best salted and sweetened peanuts in the whole town while his father had the reputation of being a henchman of persistence in encouraging the townspeople to place their bets for a few coins in the in small town lottery.

I never paid much attention towards anything else more than how much I did with watching Manolo. I observed him so well and so keenly that I realized how lovable young Manolo was. Afterwards, the youthful me also came to realize the peculiar manner my heart pounded in his presence, near or far. Thus, the birth of my young and pure affection for Manolo Burgos Sanio.