2 Returning what she thought she lost
RAIN poured non-stop since Friday afternoon, a sign that wet season has officially started in the country. Everyone in their town are happy for this timely downpour as most inhabitants are farmers. The rainy event, called siam-siam by everyone, blesses the fields of abundant water for nine straight days.
This busy time would then generate income to farming-related businesses as well as to mini sari-sari stores scattered around.
Beatrice grimaced as she thought of the weekend that went by.
She got up by four in the morning to man their mini sari-sari store all day and took care of her three younger sisters Katrina, Blessy and the toddler Julie. They were ages eleven, eight and three. Her Papa and three older brothers had to go to their lands before dawn while her mother went with them to supervise food preparations for the hired helps.
Bencio was twenty-one, Benjamin and Emil would turn nineteen by the third week of June.
She, Beatrice, would turn sixteen by the end of October.
She had a big family that was unruly and noisy most of the time. Thanks to her younger siblings that just drain the energy out of her.
As the eldest daughter, it was pressed on her to share her mother's duty inside their home. She would casually joke on herself that she was in training of becoming a farmer's wife. A joke that dampened her dreams of better life in Manila, where she wants to study come college.
Envy rose from the bottom of her heart when she thought of Manila. Her best friend, Jenny, would continue her studies in the capital city and in one of the famed university in the whole country. Something that was too impossible for someone like her, given her family's economic situation.
She sighed as she stared on the thatched roof of their house.
In her mind, it was indeed hard to be poor.
Their house, a humble bahay-kubo, was situated at a corner near the short cut path to farm lands namely home site and uno. A perfect spot for the sari-sari store business because of its location. Everyone who passed by would buy or credit for food and refreshments as early as four-thirty.
It was a good thing that her Mama had persuaded her Papa to erect the mini sari-sari store for it help the family get-by when rice and corn planting season had ceased. It also helped her because of her selling stint of snacks in their classroom, with her earnings mostly saved and used for school projects and class contributions.
"Beatrice, I thought you'd be out early today? What are you still doing there? Come and eat!" She heard her mother said or rather yelled that hauled her out of her thoughts.
She saw her mother on the door, peering on her with a questioning look.
She was still lying on their banig, sandwiched between her sisters Katrina and Blessy, with the latter hugging her. Both still asleep and had not stirred from their mother's loud voice.
"Coming, Mama." She lazily replied as she gently pull away from her sister, who thankfully released her. She then mind the thin blanket covering half her body. She shuddered at the contact of cold air on her skin. She quickly fold her blanket and then stood up.
She saw her Kuya Emil eating breakfast with her Kuya Benjamin and Julie on the latter's lap at their dirty kitchen. Both her older brothers are studying with scholarship program at the provincial state university, an hour and a half away from their town.
Her Kuya Benjamin was on his fourth year of Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education major in Mathematics and Kuya Emil on his second year in Mechanical Engineering. The latter gave way for his twin to study first that was why he was two years late.
She had not ask for her Papa who she knew must be at one of their lands together with her Kuya Bencio, the latter finished a vocational degree in agriculture from the town's community school.
Her Mama must be at the mini sari-sari store now, which was built near their bamboo rod-made gate.
"Come eat, Maring." She heard her Kuya Benjamin said. Maring was her monicker from the family. She hugged her body as the cold wind coming from the open banggera greeted her thin body, stealing away the remnant of warmth.
"Yes, Kuya." She said walking towards the bangko where her Kuya Emil sat.
There were smoked fish, scrambled eggs, chopped tomatoes with fish sauce, and boiled kangkong on the table. Her stomach grumbled as her eyes focused on the smoked fish, her favorite. They had been on a diet of vegetables and dried fish that her tastebuds gone bland.
This in her mind was a feast.
-----
THE foggy surrounding, cold damp breeze with fresh after dawn scent and soft rustling sound of droplets as it hit the ground made Beatrice want to come back to the comfortable warmth of their straw-woven mat and hug from her 8 year-old sister. She fixed her over-sized jacket to cover her from the cold wind, which sort of played its purpose.
If only she had not misplaced her school ID somewhere she would have just woke up by now. She left their house at exactly six and the walk would take her fifteen minutes to school. She noticed her ID missing last night when she arranged her school stuff on her hand-me-down black backpack from her Kuya Benjamin.
She spent most of her wake hours finding and thinking on where she could possibly had placed her ID. She was sure that she put it on her backpack's pocket before going home from school.
Not unless she dropped it in their school grounds.
"Ugh!" She growled when she thought of something that happened last Friday.
An embarrassing encounter with the guy she never thought she would bump into, ever.
"Calm down, Maring." She told herself out loud as the possibility struck her. She would just approach him once she was in their school grounds.
And if he had not seen her ID, she would be dead.
She cringed on the thought that she had to pay for another laminated ID from their school and an individual 1.5 x 1.5 one piece picture in blue background, an indicator of her year as a fourth year student, from a photo studio in the city. She would, reluctantly, have to break open her bamboo coin bank or her mother would scold her to death if ever she had to ask for ID replacement fee.
She sighed.
My hard saved money!
She would just think of those later when the need arises. For now, she must get inside their school. No matter what happens.
Her plan was to snuck inside their school while the guarding student officers are not yet around. The rainy weather would surely keep them away from the gate. The student officers are the ones who check their school IDs as they enter the school premises.
No ID, No Entry.
Their school was a private Catholic school run by Dominican priests that stood beside the town's church. She luckily got a scholarship program offered by the school when she snagged the top-tenth spot of the school's entrance exam. It helped lessen her tuition fee woes and had the chance to enjoy a private school teaching and environment.
She quickened her pace when she saw some students, a group of girls, walking toward the school gate. Her heart pounded hard as excitement, fear and worry mixed althogether as she neared the gate. Her eyebrow arched when she noticed that the girls went inside in a single line. Like someone was checking from the other side of the gate.
She cursed in her mind whoever that person be but, reverted when she saw who the person was.
Oh good Lord, no!
The student officer-in-charge was no other than Marco Lorenzo Saavedra.
Her crush.
She caught her breathe when his gaze fell on her. Dark orbs looking seriously at her, like he was tracing every line and contour of her face. She stayed standing outside the school gate stupidly gawking at him. Panic rose as this was the second time that she was this close to him.
She had always watched him since second year from afar. Contented on every smile, laugh and getting close to everyone who approached him. A hint that he was popular in their school.
Lorenzo was an easy sight as he stood tall among his peers at five-feet-seven. He had a lean straight body stature that must be due to his training as an officer in their CAT that happened this summer. He had now a tanned skin that contrast his mestizo feature last school year. She admits though that his new skin color looked good on him. It added a different kind of charm on him. Gone was the boy-next-door outgrown clean cut he had for he traded it to a military cut one. He had a straight brow that complemented his contoured nose. His dark orbs were like deep dark well that has a mysterious kind of glow. His lips was close to the beautiful cupid's bow shape. He had an angular jaw that contoured the excess chubby cheeks evident to most of the boys his age.
A handsome face, intelligent guy, an athlete, wealthy because of the clan he was born to and an approachable fellow despite his family's social standing.
What could be said against him?
She cut their staring contest and looked around the narrow gate for her to pass through.
But, there was none as he now stood at the middle of the narrow gate with his yellow umbrella that put the dull rainy morning and her old black umbrella to shame.
If it was some normal encounter, she would definitely had laughed at him. A tall, tanned and lean teenage boy with a stand-out color of umbrella in the midst of pouring rain.
But, she could not.
Uneasiness coursed through her system as she felt him still observing her. She knew that she was a disastrous sight. Wind-swept hair due to the wind that made some dry strands of hair went awry. Add to that her unruly out-grown damp bangs that just won't stay in place tucked behind her ear. Unpowdered face and bare lips because she could not afford such must-have beauty kit for a teenage girl like her. The over-sized gray jacket that a relative gave to her brother but snatched from his carton box shelf to use on this weather, falling on her mid-thigh looked shabby on her thin frame. Her awkward old green-checkered skirt that fell on her knees was opposed to the three-inches below the knee rule of the school. An obvious thing that she had her skirt since first year and was just manually adjusted by her mother to fit her through the years. Lastly, the mud-stained black shoes that she would glue with rugby for the man-made leather to stick with the now thin rubber sole. She pitied the poor thing as she knew it would not last long because of this rainy season.
Her self-pity musings went to a halt when she heard a clearing of throat sound.
Her gaze went back to his face. She felt her cheeks turned warm against the cold wind blowing on her face.
He was smiling at her.
Dear Lord, what have I done to deserve this today? She asked in her mind.
She was awestruck that her brain freezed as to what to do. She lowered her gaze as she felt a wave of embarrassment for she knew that what she felt showed through her face.
"Ex-excuse me, ma-may I pass through?" She asked in a stuttered whisper, redeeming a bit of her sane self back.
"You are not wearing your ID." He stated that made her cower.
That was it. The joy he caused her crumbled in an instant. Their second encounter became another turn-off scene that she prayed the earth would just crack open and swallow her to its depths.
"I misplaced it." She honestly said and was thankful that it was audible and clear.
"I woke up early and went here early. I guess my theory was right." She heard him say that made her look up to him puzzled. She saw his hand reached on something at his dark green pants' pocket.
Her eyes widened when the familiar handmade bead key chain surfaced. Her school ID followed.
"You-you found it!" She happily exclaimed. The rain seemed to have stopped as her eyes focused on her ID, now on top of Lorenzo's palm and being held on to her.
"I did."
"Thanks!" She exclaimed as she hurriedly took the ID on his palm. A tiny bit of something like an electric current passed through her when the tip of her finger touched his palm.
What was that for?
She heard him clear his throat again. Their hands are still in mid-air and her ID still on his palm. She once again muttered a stuttered thanks then took her ID. This time, careful not to touch him.
