Dogtag (completed)

20. dogtags

"Meng?"

"I here!"

"What you doing?"

"Hmm...I make Papa leg better..."

"Better?"

"He walk funny. He hab yayay..."

"Yayay? Where Papa yayay?"

"Heew o..." Meng points to her leg.

"But you said Papa leg yayay..."

"Hmm...I put ban-ned...this one o..." Meng shows Rj's prosthetic leg to her brother, Baste, which she covered with a diaper. The prosthetic leg has patches of salonpas and adhesive strips.

"Halaaa! Watchudo?"

"Kuya, I say na e...I fix Papa yayay!" Meng screams.

"Meng?"

"Ma...Mama?"

"Why are you shouting?" Dei enters the kids' room and picks up little Meng.

"Meng put...put on Papa's leg..." Baste lifts the prosthetic leg to show Dei. Baste is just a year older.

"Ay! What happened?" Dei gets the leg from Baste.

"Papa leg have yayay...I make better..."

"Make better? Yayay?"

"Hmm...I hear Papa say his leg has owwie...has yayay..." Dei just nodded and she takes the kids outside the room to the dining room to have a snack.

"Papa does not have real yayay..."

"No owwiee?" Baste looks at Dei, confused.

"How many legs does Papa have?"

"Uhmm...one...this one...and the other one is putol..." Baste answers while patting his left leg.

"That's right. And Papa has the magic leg so that he can walk and do many things like you, right?"

"Yes...Papa like to run...we run fast..."

"Yes. But sometimes, he forgets that he has a magic leg already. Sometimes, he remembers the yayay he got before he lost his other leg..." Dei tried to explain the phantom pains that Rj would have every now and then.

"Ahh..."

"Papa no need ban-ned o sampas (salonpas)?" Meng asks.

"Hmm...not on his magic leg..." Dei smiles at the little one and wipes the icing from the donut Meng is eating from the little girl's cheeks.

"Hallooooo!" Rj walks into the kitchen and picks up a donut before sitting down beside Dei. Meng and Baste are seated across them.

"Papa!"

"What are you eating?"

"I eat nonut!" Baste says.

"Nonut?"

"Hmm! Kuya and me...we eat nonut...Papa also eat nonut..."

"It's a donut, sweetie." Dei says.

"No Mama...is nonut...wala naman peanuts e...nonut..." Baste explains.

"...may point..." Rj smirks at Dei.

"...anak mo nga...may pagka-pilosopo...."

"Teka...bakit amoy salonpas dito? Nagpamasahe ka ba?" Rj bends his head and sniffs Dei's shoulder.

"No. Yung mga anak mo..."

"Ano?"

"Eto o..." Dei picks up the plaster covered prosthetic leg.

"Anong nangyari?"

"Nakita ata ni bulilit sa kwarto at dinala sa playroom..."

"Papa have yayay in leg..." Meng says.

"...narinig ka...phantom pains..."

"Oh...Papa has no yayay...no owwieee..."

"Papa noisy lang..." Meng says.

They all laughed.

Rj told Dei about knowing of his discharge from G and how he asked for help in looking for a house within the compound. Mama Chelo had offered him a job as the systems coordinator for the computers at G since he had the computer and management skills. Rj helped in organizing the patients' records and was the head of the computer team that worked on the computers used in the entire complex of Genevieve's Home. Dei still worked as a nurse but more as an administrator like Mama Chelo. Years later, she took over Mama Chelo's administrative work at G. She stopped taking care of patients and worked as Rj's private nurse when he transitioned from G back to "normal" life.

Within weeks of transferring out of G, Rj began to walk more independently. At first, he learned how to take steps with the help of a walker. He moved on to using a cane. When Baste was born a year after their marriage, Rj was already walking independently, using his "magic leg". He also learned how to care for himself without assistance.

Dei and Rj got married within a year after transitioning from G. It was just a simple ceremony attended by immediate family and a few friends. Their party was rather small that they had their wedding reception in a small function hall in a restaurant. Dei got the best gift of her life when Rj walked to her, unassisted to greet her and take her to the altar. She had seen him try to take a few steps already but usually while using his walker. On their wedding day however, Rj pretended that he still could not walk on his own so he wheeled himself toward the altar at the start of the ceremony. As Dei walked down the aisle with Lolo Teddy, Rj stood tall while his wheelchair and walker were positioned behind and beside him. Dei assumed that he would sit back down on the wheelchair once she got near the altar. However, Nina, her Matron of Honor, gently nudged her to stop walking. Confused, Dei got the surprise of her life when Rj began taking confident steps towards her. He was not wobbly or unsure anymore. Dei's tears began to flow and Rj hugged her tightly when he came close.

When it came to the exchange of rings, the priest asked for them and Sam. Rj's nephew approached with the pillow. Instead of rings though, Rj's dogtags were attached.

"I know this is a little unconventional but please have this dogtag, the half of the pair a soldier is issued as a sign of my assurance to be in your life till death do us part..." Rj said as he put one dogtag on Dei (it was on a necklace chain). "Dogtags are used to identify soldiers especially if they become casualties. However, I have been lucky to survive the war. They didn't need the dogtag to identify my body. I am giving you half of my dogtag so that if they are put together, we know that we are still whole. Because when the dogtags are paired, they are one whole again. Just like how you made me whole again when we found each other after being separated for a while. Like I promised when I began courting you, I will not allow us to be separated ever again. I love you, Dei Mendoza, my better half, my forever half."