Skip to main content

172 OVER MY DEAD BODY


172          OVER MY DEAD BODY                     20181015



This morning, I decided to walk to Jollibee V. Luna, where I used to sit and had mental conversations with the kaimito tree across it. The kaimito is no longer there, but I imagine it to be, and say hello to the aura that still remains, whenever I walk by. My usual seat was empty, which surprised me, because it has been months since I visited the place. I claimed my seat very quickly in case others will race me for it. Just in front of me were two elderly ladies, very good-looking ones, talking animatedly.

“Wow, at last, may wala la’y agustuan mo!” (Wow, at last, you like someone!)

“Balet, amay kaibak a bii, binitla to lan amin para’d siak: nu inerak ya nan-aral, nantrabahaho, nu siopa ra’y aka-relasyon ko, tan say pinaka-mauges ya imbaga to, impalastog to ni ya singa 45 ak labat pero 65 ak la kuno!” (But my lady companion said everything for me: where I studied, who I had relations with, and the worst that she mentioned, in a boasting manner, is that I look 45 but I am already 65!)

“Ay,lasi! Mauges a maong itan ed sara’y bibii! Anto’y imbaga to may laki ey?” (Oh, shit! That is so bad for us women! What did the guy say?)

“Ag kami la akasel ta insublay to met ya imabagan na-opera la kuno ed prostate sikaton tinaynan na asawa ton ugaw ni.” (We were both dumbfounded because she also rattled off that the man had a prostate operation and that is the reason why hisyoung wife left him.)

“Agmo tan kaaro!” (She is not your friend!)

“Tua tay imbagam. Agko la man gabay a kaiba.” (You are right. I do not want to be with her again!)

“Antam baleg a kasalanan tay ginawa to. Wala’y amigak ya agto gabay ya napantungtungan su edad. Aminsan wala kamid restaurant ed imbagak ya iter to la may Senior Citizen card to, et say imbaga to ed siak: Over my dead body, I’d rather pay the whole amount!” (You know that act is a big sin. I have a friend who never wanted to talk of age. Once, after eating at a restaurant, I asked her to submit her Senior Citizen card, and she told me: Over my dead body, I’d rather pay the whole amount!).

“Makapalek met. Balet gabay ko may twenty percent discount. Dakel su nayarin usar to.” (That is laughable. I like the twenty percent discount. It can be used for so many things.)

“That friend of mine told me: Let him discover who you are, let him find out for himself. It is part of the mystery of flirtation. Like in the movie Sex and Mrs. X. Flirtation is not about sex. It is about emotion. It is about how you feel. It is about how you make the other person feel.”

“Wow, gaba-gabay ko tan ya imbaga to!

“Pero say tua, 70 years old la nen 2013. Balet kada taon, babawasan to na duaran taon, sikaton natan, say edad to nu tepeten da 65 labat kuno. Makapalek ta 10 years su diperensiya na edad mi. Natan manka-edad kami la. Diad sakey a taon, mas matakkenak la na duaran taon ed sikato. Hahaha!” (The truth is, she was 70 years old in 2013. But every year, she deducts two years from her age, so if anybody asked, she is now 65. It is laughable because she is older than me by 10 years, and now we are of the same age. Next year I will be the one who is older than her by two years. Hahaha!)


Published by Sunday Punch Dagupan Pangasinan








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

168 ESTABLISHING “FACTS”

168           ESTABLISHING “FACTS” In 1997, during his professorial lecture at the City College of Manila, Ambeth Ocampo, former Chairperson of the National Historical Commission (NHCP) said "Personally, I think this controversy like that of the site of the first mass -- Limasawa, Leyte or Masao, Butuan -- belongs in the basura (trash). But then, textbooks and quiz shows require definite answers. People want "facts" not lessons or perspectives."   Vicente Calibo de Jesus, a relentless researcher on the subject of the first “mass” disagrees. He said, “A historian has a moral obligation to Truth, and an ethical responsibility to his readers, domestic and global.” There is also a claim that the first “mass” was actually in Bolinao, Pangasinan celebrated in 1324 by Odoric of Pordenone, OFM, also known as Odorico Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi, an Italian late-medieval Franciscan friar and missionary explorer, predating the  mass ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Armi

Published by  Sunday Punch Dagupan Pangasinan   July 23, 2019 Armi By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo It is not clear to me how I first met Armi Bangsal. I had this impression that she was introduced by Enoch Tan, but I could be wrong. Maybe she was introduced to me by another friend, Josefina (Josie) Lolarga. I have a clearer memory of how I met another friend, Fe Mangahas, from a timeline she remembers, which became the basis of my recall of the occasion. However, the clarity of our memory recedes over time, and with it, modifications of the stories, and so I think there may be an earlier event where we had met, which escaped her memory. Armi and I stayed close friends up to this day, seeing each other occasionally, sometimes only during Christmas and her birthday, and mourning the passing of other friends. I saw her more often during the last few years, because of the meetings scheduled by the Pangasinan Historical and Cultural Commission in Lingayen, where she res...
Post a Comment
Read more

155 INDEPENDENCE DAY

155           INDEPENDENCE DAY I had lunch with an old friend at Chocolate Kiss on Independence Day. We talked about our relationships and how we, considering our advocacy on women empowerment and environmental coexistence, experienced independence, codependence and interdependence.   “Alam mo, nakakapagod din. Buong buhay ko, nag-aalaga akong tao.” (You know, it is also tiring. All my life I have been taking care of people.) “Come to think of it, tama ka. Ganyan din ako.” (you are right. I am like that too.) “Sana sa next life, tayo rin ang alagaan.” (Hoping in the next life, we are the ones being cared for.) “Why in the next life? We can make steps to realize this, in this lifetime. And we can pray to God to make this happen.” “I miss him. It’s been years since I was pampered that way. He knows what I need before I even utter it. Sometimes, even before I think of it.” “In a way, we are lucky. At least ...
Post a Comment
Read more