Chapter 41 The Transformation

Sydney thanked the barangay officials and left the barangay hall.

Upon his arrival at home, he immediately gave a ring to his wife using his mobile phone. He told her in details about the eventful moment that occured in the barangay Hall. He also told her that if Rene wanted to go back home to their own place then he could do it.

"It was what I told you hon. We knew him pretty well that he was so demanding and coercive from his relatives because of his wife, maybe?" Pearl Ace said hinting her doubt against Nerissa's attitude.

"I don't know what to say. It was only this time that I meet him", Sydney told her.

" See you later, hon." Pearl Ace ended her conversation with her husband as she was busy consolidating some files.

Sydney, his children and their helpers were having their lunch when the door bell rang. Through the cell phone of Sydney he could have seen who was pressing the door bell outside their gate. Upon confirming his guess that it was Rene, he deactivated the door bell by covering it with a thick stainless that could never be pressed at all.

While eating, they were able to watch the next move that Rene & his family was doing. Aware of the deactivation of the door bell, they were still hopeful that Sydney would be facing them. So they sat on the flower pot outside to wait for him. Rene and his family waited for Sydney until it was night time but the latter did not bother to say any word to him.

When it was already time to fetch his wife, all he did was to use his Invisible Bag/Suit Teleportatiom instead of driving a car. It was more convenient to use it than a car because he could have reached the designated place at no time at all. In fact, it did not take him an hour to fetch Ms. Peace from work to their home. It was unknown to Rene that was why he was expecting the arrival of the couple in their car.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the barangay 'tanods' (security guard or watchmen) drove them away from the gate of the Solis-Britton family. They had refused to listen to them so they were forced to bring them to the barangay hall where a small prison cell was ready to accommodate them overnight.

In that cell, their two sons blamed their parents for the pitiful situation they were in. Both their sons reproached them for being shamelessly dissatisfied with the help his cousin had given them. They told their parents that they were lucky enough to be provided with a comfortable place to dwell in and a livelihood that saved them from being hungry. They also claimed that they were enjoying gardening and feeding the domesticated land and water animals that could be their food.

Their two sons cried until they had no more tears to shed. Their tears ran dried that even though they were crying, no more tears flowed out from their eyes. Thus, they decided to stop crying and slept like a coiling python at the corner.

Rene was unable to reason out from his sons' Reproachful accusation against them. Neither would he blamed his wife since he, too, liked every idea of Nerissa. He was always amazed with what he thought an excellent idea of his wife to coerce his relatives of their hard-earned money. He thought that he had the right to demand that his cousins should provide him with not only his needs but also some of his wants. After all, it was his well-off father who sent most of his cousins to colleges & universities providing them with the tuition fees and daily allowances when his father was still alive. It was this reason why he did not finish his collegiate trainings for the hope and expectation that he would be provided by his cousins in his life time. Nevertheless, Pearl Ace Solis was not one of those whom his father supported during her collegiate level. It was her family who spent for her tuition fees, daily allowance, and other school requirements. Furthermore, she was against what his cousin Rene believed in. It was laziness that pulled his life down despite his father's motivation to him on the importance of being a degree holder. He was so hard headed until the crucial time when pandemic hit world wide. She didn't know if her cousin would still change his bad dependent attitude that pestered them. Giving him a big amount was not at all something to be sorry off as they could even help those who were not blood related with them. However, his laziness and coerciveness could no longer be tolerated. He had to work for his family as he had children to raise. Planting and raising land and water animals for foods were lucrative resources that would never make him and his family impoverished. Once he's devoted in this livelihood he would indeed be able to live comfortably like them.

Anyway, her cousin Rene was the reason why she trained her children to work starting from the household chores to helping their father in manufacturing his invention. She did not want her children to be dependent nor a leech trying to live a life from sucking other's hard-earned money.

That evening during their family bonding moment, she explained everything about Rene to her children while Sydney was listening, too.

Pearl Ace had neven been pricked with guilt for she did all her best to help her cousin Rene be lifted out from being impoverished. As his driving skill couldn't be used, an alternative resources of livelihood was oriented to him and his family. For Pearl Ace, it was not good to be asking the government to provide him an amelioration fund for it just taught the people like Rene to be more dependent. As a matter of fact, she was a believer of the saying that; to help others is not to give them cash but to teach them how to earn it through an effective and efficient approach & technique.

Again, it was another day for Pearl Ace to work from home. That day, before going to the work place of Sydney, she went to the orchard of various fruit trees, vegetable plants and ornamental gardens. She missed weeding and watering them. She also missed talking with her plants. Having enjoyed and amazed of the healthy growing and blooming plants, she did not notice the time that she had some files from the office to be done. When she was reminded by her youngest daughter, it was also the time that her attention was caught by the thickly grown sweet potatoes that they planted near the cemented fence at the left corner of their yard.

"Athena, kindly get my gloves in the shed and a small pickaxe"

When her daughter returned she started digging the sweet potatoes that made her to stay longer as she got more and more root crops from it.

With her focused attention into harvesting the abundant root crops from the ground she was digging, she did not notice that her cousin and his family were already her audience who were speechless.

Pearl Ace was wonder-stricken when her husband suddenly spoke. "Look at her. Is that what you called lazing comfortably? She has a monthly salary, still she never wasted her idle time watching Netflix. I could even provide her with my income here and in United States of America. But.. she refused to be dependent on me and I respect her decision. See my children? They are all working even though it was already time for them to study. Since their mother is still here, they wouldn't leave her alone."

" They're studying here at your home?" Renee's eldest son inquired.

"Yes. They are enrolled in school but they had to have their lessons on-line. What about you?" Pearl Ace asked him in return.

"Nanay (means mama) it is what I was telling you." The eldest son again voiced out his thought to his mother.

"Alright... Now that you're done witnessing us to be working hard for our comfortable life, you may now go back to where you would like to live with your family." Sydney dismissively told them.

"Uncle, If 'tatay' and 'nanay' were misbehaving and refusing to stay in your apartment, can my brother and I live there? We like gardening and raising those animals there." Renee's son humbly requested for Sydney's approval.

"Hon?" Sydney asked Pearl Ace's reaction about it.

"It's up to you." She retorted.

"If you're willing to follow the policy, then you and your brother may stay." Sydney said.

"We're leaving now, uncle." Renee's son politely bowed his head, held his young brother's hand and turned away toward the gate. Rene and Nerissa followed suit who seemed to be a coward dog with its tail curled between its hind legs.

From that day on, never would they be pestered by Rene and Nerissa's shamelessness. A report from their neighbours in that apartment building to Juan was becoming better. It was not only Rene's two sons who became hard working but also their father & their mother.

On the day Rene and Nerissa started working hard, the vacant lot adjacent to their apartment was also tilled. Sweet potatoes, string beans, peppers, bitter gourd, lady fingers (okra), squash and tomatoes were planted. During harvest time, Nerissa would sell them house to house in a cheaper price than those in supermarkets and market places.

Finally, pandemic was totally gone. The world was healed at last that mankind was so thankful to their Creator whom they called God. Among those who were thankful was Rene and Nerissa for had it not for pandemic, they would not had realized their bad manners and wrong conduct. Not that they didn't like pandemic to finally end but because of it, they had also finally discovered their skill in producing vegetables that provided their fellows' healthy foods.

In fact, before the world was healed, Rene and his family had already enjoyed a comfortable life while their two sons were studying like the children of Sydney and Pearl Ace.

It was time for them to be independent from the couple's help. With the help of another cousin of Rene who was a resident in one of the municipalities of Sorsogon province, he was able to buy a lot to be tilled and a small house to be resided. The big amount of money given to them by Sydney and Pearl Ace had increased more as they were able to save from the income earned after selling their farm products.

At long last, Pearl Ace was successful in instilling to Rene and his family the priceless joy being an achieved person from hard work. Rene and Nerissa's resentments at being deprived of a convenient life could no longer be seen from their attitude and behaviour. They had finally realized that it was only their misconstrued belief that someone caused their poverty. With what they observed from Solis-Britton family's approach and strategy in life, it was their laziness that was pulling them downtrodden life. Rene's soul searching enabled him to ponder on positively that he was so rude and mean to coerce his cousins to provide him. If they were able to be a degree holder and held a higher position in the field of their choice, it was because of their sacrifices during their school days. In fact, he remembered visibly that his cousins served his parents as household helpers, messengers and his nannies. Pearl Ace was not one of them but why did she coerced her and her husband?

Before leaving Metro Manila, he should apologize and thank them. He, too admired his cousin & her husband for emphasizing in him how to be self-reliant.

"Thanks God I am no longer a slave of laziness." He vocally said this statement as the bus travelling to Sorsogon province started to roll by the road. It was the bus that they were boarded in going home to the province where they would build their agricultural industry.