Chronicles Revealed

Chapter 9: Moving On

At about five in the afternoon, while we were loitering from one store to another looking at items we had no intention of buying, I received a text message from my auntie. She said they were going to the seaside mall and would like to invite us for dinner with them in one of the restaurants on the top floor that specializes on native dishes we are all familiar with but especial foods for people from abroad, like tourists and Fil-Ams on vacation in their native country. She further said it would be nice if the whole family came along, including the children.  With her was another auntie of mine who traveled all the way from the United States with her daughter to attend the burial of their elder brother the week before.

Most of my relatives on my mother's side now live in the States. It is heaven for them, the land of golden opportunities, the greatest place on earth. I guess they are right; otherwise they would have come back to the Philippines a long time ago. It could also just be pride at work here. Anyway, my father and mother and my siblings never expressed a desire to relocate to the U.S. We opted to stay and see how things will unfold in our country.  Our youngest and only girl married a Canadian and has lived in Canada since her marriage.  I guess, that is a different matter or a glitch in the familial perception. According to my sister, they live right at the border of Canada and USA and they could hear from their house the crashes and rumblings of the Niagara Falls.

The country they gave up on is still hot, dusty, dirty, smelly and noisy. Early in the morning you sweat already. Roads are prone to severe flooding. Drivers of public and private vehicles still don't really know how to drive. Unrelenting and shameless corruption besiege the government from top to bottom. Traffic is costing us billions of pesos everyday, or is it every hour? Killings? Depends on who is talking. Who in his right mind would choose to stay if given a choice? Amidst all the discouraging and disparaging scenarios, we decided to stay. We never left. In my case, there was never an instance I was interested in any way to go to the U.S. and work and live there despite knowing my relatives and friends are there. I do not worship the almighty dollar and, in fact, I blame it for the poverty, hunger, misery and ugliness I see around me. Raped by the Spaniards, the Americans, the Japanese, and now the Chinese, my country is still the best place for me.

My auntie was just trying to reciprocate. Last Wednesday, after the mass we offered for their deceased brother, my wife and I invited them for dinner at the Terraces. It was a nice bonding time for us. I have not seen my aunties for quite a long time already, especially the one coming from the States. She used to be a nurse and quit the profession when she got married to an American serviceman in Clark Air Base decades ago. Their marriage has remained strong. He was a Chemist and when he retired from military service, he accepted a consultancy position in a big manufacturing firm in Mindanao until they left and stayed for good in the United States, in his home place.

I replied okay and that we will be at the restaurant by seven o'clock. I didn't tell her we were in the mall already. The children came back to join us. They had gone up to the skating rink. They thought that maybe this time they would be more fortunate and they could skate. To their delight, I said okay. We went up to the next floor with the kids running up the spiral stairs in feverish excitement of finally being able to skate. Unluckily, the rink was actually fully booked like the last time and there were so many children waiting for their turn. For the second time, I saw a big disappointment written all over their faces on being nixed anew in their desire to skate in the rink. I was just as disappointed as them.

There is always a next time, I reassured them. We will come again here on a weekday during your Xmas break and you can skate as much as you like! We will come early, before the mall opens, wait outside, to make sure you get to play in the rink.

With the children unable to skate, we went up to the roof garden of the mall where the children could play and have fun. We stayed there, taking pictures and seeing the children enjoy themselves with the slides, the seesaws, the swings and other playground amusements. From where we were, we had a 270 degrees view of the city: its mountains and seas and high rise buildings and urban squalor. What a mix. The restaurant was on the other side, facing the sea and no ugliness and filth to see that could spoil your appetite. We walked to it as the time approached. My relatives were already there when we arrived. My two sons soon came, each with a shopping bag in hand. Work-out needs and paraphernalia, they said.