“Hello, ma. Patapos na ang ginagawa ko dito sa Manila. Pabalik na ako sa makalawa.”
“Oh, okay. Anong oras ang flight mo para makapagluto ako ng maaga? I know you’re not eating right over there. Ganyan ka palagi kapag nalalayo sa bahay.”
Nakatuwaan niyang pumalatak. Ayaw na ayaw ng mama niyang manatili siya ng matagal sa Manila sahil nagpapabaya daw siya sa katawan niya kung mag-isa lang siya. Rhett loved his mother dearly pero nasosobrahan din ito sa pagiging mother hen nito sa kanila.
“You’re babying me, ma.”
“Rhett, if ever I am babying you I won’t let you out of my sight! Twenty-four hours kang gwardiyado ng nanay mong ito.” She spit the words in consternation then she chuckled. “Ewan ko ba sa iyo, anak. Why do you need to jet set all the time? You have trustworthy people manning every branch of your disco house, bakit ikaw pa kailangan ang mag-sort out ng mga problema?”
“Mang, unang-una, the term disco house is very 70s. Wala nang nagsasabi ng disco ngayon. Napaghahalata ang edad mo. Club Ponté is a dance club. Pangalawa, even if I have managers, I’m still Ponté’s king. I have to run my kingdom despite having people running the show. I’m like a European monarch, the Prime Minister may run my country but I am still the ultimate ruler.”
His mother snorted at his analogy.
“What?!”
“Some kingdom you have.”
“Wala ka talagang bilib sa akin, mamang.” He feigned pain at her quip but he knew that she loved him very much and he knew that his mother trusted and believed in his capacity to run his business. He did bring up Ponté from scratch and made it a success. In every way, he was a self-made man.
“Whatever. How’s your brother?”
“James’s fine. He’s pretty busy especially now that we have an expansion project.”
“Kayong magkapatid, kinakalimutan na ninyong may magulang kayong nag-aalala sa inyo.”
“Ma, we’re old enough to know what we are doing,” he blurted out exasperatedly. “James’s doing very fine. Huwag ka nang mag-alala sa kanya.”
“Don’t tell me what to feel about my son who has not called me for over a month now, Rhett!” galit na bulalas nito sa kanilang linya. “You two may be old enough to know what you are doing but you will never be old enough to not to call and check in with you mother!”
“Fine,” he sighed heavily. “I’ll wrangle James to call you later.”
“Mabuti,” his mother said smugly. “Anyway, anong oras ka nga lalapag dito sa Davao?”
“My flight’s at two PM so I’m there past three.”
“Siya sige. Eh, how’s Manila?”
“Manila pa rin. Everything here’s fine. Medyo nagka-problema lang kami sa Malate branch. Some fire safety issue with the Fire Bureau but it’s already sorted out so…”
“Oh, ano pala ang ginawa mo?”
“I bribed the Fire Safety inspector to let us pass.”
“Ano?!” Narinig niyang inihampas ng ina ang kung anumang bagay na hawak nito ngayon. “Rhett Butler Ponce, tell me that that is a joke or I swear I’ll strangle you with my bare hands when you come home.”
He laughed heartily at his mother’s fire. Galit na galit talaga ito sa corruption. Ilang beses na itong nakapag-sermon at nakapag-report ng fixers sa government offices. His mother wouldn’t take shit and she wouldn’t forgive corrupt people even if one of them came from her uterus.
