original stories mainly of a dark nature
mga kuwentong masarap pagsaluhan sa dilim.
This is a collection of one shot short stories written in Filipino.
Ano man ang inyong piliing basahin, sana ay matagpuan ninyo ang kilabot na inyong hinahanap
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"If you want to get riches far beyond your wildest dreams, follow the golden calf and watch where it sinks."
That's what Lelong used to tell his grandchildren. "Dig where it sinks and there, you will find the laman-lupa's treasure."
"Really lelong?" asks a sniffling child.
"Of course, Sendo," replied the old man. "I myself have seen these golden creatures several times before."
"Then," asked another child, "how come you're still so poor?"
"That's right, Lelong," Sendo asks again, "where are your riches?"
The old man laughs, showing his pink gums.
"That's because I am a happy man, and a happy man wouldn't exchange the things he love for all the riches in the world," he explains. "For the laman-lupa will take your most beloved possession in exchange, and for a happy man like me, no treasure is better than my family!"
That was the first problem.
It was always a person that the laman-lupa takes, not a favorite object, not even a favorite pet.
That's what they said happened, when mang Isko supposedly won the lotto, and lost his first born child a week later near the lake. They say it was also the reason why aling Dina's husband died when their new car was crushed under a landslide, a month after she supposedly got a big inheritance from an unknown relative.
"It's the laman-lupa taking their payment," they whispered.
But Sendo didn't need to worry, for it was well known throughout their small barrio, that the now grown-up Sendo was a cold blooded miser who was incapable of showing love.
That was his main problem.
"You mean you actually believed the words of that crazy, half blind old man?" Berting told his cousin Sendo as he laughed. "What do you want all those riches for anyway?" he asked. "You already own the biggest land here in our barrio, you even bought Lelong's old manggahan and rice field! You are already so well off!"
"That's not enough!" Sendo snapped at him. "I want to be rich enough to be able to leave this dusty barrio and live comfortably in Manila, like my mother."
"Your mother?" his cousin frowned. "Your mother left you and your drunkard of a father to marry some rich old foreigner!" he continued. "And now you say you want to be like her?"
Sendo kept silent.
"And one more thing," his cousin said with a sarcastic grin. "This is the first time I heard you say I'm your favorite cousin!" he scoffed. "I'm not an idiot, couosin, I know what a laman-lupa takes in exchange for his riches, and I have no plans of being your so called 'sacrifice'."
That meeting with his cousin got Sendo in a bad mood. Later, he went to aling Memang's place to collect her rent.
"Sendo, my husband just passed away..." the old widow begged him, "Please, can't you wave our payment for this month?"
