Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Wed Mar 30, 2022, I published Acknowledgments.
          
          “It takes a village to raise a child.” It had taken an entire village to recall the memories of one of its children. The villagers of my childhood went to great lengths to remember and validate several names of people and places and the nature of events turning out at specific dates in my life, reflecting with invaluable insights into the motives and intentions that set them in motion.
          
          Thank you all for contributing your humanity with shared memories and innermost reflections to making this incredible journey a reality.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1209072633-batangas-acknowledgments
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Sun Mar 27, 2022, I published Chapter 42: A Grateful Childhood.
          
          My loving recollections and reflections growing up as a child in Batangas end with this chapter. I have tried to piece things together and reconstruct my childhood from memory, my recollection by no means absolute, only to live it all over—but see things from a different perspective. I found love and forgiveness when I least expected them from people and places in my journey of rediscovery during a global pandemic.
          
          One thing is for sure: I had a profoundly blessed and beautiful childhood in Batangas, enriched by its people, culture, and traditions.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203673617-batangas-a-grateful-childhood-chapter-42
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Sat Mar 26, 2022, I published Chapter 41: Anak (Child).
          
          Kuya couldn’t tell me what he was going through, thinking perhaps his younger brother, four years his junior, was too young to relate with, much less fathom, the lamentations of lost love. Caught on the hop with an unlikely question from me, he might have been on the verge of throwing up. Besides, what would I know, he probably thought.
          
          As if on cue, Anak by Freddie Aguilar skyrocketed to the top of the billboard charts, taking the music world by storm in 1978, embellishing Kuya’s teenage rebellion.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203671114-batangas-anak-child-chapter-41
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Fri Mar 25, 2022, I published Chapter 40: JOSEFSGEM.
          
          The mind-numbing realization of the household’s unsustainable income dawned on me in successive waves of instability and conflict. My homeroom adviser walked over to my seat and quietly laid her hand on my hunched shoulder until my frantic gasps for air subsided into a muted sob, an open display of vulnerability I was afraid of revealing to anyone. I could no longer hold it together.
          
          Falling apart in the middle of everyone I had grown up with for the last seven or eight years, I felt safe somehow.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203669193-batangas-josefsgem-chapter-40
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Thu Mar 24, 2022, I published Chapter 39: Tupperware and Dressed Chicken for Sale.
          
          From an early age, I learned from Inay and Tatay the value of physical, hard work, using my bare hands to create something, determined to finish the job and meet a certain quality standard. My parents worked extremely hard at everything they did for a living, working together as a team—always thinking of new ideas, deliberating, experimenting, trying to make things work, picking up where one left off.
          
          Meanwhile, a tunnel underground built for warfare during the Second World War had been discovered and unearthed in the subdivision.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203664998-batangas-tupperware-and-dressed-chicken-for-sale
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Wed Mar 23, 2022, I published Chapter 38: All Dogs Go to Heaven.
          
          Some people believe dogs don’t have souls; others believe they do. Either way, I think dogs have the life-giving spirit breath from God to live among us as a gift entrusted to us for a short time. An askal’s life with us is no less than a mongrel’s or purebred’s life. When they have lived their purpose in our lives, the spirit breath goes back to God in heaven. So in a way, all dogs go to heaven.
          
          My childhood memories would never be complete without saving a spot for the askals that grew up with me.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203663829-batangas-all-dogs-go-to-heaven-chapter-38
          
          I have four more chapters to publish after this. By the time all chapters are published on Wattpad, I would have reached a milestone in soft publishing. I'll be working on the print version next.
          
          I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Tue Mar 22 2022, I published Chapter 37: Simbang Gabi (Night Mass).
          
          I cringed when I saw Father Cornelio Magmanlac in the sacristy, known for his fire and fury in the pulpit—repent-or-burn-in-hell rhetoric, as some people have put it. He had readied the cruet tray, placing the wine jar on the right side and the water jar on the left. I introduced myself as his altar server for the Low Mass in the morning. And a novice at that, begging for his forgiveness ahead of time.
          
          Father Magmanlac started to say Mass at the altar, and everything was going smoothly until the offertory.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1204097149-batangas-simbang-gabi-night-mass-chapter-37
          
          I'll publish more chapters in the days ahead. I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Mon Mar 21, 2022, I published Chapter 36: The Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
          
          The basilica’s nave is cavernous and rivals the great churches of Europe and the Americas—a hundred times magnified from a child’s sense of wonderment. The Murillo-style image of the Immaculate Conception stands on a pedestal, the centerpiece of the intrados or inner side of the towering altar canopy or baldachin, depicting the city’s patroness ascending into the blue-lit cupola, the illusory blue skies of heaven.
          
          Today, an inscription on the painted wreath obscured by the two angels holding up the crown is unreadable, currently being researched by the diocese.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203659984-batangas-the-minor-basilica-of-the-immaculate
          
          I'll publish more chapters in the days ahead. I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today, Sun Mar 20, 2022, I published Chapter 35: A Legacy of Kindness.
          
          The dark cloud rose unexpectedly from the north, swooping to the south, twisting and turning midair in a massive circular motion. A flash of white light glimmered from the blue sky as the cloud reflected sunlight and rose again with the rapid flapping of wings beating in unison.
          
          The sky darkened again into a cloud of gray as it descended against the afternoon sun in the west with a muted swoosh—a scene straight out of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film, The Birds.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203655469-batangas-a-legacy-of-kindness-chapter-35
          
          I'll publish more chapters in the days ahead. I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano

Dear followers,
          
          Today Sat Mar 19, 2022, I published Chapter 34: Calumpang River.
          
          We needed to get help fast. I flung myself out of the water, straddled the boulders in one giant leap, and tapped Roy on the shoulder, “I’m going to get help!” Putting my shirt on as I headed towards Ferry Road, water dripping from my drenched shorts, my rubber slippers squeaking at every step with long strides, I ran as fast as possible, Abe close behind me.
          
          Earlier, two local boys had seen the commotion from their view atop one of the boulders strewn across the riverbank.
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1203653894-batangas-calumpang-river-chapter-34
          
          I'll publish more chapters in the days ahead. I hope you'll enjoy reading my stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
          
          Thanks for following me on Wattpad!
          
          Kind regards,
          
          Bong Serrano