The Unwanted Birthday Girl

The house is dim. She wakes up in the bedroom that she shared with her mother for 4 years. She hears a muffled tv, where Papa Jun is watching the morning news, while Mama Ladie is making breakfast in the kitchen. Her mommy was nowhere to be seen.

"But it's my birthday."

She mumbles. She looks around, finds the slits of the window shutters. The nightmare she had was of a flying woman in her backyard, with a cackling laugh. That woman only had half of her body, nothing is left of her waist down. What the girl didn't know was that somebody in her house is pregnant.

She goes to the kitchen and sits at the table. She starts fumbling around her scrambled eggs, sugared hotdogs, and pandesal, while staring at her hot coco.

"Your godparents are coming to see you later today." Mama said. The girl's eyes lit up.

"Where's mommy?" said the girl.

"She's already at Vince's tutoring."

'But she didn't say goodbye. I heard her throwing up before she left. Maybe she's sick. Should I tell Mama?'

"What time is Tito Richie and Tita Beth coming?"

"They didn't tell me the time." Mama said.

Afternoon comes and her uncles start coming home from school. Tito Marc was first to arrive.

"Hey there's our kulit(naughty) girl!"

"Hi Tito Marc!"

He dives straight to his computer and starts playing his game. She follows and watches him play.

"This boss is too strong for me!! My fingers can't catch up. Wanna give it a try?"

Tito Marc is the youngest of my uncles. He's only 16, and in highschool. He doesn't look that smart but he's got a good knack for computers.

She tries to play with her skinny little fingers. They weren't as fast as his, so she dies before the minute was over.

"The zombies are too much!! Why do you even play this, kuya(*)?"

"Because it's fun. You're useless. Go play somewhere else!"

She goes to the garden where Papa Jun just started sweeping the leaves. Papa's garden wraps around the house. He has guava trees and papaya trees in the front, a big jack fruit tree on the west side, mango trees and pickle trees in the back, and coconut trees on the east. The mango trees drop a lot of leaves all year round, so Papa makes a garden broom put of coconut leaves and sweeps the garden everyday.

She sits on the swing that Papa hung on the jackfruit tree and watches him doing his work. She sees the orchids hanging around the trees. The orchids are nothing special but for their containers. Papa used coconut shells because "they keep water longer than soil, and the roots can be aired," he said. The flowers were only as big as her tiny skinny hands, but the neighbors always ask Papa how he makes them bloom so often. Papa looks up to her and smiles.

"How is my beautiful girl?" he asks.

"I'm bored Papa, can I help you?"

"You can help me by not tussling up the leaves I just swept, darling."

"Opo."

Tito Jan comes out to the patio and calls her back in.

"Miming, your godfather and godmother are here!"

"Kuya Janny you're home!" Tito Jan is her eldest uncle. He's studying to be an accountant, though he never really shows it. He loves to ride bicycles and go hike Mt Mayon.

She rushes back in after tito Jan, giving Papa Jun a peck on the cheek after jumping off her swing.

(*) Kuya : means 'big brother' in Tagalog. The girl calls her uncles Kuya because her mom is mostly not at home, and her grandparents raised her as their own. They treat her as their little sister as well.