The Coño Boy 6: Ten Lifetimes With You

Chapter Six: Rafael Distraido

Casa Cordero
Hacienda de Santa Ines
Villa de San Angel
8 de Deciembre de 1886

In the middle of Hacienda de Santa Ines stands a white house. It is a brick and plaster structure from the ground up. Whilst many homes from this time are built with brick or stone foundations only on the first floor and a wooden structure on the second, the hacienda's grand house is one of the few exceptions found in Villa San Angel. The brick walls are plastered and painted white making it visible from afar. The white paint is akin to the white lamb or the cordero that is carried by images of Santa Ines thus giving the house its name: Casa Cordero.

Meant to be a temporary home for the landed owners when visiting the plantation, with its ground floor serving as storage for a portion of the harvest, the house has undergone a few changes in recent years. Preferring this house over the one they have in the poblacion of San Angel, Don astolfo has spent more time in Casa Cordero, keeping his vast tracts of land within sight. The thick walls, heavy wooden doors reinforced with metal, and the panelled windows also serve as security against country bandits called tulisanes.

Utililtarian in form and function, the house has not been spared of the comforts expected of the landed principalia [elite and ruling class]. From furniture to food, Casa Cordero is an enviable residence kept by a total of fifteen servants: which include personal attendants, cleaners, maids, a cook, a gardener, horse groomers, and a coachman.

Doña Consuelo runs their two houses in San Angel like clockwork. Her taste for fine things is evident from the choice of beds and their embroidered linens to the porcelain and cutlery imported from Europe. She also has the distinction of having purchased delicate Venetian glassware, reserved for the use of special guests during the many parties they have thrown at both their houses.

Don Astolfo was in his early thirties when he married the seventeen year old Doña Consuelo. Herself a daughter of the gobernadorcillo [equivalent to the town mayor] of San Angel at the time of her marriage, she was raised within the walls of Manila. Her exposure to the urban life there has left an impression and perhaps a longing for it.

Their union bore them two children: Rafael, the eldest and Narcisa, his sister. The youngest one was sent to a beaterio to receive the basic Roman Catholic education expected of young girls from elite families. Although not all girls have the privilege of being taught to read or write and understand Spanish and even Latin to an admirable degree because they are often treated as property to be traded into favorable marriages, Don Astolfo sees the advantage of having a daughter who is like his wife.

Rafael, his eldest and male heir, is another story.

Rafael:
Buenas dias, Papa, Mama...

He greets his mother and father a good morning as soon as he enters the comedor. Rafael is holding a straw boater's hat in his hand with a dark blue band on its crown. Don Felizardo is seated at the head of the table while Doña Consuelo is seated to his immediate right. They are attended to by two female servants standing by the lansena [buffet cabinet/side table with drawers and compartments].

Rafael bows down to kiss his mother on the cheek.

Doña Consuelo:
Buenas dias, mi hijo. ¿No vas a comer, Rafael?
[Good Morning, my boy. Will you not eat, Rafael?]

Rafael:
No Mamâ. Disculpe. Cailangan co po munang tumungo sa may poblacion.

He turns to his father.

Rafael:
Cung inyo pong pahihintulutan, Papâ.

He says as he asks for his father's permission. His hands fingers, playing with the rim of his straw boater's hat, while his head hangs low.